BIG Smoke 6-20-18

Beefcake83

Fellow EGGheads, 

I have my rub down. 

I'll have my meat by weeks end.

I'm off all day. 

The question is how long will this smoke take...  

I'm going to have roughly 25-30lbs of trimmed pork shoulder along with 1, possibly 2 roasting chickens. 

 

Do you have any recommendations for types of wood to add for deeper flavor? i.e. cherry,peach? I've never smoked different meat profiles at the same time and want to make sure the type of wood added doesn't disagree with the meats natural flavor profile. With this quantity of meat how much longer in your experience does it take to smoke to the desired 190-195 degree internal temperature mark for pork? I believe for the chicken the temperature I'm looking for is 170 degrees, please correct if I am wrong!



The embedded pictures were from my fist attempt at a smoke pork should which turned out to be absolutely phenomenal!!! This was smoked for 6.5 hours at an average of 300 degrees.  




Thank you all in advance for any and all help provided! 

Brad

lkapigian

Much Variable there is . Is this going on an Egg? What is your planned pit temp? No Matter, Start early and give yourself time, you can always adjust the speed of the cook and the cooler/cambro is your friend . If in a Big Pit 20 pounds or a hundred pounds really does not matter, if you are cramming it in an egg, plan on some Egg Recovery time---------Flavors of wood, that is a preference , I pretty much stick with Oak no matter what I am doing

Relax, Enjoy the trip, PLEASE post your progress...I'm cooking for 100 Saturday Tri Tip and Chicken, I will have everything in the Cambro for several hours before serving

Beefcake83

@lkapigian

This will be on an XL BGE. Planned pit temp will be at 300-325 degrees. Now that's a big cook! I'll be sure to post as progress is made. I'll be able to smoke on 2 tiers inside the egg which should result in  the chicken on top and pork on the bottom. 

A friend of mine returned from Texas with some mesquite, I used some with a beer can chicken on the EGG and the combination of mesquite and whatever kind of wheat beer I used and the meat completely disagreed with each other and I ended up ruining the chicken. Not a good first smoking experience for chicken so mainly I'm trying not to replicate that disaster. 

When utilizing a Cambro (which I do not yet have) is there any concern of the meat drying out? 

Thanks for the advice and best of luck with your cook on Saturday... let me know how it goes! 

TEXASBGE2018

Timing wise that's only about 4 average sized butts and 2 chickens That's not overwhelming but what size egg is it? If its a large that's gonna be pretty tight. I always plan on 1-1.5 hours per pound for a typical 8lb butt. The fact that you have that plus 3 more and a couple chickens you could maybe say 1.5-2hrs per pound at Dome temp of 250. So say 14-15 hours. Now remember that's just a guess. They could end up cooking way faster (if you turbo them at 300+)or slower and your chickens are going to be done way before the butts so keep that in mind. The main thing is keep an eye on temps with a probe away from the bones or a Instant read thermo check every few hours. As far as smoking wood I agree. Stick with something like Oak or Hickory. They are medium on the profile. You could maybe even venture in to Pecan but its gonna be a lot stronger smoke. Peach and Cherry are very light and wont give alot of smoke flavor in general. Just don't open the lid a lot and only for 10-15 seconds to check your temps. Have fun and post pics. That's a lot o' meat.

TEXASBGE2018

Also, Remember that you need to cooler the butts wrapped in foil or butcher paper for a couple hours before eating. So add that rest time in to your plan. The chicken doesn't need nearly as long. I would plan on taking the chicken off at 165. The butts 195 is probably good because they will still cook a bit once you cooler them.

Beefcake83

@TEXASBGE2018

Perfect! The shoulder pictured in the initial post I just let rest outside of a cooler for a single hour and it was quite delicious. I'll be sure to wrap these up and put them inside a cooler for a couple hours. Thank you for the wood recommendations for this smoke... I'm looking forward to this event. It will be the largest I've ever personally cooked for (32 or so people). Very exciting! 

-Brad

TEXASBGE2018

Beefcake83 said:

@TEXASBGE2018

Perfect! The shoulder pictured in the initial post I just let rest outside of a cooler for a single hour and it was quite delicious. I'll be sure to wrap these up and put them inside a cooler for a couple hours. Thank you for the wood recommendations for this smoke... I'm looking forward to this event. It will be the largest I've ever personally cooked for (32 or so people). Very exciting! 

-Brad

Sounds like fun, and Welcome by the way!

TEXASBGE2018

I just noticed on your profile. We joined the forum the same day. You need to get to posting more   Also, you have your email displayed. Not sure if that was intentional or not but if not go to your settings on your profile and have it not show that.

lkapigian

what is your target serving time?

Foghorn

Poultry is easy to ruin with too much wood.  I've made chickens that taste like an ash tray.  I'd probably go light on the wood and just be OK with that for the pork.

