Timing 7-8lb Butt on XL BGE for 1/2PM go time. TIPS/ADVICE/TRICKS?

nutshellml

Morning all, looking for some advice/tips as I'm somewhat new to the XL BGE.  I'm planning on bringing pork shoulder over to friends for a BBQ this weekend, BBQ is at 1/2pm, and i'm looking to avoid waking up in the middle of the night to start cooking.  Somehow I think it's unavoidable since it's about 1hr per 1lb, at 250degrees, since it puts me waking up around 5am to start going.  I checked the local grocery store and the bone in butts are around 6-8lbs.  How do you all do it any tips?  I know that it can stay in a cooler for about 2-3hrs...

SmokeyPitt

A butt will take 1.5 - 2 hours (approximately) at 250 degrees.  So, for an 8 lb butt you are looking at 12 to 16 hours.  I actually think 1-2 PM is the perfect serving time for a butt if you are doing an overnighter.  You could put the butt on an 9 or 10 PM and expect it to finish around noonish and into the FTC.  

lousubcap

Key to this cook is to have a stable BGE temp-wise once you start.  Stable for me means no vent movement for at least 45 minutes (unless you run with a controller then stable doesn't matter).  The second piece of the puzzle is the stable temp-if your BGE settles in at around 250*F then your time-frame is as described above.  If it settles in at say 270*F (dome thermo calibrated) then the time /lb goes down. It seems most BGE's have a low&slow sweet spot in the 240-260*F range.  
All the above said, you can see where you are in the AM and dial the temp into the low 300's to punch it home if needed.  And if finished, you can easily hold in a prepped cooler (pre-heat with hot water, then double wrap the butt in foil and fill the cooler air void with dryer warmed towels) for 6-8 hours.  Enjoy the ride.

Phatchris

I'd go 350 and the butt will take 5 hours.

SmokingPiney

The last butt I cooked was done right around 300. It took 8 hours to get to 200 degrees IT and I did a 2 hour FTC to hold it for dinner.