Opinions and guidance welcomed for large 4th of July smoke. Q-view of the cook will be added as it

[bpointer01]

We are having a real big party for 80-100 people on the 3rd of July next week.  I have 2 10-12 briskets and 4 7-8 lb pork butts that I will be smoking for the party and I would like to get some input if I could as to when I should start cooking.  I will be preparing the briskets per Jeff's newsletter from May and using the basic pork smoke from the pork sticky for the butts so they will be foiled as such.  I have an idea of what I would need to do with all of this but I was hoping to solicit opinions from the experts here to see if what you think is what I am thinking.  We are shooting to eat at 6pm on the 3rd and I plan to do burnt ends with the brisket points.  I would like to shoot for 3-4 hours of cooler time in the plan so what do you guys think?  When should I start the beef?  The pork?  Any other tips for someone who hasn't taken on a cook of this magnitude?

Thanks guys,

bpointer

 

[sqwib]

Too many variables to consider to be too precise, however for larger butts 8-10 pounds  I usually give myself 2 hours per pound + 1 hour as a rule of thumb if I have a specific time to finish.

I usually average 80 -90 minutes per pound on my stickburner.
 

There is no reason why you can't prepare and pull the day before.

The PP can be reheated in a steamer pan with no ill effect to the quality of the product.especially if you are going to use a finishing sauce.

As far as the brisket, I will let a brisket guru answer that.

I am sure you have other items on the menuu but I see you only mention 2 items remember, you will only get about a 50% yield out of the Butts, that s about 15 pounds of finished product.

I just went through 10lbs of philly cheesesteaks, 5 pounds potato salad, 5 pounds of hot wings , sandwich tray for 30, 3 pounds of hot dogs, 5 pounds of roast beef, three dozen pork shots, 3 different types of salads, 3 types of dips,  various desserts for 40 people.

There was other stuff as well that I never even got a chance to see.

If this is an all day party, people will eat!

 

[bpointer01]

You know, I've been flirting with the idea of a third brisket just to be sure to have enough food.  Of the 80 or so we are expecting however, only 50 are adults and we are going to be offering hot dogs as well.  Everybody coming will be bringing side dishes and what not too.  I will be picking up from the burcher Saturday morning and will have a more specific count on number of pounds so I can make the call then as to whether or not to get more. 

 

[sqwib]

You know, I've been flirting with the idea of a third brisket just to be sure to have enough food.  Of the 80 or so we are expecting however, only 50 are adults and we are going to be offering hot dogs as well.  Everybody coming will be bringing side dishes and what not too.  I will be picking up from the burcher Saturday morning and will have a more specific count on number of pounds so I can make the call then as to whether or not to get more. 

Actually my number of guests last party were higher than 40 but some just stopped by, the 40 people were hangers, they eat a lot, myself included.

You will be fine... the hotter the day folks tend to eat less main food but snack and drink more.

15 pounds of PP will give you roughly 60 1/4 lb. sandwiches.
One thing I suggest is to buy slider rolls, some kids seem to throw away at least half a sandwich at times... you know the same kids that leave 2 or 3 half filled soda cans laying around.

We found that there's much less wasted food using slider and club rolls, the hungry folks can always go back for another sandwich or 2 or 3 or 4.

I have seen these little guys pile up a huge sandwich, take a bite and leave it for trash, sometimes adults are no better. At least if they make a sammie and don't care for it or are full..they won't waste a 1/2 pound of your blood, sweat and tears.

Keep us posted

 

[bpointer01]

Thanks for the slider bun idea.  I like that alot.  We will be doing that for certain.

Any brisket guys have input on a cook this size?

 

[cororumrex]

I use Martins potatoe rolls. They are a nice size for pulled pork sandwiches. I am smoking around 125 lbs of pulled pork right now for a wedding this weekend. There are 135 adults or so coming. We are planning on a bunch of leftovers for 4th of July parties. If I remember I will let you know about how much we go through.

Good luck with the smoke.

Cororumrex

 

[eman]

I allow the same time frame for brisket 2 hrs per lb + 1. Once they are done you can wrap in foil and into an ice chest stuffed w/ towels ,blankets (fill the air space) and they will stay hot for over 6 hrs  Same w/ the butts 6 hrs in the ice chest and they will still be to hot to pull w/ bare hands.

