Smokin 100 lbs of butt.

[belair427]

Hi all,
My oldest son is to be married a week from Saturday. After talking to our favorite smoke house about catering we decided that I would give it a go myself. Now I have several questions. I have smoked a butt for pulled pork with very good success but I have not attempted more than one at a time. I use a traeger lil tex smoker that will hold 4 butts at a time but is this wise. Will meat quality suffer? Will cook time be unreasonable. I normally smoke a single for 10-12 hours, how much longer do you think 4 at a time might take. My plan is to freeze in 5 pound foil pans but I am unsure what to add liquid wise? I considered chicken stock. Reheat at what temp and for how long. I know these are a lot of questions but any suggestions would be appreciated.

 

[bassman]

If you wrap them at 160-165 to finish, you should have enough juice to keep them moist. As far as timimg, I'll have to let someone else have at it. I only do one at a time. Good luck.

 

[travcoman45]

OK, lets see what we can do here:

4 at a time won't hurt a thin.

Quality will be just fine as well.

Cook time will be no longer then it takes the slowest butt ta reach temperature, it varies from butt ta butt.

Freeze in freezer bags, add just a bit a the juice from the butt ta the bag then freeze.

To thaw, place bags in a large pot a boilin water till they are warmed well. Yer lookin fer a temperature of 140* an maintain it. Add in some a that gold juice ya shouldhave saved from the cooler. Ta defat it, place in a mason jar an then in the fridge, then scrap the fat offin the top. Ifin ya don't have enough gold juice, add a bit a apple juice. I use roasters fer keepin the meat warm, works real well, just keep checkin that temp so yall stay over 140*! Good luck!

 

[smokebuzz]

Time shouldn't be much if any longer, shred , add a little of the juices and vacpac, should be fine.

 

[oscarsroost]

I've done butts two at a time and one at a time on my 070 it doesn't seem to take any longer with two.

 

[lawdog]

And you can always use Soflaquers finishing sauce.

 

[bbqgoddess]

Great avatar!
What Tman said, he does cook large amounts of food and he knows his stuff like no other around here!
As far as re-heating, what are your circimstances? are you gonna be able to boil freezer bags full of meat for 100 lbs?
I did 3 butts for our taigate party last weekend, I did not have access to a stove to boil water let alone re-heat frozen meat in baggies..so I froze my butts after pulled in their yummy juice, in tin foil pans, then I took them out of the freezer the day before, let them defrost in the fridge, then tossed them on the ecb to reheat only..it worked really well..
Good Luck and congrats on the new Daughter addition to your family!

 

[sea_munky]

One. Hundred. Pounds. . .Wow.

 

[biggiesize]

I've done four butts at a time in my lil tex, and found that the temps held better and got a faster cook than with one butt. I think that the butts fill the volume of the smoker so that there is less space to heat. I would smoke for 4 to 6 hrs then finish in the oven so you can get your next load in. also I would pick thru the butts and try to get ones that were around the same size so they would finish closer together.

 

[biggiesize]

are you talking about 100 of finished pork. thats almost 200 pounds to start. I have a party rental place here that has a propane hog cooker that would hold that much. Its $125 for the weekend. get some buddys to go get some meat and split the cost, have a smoking party. just a thought.

 

[dadwith4daughters]

Sounds like you got all the best advice here on this thread. You might want to check out the "Large group" forum for some more good stuff. I did 10 butts once on two CGs and to everyone's point, they turned out great (http://www.smokingmeatforums.com/for...ad.php?t=19462).

The key for me, IMHO, was getting the raw butts to room temp before going on smoker. Give em a good hour. Also, Biggiesize has it right, to get access to your smoker for the 2nd round, when your butts hit 165 degrees, wrap and stick those guys in your oven at 250 to finish off.

Reheat for me was in 3 large aluminum buffet pans, wrapped in foil, popped into the oven at 250 for 2 hours. Turned out fine.

Best of luck Belair! We'll be cheering you on from cyberspace.

 

[johnd49455]

I agree

. I did 66# for my daughters grad party & found the time was a little shorter, like was said temp was easier to keep even & all went well, I pulled & vacpacked 'em (1 butt to a gallon bag) with a little finishing sauce & into the fridge for 2 nights. Warmed 'em in boiling water & served in the roaster to keep warm. I had 6 butts on each CG. I also did 6 double batches of dutches wicked baked beans. Those I served in the foil pans & warmed and served those on the gas grill.

 

[belair427]

Thanx for all of the input. Here is the plan. I have just finished injecting the first four and rubbed with my dry rub, wrapped in plastic and in the fridge for the night. In the morning I will start those 4 on the smoker until internal temp reaches 165 at which point I will remove them and double wrap in foil then to the oven at 250 until temp reaches 205. 200 plus is what I have found to be the best point for pulling. After they reach temp I usually rest for at least 30 minutes before pulling. I have purchased a vaccum sealer (was just waiting for an excuse anyway) and will seal in bags about 1 gallon in size. This is where I am trying to decide whether to freeze. What do ya all think? Would I be safe to referigerate rather than freeze for a week. The issue is that the wedding and reception are at different venues and I will have to rely on friends to start the warming process since I will be somewhat pre occupied. The reception hall has no kitchen available. My thought is if the meat is not frozen, we could just warm it in roasters. If frozen we would have to boil first off site and then transport to the reception. I am trying to make it as simple as possible. If you guys think keeping it referigerated rather than freezing is to much of a gamble, I will just freeze and figure it out. Thnx again for all your help. This is such a great site!
Curt

 

[pops6927]

Definitely freeze; but you can freeze for 4 days and thaw for 3 days in the fridge, so they're almost totally unthawed the day of the wedding. You want to retard bacteria growth.. freezing then unthawing keeps it below 32 degrees 6 out of the 7 days in between. I just did the same thing with a package of pork steak, bought it on Tuesday on Sale for smoking on Sunday. Too long to leave in the fridge, I put in the freezer Tues. night, just pulled this afternoon and by Sunday it will be almost thawed, no bacteria growth in between. Just one danger, at least in my house... raiding... I'd end up with half a baggie left to take to the party.. LOL! (if it's smoked, I just can't control myself!!)

 

[travcoman45]

Freeze it, to long fer it ta sit in the fridge. As fer thawin, I thawed mine in the boilin water the mornin of our last bash, then inta roasters, used lots a liquied gold durin the day ta keep it moist, yall can use apple juice as well. Ya just gotta keep it above 140*. Was some of the finest Q folks had ever taseted accordin ta them. With watchin the temps an addin the liquids, the meat was still very tastey an quite moist throught a long day. Keep the lids on the roasters whenever yall can.