starting my biggest pp smoke ever

[indygreg]

my son asked if i could provide pp for 80 kids for a college retreat at a camp. 32 hours from now i am supposed to have cooked 70lbs of butt. i am already finding challenges :)

Here is the first batch of 4 9ish lbs butts. when i took them to the smoker they didnt fit! so i currently have them turned on their ends. really not sure how this will work. i plan to pull them when they stall, put them into foil pans (2 per pan) and load them into the oven so i can start the second batch. so they wont be standing on their end when they get really tender so i am hoping they won't fall over. not sure what else to do. am i in trouble?

 

[SmokinVOLfan]

I think you will be fine. The meat is still getting the smoke penetration no matter how you put them in. When you pull them at the stall they have already absorbed all the smoke they are going to and wont yet be fall apart tender obviously so you can wrap them up to the 200+ range and should turn out great! I would add a little bit of apple juice or liquid of your choosing to the pans.

Just my two cents. Never tried one on its side but looks like a great space saving idea! Let us know how they turn out!

 

[smokinq13]

I did a similr size smoke with PP before for a surprise birthday party.. but i only have a MES30IN ... what i did since they all wouldn't fit is as soon as they reached 165... i pulled them out of the smoker and wrapped in foil and finished in the oven so i could then start my next batch of butts/ shoulders...and they turned out fantastic!

 

[kawboy]

I wish I would have thought of standing on end when I did 14 butts for my sons wedding!

 

[73saint]

Man, the way you have them stacked now, you can get 4 more on there! Smart thinkin'!

 

[ZeroEvol]

WE want some pics of the finished product!

 

[indygreg]

Crud, they have fallen over twice already. new plan. the rack is just sitting on the two butts and the other two on it. this seems to work better. of course now my traeger seems to be going out. should have vacuumed the firebox before i started...

 

[indygreg]

Man, the way you have them stacked now, you can get 4 more on there! Smart thinkin'!

yeah this idea might work but you need a giant version of a vertical rib rack. if there are any bbq manufacturers watching i have two product suggestions for all us guys who have to make the most of our grill surface area:
- a vertical butt rack
- a doublestack rib rack that comes apart. what you see in the picture is my mod which works but they should ship this way. this is one of those 2 layer racks that you can buy at cabellas but i sawsall it into two pieces (because they don't call it a saws-a-few-things) then i added steel sleeves to the top of the bottom section so that i can take it apart to load it with ribs then reassemble it and carry it to the grill. these shelves are so close together that you rake all the rub off trying to get ribs into the middle tier.

 

[indygreg]

ok that sucked. my wife and i unloaded the meat, tore down the smoker, cleaned out the firebox and reassembled it in record time. we decided the pastor should have said "to love, honor and put up with each others weird stuff". anyway, smoke is back on track. this traeger might be reaching the end of it's useful life. i wish i could find a really good, vertical pellet smoker. i LOVE the fridge build that scootermagoo did but i am still busy finishing my van and not up for a project of this size.

so the plan i have is to smoke these four the put the next four on the smoker tonight, foil these four and move them to the oven. once the ones in the oven are done i get to use my new toy. i bought a heated cambro so i will saran wrap and foil wrap the first four and put them in the cambro to hold them at temp while the second batch finishes. then when both batches are done i will pull them all and head for purdue with the cambro full of meat.

the next 4 butts in the fridge now

My new toy!

 

[SmokinAl]

I bet those kids are gonna have some good tasting PP!
BTW, the cambro is pretty cool!
Al

 

[indygreg]

well that was quicker than expected. 9lb butts on traeger 3 hours on smoke and 4 hours at 225. IT hits 150. not really sure i understand that. i have 3 probes in using two different thermometers so i think they really are 150. weird. anyway, i have two in the oven and two on the smoker all in foil pans covered. unless i get an epic stall i will be 3-4 hours ahead of what i expected.

 

[Bearcarver]

Looks like you're doing a Great Job, Greg!!:)

Gonna have a lot of Mighty Happy Campers!!
Like.