 

[bpointer01]

Just got back from Milo's meat market with a box full of stuff!  I ended up with two 9.5 lbs briskets and 4 7lb butts. I am going to add one more vac sealed brisket in the 11lb range that I picked up at Wal-Mart this morning just to be sure.  My plan for the cook will be to start the brisket at about 8pm Monday night and run at 225*.  The butts wil go on about 4am then.  I will be foiling the butts at 165* and the briskets at 150*.  I would hope for everything to be off of the smoker by 2pm or so at the latest givin me plenty of time to finish the cook wth burnt ends and then be done and showered by the time party guests arrive around 5pm.  Does this time line sound about right?  Too much?  Not enough?  Thanks guys, it's nice to know that there is a collection of resources ot here like this to be able to tap into.

 

[oldschoolbbq]

Pointer , I feel your time and temp. is going to be close to spot - on . Sqwib and E-man are both respected authorities and I trust thier advise .

I am a little "Anal" about how I do my cooks and do not foil during the cook for a better Bark (former Texan)

. Having good (calibrated) therms. is necessary , and if possibly , dual probes . You can help a little bit with time by resisting the temptation to open the lid anymore than you need.

The meat can be held wrapped double in Foil and cuddled in a Towel all within a cooler for up to 6hrs. or so ; and the residual heat will help tenderize to contents as it sits.

I am doing a cook Friday night and welcome you to stop by to 'Chew the Fat' , as they say , and meet. I'll have about 40# of Butt on for the night and enjoy sitting up BSing and watching the night pass  or listening to some good Classical (no-one else likes my "longhair" music)

.

Have fun and...

 

[bpointer01]

Thanks everyone.  You can read and do searches and read some more but it really puts your mind at ease to have people who know what the heck they are doing tell you that you are pointing in the right direction. 

Stan,  thanks for the invite!  Unfortunately, we are going to be out of town at Jellystone park Friday so I will have to catch up for the next one.  Please let me know when that is though as I would live to come and learn stuff from someone with your experience level.  I am going to start posting Q-view in this thread soon so stay tuned.

 

[bpointer01]

Time for some Q-view!  I rubbed down all of the meat for tomorrow evenings smoke.  Like I said above, I ended up with about 28lbs of butt and 31 lbs of brisket.  I will update this thread as everything progresses!

Rubbed and resting.  I wrapped these after taking the pics.

 

[sqwib]

GOOD LUCK and post your results, man that's a lot of meat.

 

[scarbelly]

Good luck with the party - try to have some fun too 

 

[bpointer01]

Thanks guys.  Do a no rain dance for me if you can.  The weather report has looked like continuing drought conditions until last night when they started talking isolated storms.  Now they are saying 60% chance right during my party hours!!!  Crapola! 

I'll be firing up the smoker in about an hour anyway though.  Hopefully I stay dry.    

 

[rdknb]

Good Luck and hoping you get the 40% no rain.

 

[bpointer01]

Briskets are in the smoke.

 

[bpointer01]

It's 2am.  Do you know where your butts are?

I received the briskets in a single package.  They looked about the same size but after cooking for awhile, it is clear that this one was smaller.  Probably should have gone on a few hours later but that's OK, chunks of brisket for breakfast is good too.

 

[bpointer01]

Brisket number two going under foil

For keeping the kids busy.  LOL

 

[bpointer01]

Thanks for all the help guys, the party was a big success.  I think the heat scared some of the guests away but we still ended up with  a final headcount of 96 including kids. I was about 20 adults short from what the RSVP list showed but I think we did good. Three ~10lb average briskets were completely gone and we did end up eating two of the four butts as well.  Everybody loved the brisket and many had never had burnt ends either so they were a hit to say the least.  The extra butts weren't a problem either as my wife has a cousin who is a Toledo firefighter and he worked the holiday so we took our leftovers to the fire house for the boys to eat up.  Thanks again to all the guys who helped through the cook and all who have checked out the Q-view!

 

[sqwib]

For keeping the kids busy.  LOL

 Yeah sure, looks like its for keeping the BIG kids busy.

Looks like all went well, congrats.