Smoking 2 9lb pork shoulders

[Chris Billings]

Hey guys,

This is the largest smoke by weight I have tried yet. I bought 2 equal weight shoulders from fry's (Kroger) 9lbs each. Figured equal weight would be best. The 1st shoulder i did was 8lbs and went 10 hours to 205°. They are already injected and are covered with mustard and rub. Question is how much longer will 2 take vs one? They were .99/lb on sale so figured might as well get the most use out of the wood and charcoal thats burning. This is also the 1st time for trying oak. Hoping it will turn out great. I wanna be up early enough to eat this for dinner. Freezer for the rest of it in vacuum bags for lunch for work for weeks. I have an origional oklahoma joes 16" diameter smoker 30" long. This time ill also be using a pan to catch some drippings to try adding back into the meat with a finishing sauce. Thanks for any tips and insight.

 

[hardcookin]

What temp are you planning on smoking at?
Once the meat is warmed up it shouldn't take that much longer.
Make sure you have a clean burning fire.

 

[Chris Billings]

Ill be around 275-300 on the hot side. Cold side is 33° cooler. Ive been working on smoking with the firebox door open so its a nice clean fire. Testing temp control with just the smoke stack damper.

 

[hardcookin]

For me all my long smokes start at 4:30am...but that's just a time I like starting it gives me a little leeway.
If your smoking that hot I'm thinking 8-9hrs, every smoker cooks a little different.
I usually pan my butts 160-170 with just a little Apple Juice. And pull when I get good bone wiggle.
"195-205"
I will pull them and let them air for about 10 mins. And drain all the juice out of the pan and save.
Rest for 1/2 hour to hour then pull
Smoker stack damper should be left open. The size of the fire controls your temp.

 

[noboundaries]

To answer the OP'S question, if your smoker can maintain the desired temp (275-300F) with the mass of two butts, two 9 lbs butts will take the same time as one 9 lb butt. You may burn more fuel and have to open your vents a little more, but temp is temp. It's a physics thing.

Where you'll notice it most is the beginning of the smoke when the meat is the coldest. Run the smoker hotter to start, so when the temp drops when you load the meat, it will recover faster.

 

[Chris Billings]

Makes sense for the timing. For my fire I usually do one full chimney of charcoal and then throw a split on top of it and then add one when temps start to drop. I open the FB lid to not have the heavy smoke go in when a new split goes in.

My first shoulder was 10 hours and it fluctuated between 225 and 300 when adding new splits and such.

 

[Chris Billings]

Well I woke up later than I wanted and had to help my daughter back to sleep and fell asleep in there too lol. Wanted to start at 5:30am got it in at 7:30am pulled it off at 5:30pm @205. Had about 2 cups of juice to add back in along with SoFlaQuers sauce. Made a homemade bbq sauce since we were outta sweet baby rays and I didn't realize. All in all it went well. They look a little dark but no burnt flavor at all just dark bark.

 

[noboundaries]

Looks normal to me! Great job!

 

[GATOR240]

Looks like a pretty fine job! I really like the SoFlaQuers sauce.

 

[hardcookin]

Looks like it turned out great!! Good Smoke!