Bear

 

[indygreg]

ok by 8 all four of the first batch are done. drained the broth into a strainer and saved it then wrapped the 4 butts in foil and put them into the cambro to hold. i am told by cajun cooker that i can hold them for the duration of the second smoke - this is new territory for me. and since they got done early i will be holding them longer than expected but i figure i will serve the next batch first and save these four for last. sorry in my haste to keep them hot i had them foiled before i remembered to take pics. will get some of the second batch.

broth from 2 butts

first 4 butts loaded for holding

 

[chopsaw]

Nice ,,, good job bud ,

 

[indygreg]

i need to start my second batch and let them run overnight. i usually smoke several hours then probe it with an alcohol washed probe so as not to inject bacteria into the muscle, etc but that would be the middle of the night for this one. i am really trying to remember why this is an issue if we are taking the meat to an IT of 200+. 160 pasteurizes almost instantly so it seems to me that even if we introduced bacteria to it's innards they would be dead long before we pulled it. can someone remind me why we are so careful with PP?

EDIT - ok i think i answered my own question. https://www.nytimes.com/2011/08/24/dining/bending-the-rules-on-bacteria-and-food-safety.html

"Boiling does kill any bacteria active at the time, including E. coli and salmonella. But a number of survivalist species of bacteria are able to form inactive seedlike spores. And the spores can survive boiling temperatures.

After a food is cooked and its temperature drops below 130 degrees, these spores germinate and begin to grow, multiply and produce toxins. "

 

[ZeroEvol]

I want one of those cambros! But, I don’t know if I would ever have a need for it. LOL

 

[indygreg]

Second batch cooked overnight. amazing how different each piece cooks. they ranged from 162 to 192 when i got up. they are now foiled and headed for the finish line.

I want one of those cambros! But, I don’t know if I would ever have a need for it. LOL

Exactly where i have been for years. now we are doing 8-10 tailgates and other things a year where we could use it. my wife is hyperfocused on food safety so the WAF on this was very high. one big selling point is that we will be able to salvage leftovers better. usually was make a mess of food for a tailgate, we are there all day and at the end we have a lot left but it is too sketchy to keep. now we tailgate then give the leftovers to our boys when we leave. i figure in a few years if we are not using it much it will have a good resale value. there is always someone starting a catering business.

 

[Bearcarver]

i need to start my second batch and let them run overnight. i usually smoke several hours then probe it with an alcohol washed probe so as not to inject bacteria into the muscle, etc but that would be the middle of the night for this one. i am really trying to remember why this is an issue if we are taking the meat to an IT of 200+. 160 pasteurizes almost instantly so it seems to me that even if we introduced bacteria to it's innards they would be dead long before we pulled it. can someone remind me why we are so careful with PP?

EDIT - ok i think i answered my own question. https://www.nytimes.com/2011/08/24/dining/bending-the-rules-on-bacteria-and-food-safety.html

"Boiling does kill any bacteria active at the time, including E. coli and salmonella. But a number of survivalist species of bacteria are able to form inactive seedlike spores. And the spores can survive boiling temperatures.

After a food is cooked and its temperature drops below 130 degrees, these spores germinate and begin to grow, multiply and produce toxins. "

Yup---Gotta get 'em early, so they don't come back later to get you!!
Good Research. Like.

Bear

 

[indygreg]

8 butts smoked, pulled and loaded plus 3 trays of beans. broth still separate. i will reheat that and pour it over when i get there.

 

[indygreg]

and a happy ending. 80 kids fed and happy. the only thing more fun than feeding college students is feeding really hungry college students. This is a service group so they had spent the day volunteering at this boy scout camp and the plates were piled high. lots of compliments and thanks from a great bunch of kids.

i am amazed that i was able to hold the first batch of butts for 18 hours in the cambro and they came out great. i simply wrapped them in foil without pulling them then just before we left for the dinner i pulled them but kept the broth in the fridge. when we got there i heated the broth in a chafing pan and poured it over the meat.