Butt direct vs indirect?

Never tryed direct so can't awnser yo direct question but can show you how to put as much butt in the egg as possable.

The direct radiant heat will be grilling the bottom of the meat for many hours. I doubt you'd like the results.

maybe start some of the meat to get the smoke flavor and then add a second batch to finish on the bge.

fishless does ribs direct, but raised high up in the dome with very little lump. don't think he's done a butt or anything larger than ribs though.

if you go direct, your lump will be inches away from the bottom of the meat. charcoal burns at 1200. if your dome says 250, that's because there's so little 1200 degree lump burning, that the ambient temp is only 250.

so if you are direct, you'll basically be searing the bottom of the meat for the length of the cook. the fire won't be large, but you'll have a blackend burnt mess on the underside.

you should consider taking out the fire ring, and putting the platesetter on, legs up. the fire will be close to the platesetter, and you'll want to keep an eye on it. i did this once, i think it may have been a turkey, and i needed the room.

i should add you dont need a platesetter in there, a pizza stone or even just a pan will work, my setup for 30 plus pounds is a pizza stone and a shallow paella pan, depening on the fat on the butts you will need to drain that pan atleast once, and i would probably cut most of the fat off those butts anyways before cooking

i used an adjustable rig and less lump than normal
http://www.eggheadforum.com/index.php?option=com_simpleboard&func=view&id=507801&catid=1
there wasnt much fat on this piece either, top looked like the bottom and would have less black if i tented it with foil, but that doesnt bother me much, you just have to keep temps below 225, less lump, raised as high as you can

I've had the same experience with ribs cooking to a crisp (at 250) so I thought you were right too....then Dr Fishlessman steps out of his laboratory and proves otherwise.
go figure!

he's like our own "Mythbusters"

The dog is running free and the cat is in the doghouse?

I love it!

there is this false idea that the egg has to be full of lump, for a direct rib cook you only need 2 to 3 inches of used lump to cook ribs for 6 to 7 hours, not much gets used at all

if you can, get a pic of the pulled ham, ive seen alot of posts over the years that say it doesnt pull, thats another silly notion that needs squashing.

The owner of the local BGE dealership (RD at Outdoor Home) favors direct low and slows, too. He says he's too lazy to use "all that stuff", but I think his real intent is to show potential Egg'ers that it isn't as complicated as some of us try to make it.