Cooking PP for 40 - Please check my plans

TRex

<p />Just want to get all of the experts to approve my plan here. I'm going to buy three butts at an average weight of 8 lbs a piece. According to the BGE cookbook, this equates to approximately 60 sandwiches (the gender split will be roughly 20 men and 20 women).[p]I will be doing these on my Medium Egg, so I'm hoping I can get creative and fit all three on at one time.[p]If I go conservative should I assume 2 hrs per pound if I use a meat surface cooking temperature of 225? I assume I just use the average weight of the butts, or maybe the heaviest butt, to determine my total cooking time. So, maybe plan on 16 hours max cooking time.[p]The party starts at 5:00 on Saturday. So, if I start the cook at around 10:00 p.m. on Friday night, the butts should be finished at about 1:00 p.m. on Saturday. I could throw them in a cooler for three hours, then take them out and pull them at 4:00 p.m. in preparation for the party.[p]I guess the biggest variable in my mind is the cooking time. I've never cooked more than one butt at one time.[p]Thanks friends for your valuable input.[p]Cheers,[p]TRex

Salmon

<p />TRex,[p]French's French Fried Onions. Adds a nice crunch to your pork sandwich.[p]Rick

Dr_Redwine

TRex,
Make it 41 and where do I show up????? Sounds like you'll be fine to me. I haven't noticed any abnormal cooking times with multiple butts and I noticed you allowed yourself a little cushion just in case.
HTH....
DrR

Citizen Q

TRex,[p]I dunno if you'll fit em all on a medium at one time, the largest cook I've ever done on my large was two 11 lb picnic shoulders on the main grate with a 17 lb brisket on a raised grid above, very tight fit. I held between 200 and 210 dome throughout the cook for a total of 24 hours to bring them in.[p]I've found that the more pieces I do at one time the longer it takes. Example: one 10 lb shoulder might take 18 hours but two 8 pounders don't finish for 22 hours cooking at the same dome temps. You might want to do one a day ahead, reheat and mix in with the other two when you pull them hot.[p]You should definitely plan on longer than 16 hours though, and be ready to kick the dome up to 250 or 275 after you clear the 165 internal mark if you need to speed up the finish.[p]Good Luck & Cheers,
C~Q

BBQfan1

TRex,
I would definitely consider going a bit higher with the temp at the onset because that's gonna be a full house of cool meat to get up to sweatin' and renderin' temps. It wouldn't hurt to be 250°F. It's a very forgiving cut when it comes to temp surges and drops, so I'd opt for going on the high side.
As my buddy reg always says, "Better to be lookin' at 'er than lookin' for 'er!" Never truer than when you have a hungry crowd waiting on dinner, and if it is done a bit early, it holds like a charm in the cooler too as you know...
Good luck,
Qfan[p]

DTM

Yo T,
Throw on more meat. 3/4 lb raw weight/per person for butt and I usually do some plus unless this is a vegetarian crowd. You cook Q good and folks will pig out and you will be a cooking star. Fishboy's onion rings will be an over the top thing and put out Chez's Piedmont sauce. Give out left overs in the 1qt freezer ziplocks you bring along.
Sides???
DTM[p]As I tried to find the link I caught a Chez sidebar that added some chipotle powder.

[ul][li]Chez's Piedmont[/ul]

Unknown

I would cook and pull them at least a day ahead of time. Reheat before the party. Leaves you lot's of time to enjoy the function and get everything else ready. Could have a couple of butts for show and let folks tear apart at the party. Plan on extra pp and give away the extra or freeze.

Brobear

Citizen Q,[p]I recently did four butts on the large, and it took 6 hours longer than I thought. So I would definately plan on over 20 hours. The temp in between those butts will be cool for a long time. There will also be a ton of fat dripping down the sides that may affect your temps. My temps seemed to fluctuate more than usual with all the meat mass, and I would not worry if your dome temps get a little higher than you like. I kept messing with the temps, and at the end I realized letting the dome temp run around 275 would have been better (of course the cooking temp in spots between the butts will be a lot less).[p]Have fun

Smoked Signals

TRex,
24 lbs of butt is right on ... but all on a medium might be darn near impossible. If you can do it ... please take a picture.[p]Best I have done is (2) 9.5 lb'rs on my medium and they were touchin the sides and got a little dry there (gasp).[p]Doug

fishlessman

TRex,
ive packed in lots of meat before with out having air spaces to make it fit, after they cook for a while they will be smaller and you can separate them with grills etc. i dont have a medium, will 3 of those fit scrunched together

SSN686

Morning TRex:[p]It is not impossible to get three 7 to 8 lb. butts on a medium, but it is crowded. I have done it twice on my medium (unfortunately it was before I had a digital camera so no pictures). If I remember correctly, I had a platesetter (feet up), drip pan on platesetter and regular grid on platesetter. I then arranged the three butts such that they were standing on end rather than laying flat. I also used toothpicks to help separate them where they would be touching each other at the tops. Timewise it was maybe one to two hours longer than the times I had done only two butts. HTH[p]Have a GREAT day!
Jay

thirdeye

TRex,[p]My yields have been decreasing in the last couple of years, I don't know if I'm using fattier butts with more waste or being pickier when pulling it or what. (I'm not using pumped butts). But even with a safety factor built in in, you should yield 12 to 14 pounds easily, which is somewhere between 38 and 45 sandwiches. (I usually overshoot the amount needed and buy some of those styro go-boxes and plan on some people taking some home). You did not say If you are doing the serving or if it is going to be a serving line. And you did not mention sides. It did not sound like any kids were involved in this feed (I usually cook a bunch of dogs for them).[p]Anyway...A couple of thngs I've noticed: If I buy the small buns, or the thick texas sliced white bread to control portions, some guys will make two sandwiches instead of one. With large buns, some folks overload them. With all of the new diets that are so popular, some people are now meat eaters only, they skip the buns, chips etc., but take two portions of the meat. [p]~thirdeye~

Unknown

TRex, Figure on 12 lbs. eatable PP from 24 lbs. butts. Figure 1/4 lb. per person, which makes 48 sandwichs out of you 24 lbs. of butts. To cut down on portion size, put you pork at the end of the serving line, that way they will fill their plate with slaw, beans, tater salad, and will be likely to get less meat.

Greendriver

TRex, don't believe 3 will fit either. I put 3 teh same size on the large and they were touching the dome on just about all sides. They were sitting on top of a brisket, but them are thin and don't take up a lot of space.

TRex

After reading all these good tidbits of knowledge, I think I've decided to do two cooks, each with 2 butts. Plan is to try to cook two Thurs. night and the other two Fri. night. May have to work a half day Friday or something to make this work out. I'll be sure to post results.[p]Thanks again to everyone. What a great forum.[p]TRex[p]P.S. - I also need to start planning the sides!!!

Spring Chicken

TRex,
And just how are you going to do all this when your lump is in my garage? hee hee Maybe I should hold it hostage for a taste of the good life. Naaa... just joking. I've got a neighbor BD party to go to anyway.[p]Sounds to me like you got all the good advice you need. Hope it turns out as good as everything else you try on the Egg.[p]Spring "ABT's For Lunch" Chicken
Spring Texas USA

TRex

Spring Chicken,[p]Believe me, I was trying to figure out a way I could make it up there this week but I don't think I can manage it - guess I'll have to do these with the lump I've already got.[p]TRex