Smoking 9 chuckies-Need Help!!

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tucker81

Newbie
Original poster
Feb 26, 2009
14
10
Owatonna, MN
I am smoking about 75 lbs of chuck roasts and 25 lbs of pork butt this weekend.  It has to be ready to serve around noon on Saturday.  I am pulling them for sammies and know the temps they need to be but I'm wondering if anyone has done some that are around 8 lbs each.  I am using Louisianna pellet smokers at around 225 deg. How long do you think they will take.  I don't want to have a large crowd of people waiting around for lunch.  Thanks for all your help!!!
 
My guess would be around 10 or 11 hours, but you never know.  I might even allow 12 hours for those pork butts, because they are prone to wicked stalls.  To be safe, I would put them on around 10 PM the night before.  That should allow enough time to smoke them up to temp, than cooler them for a couple hours.  If they are done early, it's no big deal because they will hold in the cooler for half a day and still be smokin hot when you pull them out.  There are some guys on here that are used to doing big catering jobs, so somebody will probably be along soon with some more good advice.

Good luck!
 
You can keep them warm but you can't hurry them up. I'd put them on around 8 or 9... smoke to internal temp, then drop the smoker temp to hold temp. I'd actually drop the smoker temp just a little before they reach temp to give them room to smoke some more. If they get done way ahead, pull them and cooler them. They will stay hot upwards of 5 hours if you wrap them and put them in a good cooler. Just remember you are in control of keeping them warm.... and have no control in hurrying them up. Better to have it done and waiting than to have the crowd waiting.
 
You can keep them warm but you can't hurry them up. I'd put them on around 8 or 9... smoke to internal temp, then drop the smoker temp to hold temp. I'd actually drop the smoker temp just a little before they reach temp to give them room to smoke some more. If they get done way ahead, pull them and cooler them. They will stay hot upwards of 5 hours if you wrap them and put them in a good cooler. Just remember you are in control of keeping them warm.... and have no control in hurrying them up. Better to have it done and waiting than to have the crowd waiting.
What he said.

Bearcarver
 
Another option is to cook some tonight and some tomorrow night, once they are cooked they reheat in the oven very easily. If you do want to cook some tonight I would suggest the pork butts, they are the bigger question mark, and they reheat better.
 
I did 5 chucks last Saturday to take tailgaiting on Sunday. I started with 4 chucks- 3 were between 3-3.5 pounds and the last one was over 5, so I cut the large one in half to keep the thickness consistent. I also think roasts in the 3-4 inch thick range will get more smoke in the center than an 8 inch roast. Anyway, I started them at 6:00am and ran them at 225-235 until the internal hit around 160. I put them in foil pans on top of onions with a little beef broth until they hit 201- which was about 12:15pm. I put them in the cooler for 3 hours and the beef was falling apart when I took them out at 3:15. It took me until 4:30 to shred the 5 roasts and separate the onions and au jus. I put the au jus in the fridge overnight to separate the fat. For a smaller version of this smoke go to this thread http://www.smokingmeatforums.com/forum/thread/97650/first-chucks-and-first-qview#post_531827

Sorry I didn't get pictures of the big smoke- I was too busy getting ready for tailgating. I guess what I'm trying to say is if you can smoke it ahead of time you will have more time to socialize, or do the pork.
 
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