Smoking 4 (10#) butts

[smaloof]

I would really appreciate all the advise I can get.I am not a first time smoker, but I only know enough to be dangerous!

I am smoking 4 buts in my new homemade smoker (250 gallon tank - reverse flow). 

I did a test burn yesterday and everything seem to work out great. Plan on cooking the butts around 125 to 150 cooking temps.

I am not sure how long to expect to get to these temps. I will cook until meat has a IT of around 165 and foil and place back in smoker an continue cooking until IT reaches approx. 195. This is for a company Christmas lunch and I plan to start the night before. Just getting nervous for when I should start. I guess its better to finish early and have the butts in a cooler even if they are done a few hours before lunch rather than the opposite. I sure would appreciate any advice you can give me. Thanks in advance. 

 

[smokesontuesday]

That cook temp is way too low.

225 would be your minimum temp. Anything up to 275-300 is fine for butts.

 

[myownidaho]

Typo maybe? If you cook the butts at 150, they will never get above 150...[emoji]128540[/emoji]

I usually smoke butts at 250.

 

[SmokinAl]

I'm sure he meant 225-250.

I smoke mine at 270-280.

Al

 

[smaloof]

YES. That was a typo. Sorry.

I meant 225 to 250. seeing you responses, I will even go a little higher than that.

What is the time difference between cooking one butt to cooking four butts?

I plan to start this evening with the butts, and early morning for the ribs and chicken. I was going to predict about 5 hours for the pork ribs and chicken, and around 17 hours for the butts. You think these will be realistic times?

 

[SmokinAl]

A 10# butt at 270-280 will take about 10-11 hours.

Four of them will add maybe an hour to that time.

It will take the smoker a little more time to recover when you put 40# of cold meat into it.

Other than that when it gets back up to temp it won't take any longer to smoke 4 than it  would for 1.

At the higher temps the chicken & ribs will take 3-4 hours.

Good luck!

Al

 

[smaloof]

SmokinAl, That sounds good. I'm expecting ambient temps to be in the 20's tonight/morning so If my cooking temps drop slightly, I know i will need a bit more time. I don't mind having to store the wrapped butts in a cooler for 2 to 3 hours before our company lunch, I just don't everyone waiting on me wondering when they're going to eat. I really appreciate your help, Steve.

 

[myownidaho]

What Al said. Good luck and post pictures!

 

[iowabeef]

IMO it would be ideal to store the butts in the wrapped in towels in the cooler for 2-3 hours.  I always try to have at least 2 hours to let butts rest before serving.  Maybe that's unnecessary? I don't know!  Just how I've always done it, never had a bad one with that tactic.... but that's just me!

Also, if i have nothing else going on the smoker sometimes I'll just throw them in the oven at ~165.  Especially if you are wrapping them. I know some people will ridicule me for saying that, but sometimes in certain situations and time permitting, that is the easiest.  Then all i have to do is watch my thermometer.  But I prefer not to wrap, I always like the bark i get with my rub!

Good luck and share some pics!

Jase

 

[smaloof]

Well, it turned out great thanks to you all!

The only problem I have is now everyone at works think that I can cook. As long as you guys are available every time I cook, I'm in good shape.

I was nervous, I have to be honest, cooking for 38 people (co-workers). On top of that I have been working on this smoker build the past four months getting it  ready to cook. I have not finished it, but my goal was to have ready to cook for our company Christmas Lunch.  I tested it out for a couple of hours the previous day, but not all night. Thanks to all the help from Dave Omak, the smoker performed great.

So I ended up cooking 4 butts, one brisket, 8 racks of ribs, and 2 chickens (individual pieces). I started with the beef brisket and butts around 6:30 pm and cooked both until they reached an IT of 170. Then wrapped in foil and placed them back into the smoker until they reached 195 to 205 and placed in a cooler around 9:45am. They sat until 12pm. My ribs were a direct rip off of SmokinAl. I think as long as I give him credit, I will not break any copy write laws (.........without express written consent of SmokinAl). The ribs were smoked for approx 2.5 hours, wrapped, placed back on the smoker until they reached the consistency I was wanting to reach. I dont like mine too firm, but do not necessarily want the meat to disintegrate off of the bone. When I wrapped them, I placed couple tabs of butter, a little rub, and raw sugar on the tin foil and placed the meat side down and sealed with foil before placing back onto the smoker. This I stole from SmokinAl. I had everything ready so as to minimize the time the ribs were out of the smoker. The chicken was placed on last, once the buts and brisket were pulled off. I will be making a top rack, but for the meantime, I only have one level of racks, Once the chicken reached  a safe temp of 165, I brushed with half bbq sauce and half apple cider vinegar, placed on hot coals and seared for a couple of minutes. Company ordered sides, but I was on a mission to have a self induced meat coma! It turned out great, not perfect, but was very happy with the food and thankful for all of your help.

foil prep for ribs.jpg

• smaloof
• Dec 16, 2016

first smoke.jpg

• smaloof
• Dec 16, 2016

first smoke - butts.jpg

• smaloof
• Dec 16, 2016

first smoke - all meat.jpg

• smaloof
• Dec 16, 2016

sorry about the sideways pics

 

[myownidaho]

Looks great!

 

[nicefly]

Looks really good.  Way to go and nice rig.  

 

[hardcookin]

Looks great! Nice smoke. Thumbs Up
On my offset I usually smoke butts @300 and they turn out fine.
I bet with the temp in the 20's your offset probably sure liked it's wood.

 

[3montes]

Looks like things turned out great nice job! I smoke 6 to 8 butts at a time whenever I do butts now.  It freezes and keeps so well if you vacuum seal. I seal it in 2 to 3lb serving bags. It's always handy to have around. I get people that are having small get togethers and want to know if I will make pulled pork for them. All I do is reach in the freezer and hand them 2 or 3 bags or however much they need.

I start my butts directly on the grate at 250 or higher. Once they hit 165 or so I pan them in steam table pans usually 2 per pan. Add about 8 ounces of dark beer to the pan. Sometimes I will tent foil them if I want to speed the process a bit but most times I don't. Bring them to 205 and pull the pans and cover them with foil and put them in the food keeper.

I don't pull until the following day. The long resting time results in pork that virtually pulls itself. I spend probably less than 10 minutes pulling a 8lb roast. It's more of just picking out any stubborn pieces of fat or sinew that didn't render. Also the beer mixed in with the natural juices really adds a fantastic flavor profile I recommend trying it sometime!

 

[redheelerdog]

Nice job on your Christmas party, everything looks really delicious.

Thats the kind of Christmas party I would like to attend!

Keep up the good work. 

 

[GaryHibbert]

Great job!!  Everything turned out great.  I'm betting there weren't any complaints from the people eating.

You gotta love it when a plan comes together.

Gary

 

[cornman]

Looks incredible. That's a real Christmas party! I bet you had a lot of happy faces and full bellies. Nice job!

 

[disco]

Nice looking smoke!

Disco