pork shoulder cook time

Bmeier

I will be cooking my first pork shoulder on my new xl green egg in the next few days and have a question on cook time. I bought an 11 pound shoulder from costco and it is actually 2 peicies of meat ofnapproximately the same size. My question is should I base my cook time to start at about 11 hours (5.5 lbs x 2 hours per pound)? 

I will be using an indirect set up at 225. Any other tips are also greatly appreciated!

Thanks,

Bob

lousubcap

Short answer-base your cook on the single weight/time of 5-6# at around 2 hrs/# at a dome of 250*F +/-.  There is a post below about first butt cook that should give you some additional info-enjoy the journey.

michigan_jason

I just got done with one yesterday, my 2nd. I keep my grate temp (probe clipped to the grate next to the butt) at 250-260 and it took me 8.5 hours for a 6.65lb but. Check the thread you will see all the tips I got and some pics.

http://eggheadforum.com/discussion/1139999/6-65lb-boston-butt#latest

Moulton_1924

The only thing I know about cook times is that it can vary wildly.  I finally did figure out that keeping a cooked butt at temp is easy:  Just toss in a preheated cooler and insulate with bunched up newspapers.  It'll stay at temp for 5+ hours.  If you're making a sauce then heat it up, put it in bottles and put that in too.  Now I target my butt to finish at least five hours before I want it.  If it takes longer than expected then I have a five hour window to get it done, if it finishes early then I toss it in the cooler.  No more stress!

However I still need to make an initial estimate and for cooking at 230 I use: 12 hours for the first 4 pounds plus a half hour for each additional quarter pound.

If you want to be Mr. Science about it I remember deriving a formula in school that cooking time increased by the two-thirds power.  For example if you knew that a six pounder took 16 hours then a ten pounder would take 16* (10/6)**(2/3) = 22.5 hours

GHS1282

They are two seperate pieces so you do not double the time. 5-7 hours should do it reaching an internal tempature of 192 degrees.