Will 40 pounds of pork butt fit in an MES 30?

[joeski]

Four ten pound butts, or two 20 pound butt.  What's the most you've been able to cram in there? 

Should this question be in the pork forum? 

 

[eman]

I have done 52 lbs of meat in one smoking in my 40".NEVER AGAIN. It fit okay but the thermal mass of that much cold meat didn't let my unit get the meat up to a safe temp in the time frame it needed.

 

[chef jimmyj]

Large amounts of meat take extra time to recover. However, there is no safe time frame with intact meat. Whether 4 hours to 140 or 14 hours, it is still Safe. With intact meat bacteria is only on the surface and within an hour it is all dead. In a MES 30, 4 8lb butts, one per shelf, is all that will fit. Two per takes up too much space and blocks heat. There is not likely enough space between shelves for 10 pound butts...JJ

 

[dward51]

If the meat will fit and you have room for airflow around the butts, technically it will work.  However it will take a long time as that is a lot of mass to get up to 195-205*.  If you are going to smoke at say 230*, I would probably start the empty MES at 275 or even 300* and set to desired temp once the meat is in.  That will help a little with the shock of that cold mass of meat, but it's still going to be a load on the smoker. 

I with Jimmy J on this one, I also doubt you can get 4 ten pound butts in a 30", but I may be wrong.  You want some space between them for air flow (think heat flow as well) and a path for smoke.  Anywhere they are touching, you will not get smoke flavor or "bark" formation.