Foghorn

Also, when you load that much cold meat onto your egg, it will make your dome thermometer read a number that is significantly lower than the temp on the lower grate.  That's OK.  It will eventually recover.  Trust the vent settings and the fact that you had the temp stabilized before you put the meat on.

lkapigian

Foghorn said:

Poultry is easy to ruin with too much wood.  I've made chickens that taste like an ash tray.  I'd probably go light on the wood and just be OK with that for the pork.

I agree with this--I do mine covered in the warming oven on the trailer low and slow comes out like a Confit, I just do thighs...lots of thighs

Beefcake83

@TEXASBGE2018 - Agreed sir! I also need to do some more smoking! 

@lkapigian - Target serving time is looking to be between 730-8pm. 

@Foghorn - Thank you sir! I like and agree with your perspective on this smoke using wood. 

I use a Maverick ET-735 digital thermo for the meat/pit probe. The last smoke I did my dome thermo was consistently reading 40-50 degrees higher than my digital pit thermo. I know heat rises but does that sound right to anyone? In looking at the dome thermo it could use a good cleanse to remove some of the built up sut. Any recommendations other than standard dish soap and elbow grease? 

As always thanks everyone for the insight! 
-Brad

lkapigian

@Beefcake83 have everything prepped and ready to rock the day before...I'd have the fie rolling @4am and plan a 4-5pm finish , plenty of time--I have also just set my pit grate temp  200 let it cruise and start it @ midnight....Other food for thought, if it is running fast and you can slow it down--if you have enough smoke on it, foil it and stick in in the oven @ 200

Enjoy the ride

Foghorn

Having your dome thermometer read 40+ degrees higher than your grate probe probably reflects 2 things.
1) You have good air circulation and your egg is not overburdened with a massive amount of meat.
2) Your grate probe is closer to the cold meat than your dome probe.

Neither of those is true when I load up my egg with lots of meat on multiple levels.  That's OK.  The mistake is to chase the temps on either probe really.  If you know your egg, and you know what vent settings it takes to get you in the ballpark of your target temp, and it was stable at that temp before you put the meat on - then let it ride and pretty much ignore the thermometers.

As the pork shrinks (and warms), the airflow will improve and the temps will start to make more sense.  Then you can add the chicken.

GaBGE

I like using peach wood, not sure if it penetrates the pork much but it sure smells good while cooking.

Beefcake83

@lkapigian - Thanks for the time frame sir. I'll have all the meat rubbed down and prepped the day before the smoke starts. . 

@Foghorn - I'll be sure to let the temp level out. My first couple smokes I was chasing the temp messing with the airflow and then dealing with high/lows that come with those adjustments. I'll be sure to keep an eye on the pork and put on the chicken once a noticeable shrink occurs on the pork. 

Theophan

@Beefcake83, your photos no longer show.  It seems to be a problem with hosting them on Google, because it's happened to others before.  Please post them directly on this forum, and we'll all be able to see them.  I never got to see any of your pictures before they disappeared.  There now are no photos at all in your post.  All I see now is this:

Beefcake83

@Theophan -  See pictures below... 

Theophan

@Beefcake83: thanks for reposting the pictures -- they were worth it!  Looks great!

saluki2007

TEXASBGE2018 said:

Also, Remember that you need to cooler the butts wrapped in foil or butcher paper for a couple hours before eating. So add that rest time in to your plan. The chicken doesn't need nearly as long. I would plan on taking the chicken off at 165. The butts 195 is probably good because they will still cook a bit once you cooler them.

Not to derail this thread, but FTC for a butt is not necessary.  You can pull it off the egg, throw on a cooling rack and wait until it cool enough to the touch to start ripping through it.  FTC will help if it's done early and you need to wait.  

TEXASBGE2018

saluki2007 said:

TEXASBGE2018 said:

Also, Remember that you need to cooler the butts wrapped in foil or butcher paper for a couple hours before eating. So add that rest time in to your plan. The chicken doesn't need nearly as long. I would plan on taking the chicken off at 165. The butts 195 is probably good because they will still cook a bit once you cooler them.

Not to derail this thread, but FTC for a butt is not necessary.  You can pull it off the egg, throw on a cooling rack and wait until it cool enough to the touch to start ripping through it.  FTC will help if it's done early and you need to wait.  

Ya my comment was mainly directed at pulling it off at 195. That's a little low for my tastes. I like it to be around 200. You could do as you said and just cool them on a rack but I just don't typically do that. I'm too used to Briskets where I feel its necessary to FTC.

Beefcake83

Right... I'm not sure where the FTC for a shoulder was recommended but... agreed with both @TEXASBGE2018 & @saluki2007 - I believe I'll rack them until they are cool enough to shred - same for the chicken. 

Thanks gents! 
-B

nolaegghead

IMHO, I find cooking to temp, with low and slows, inferior to a physical test of tenderness.  Brisket and butts get stabbed.  I completely ignore the temp once it's over 190 and go by feel.  Same with ribs.

Also, the amount of food you have in your smoker does not change the amount of time it takes per pound at a given temperature.  It does take, however, more fire and fuel to maintain whatever set point temperature you decide to cook at.

Another thing, you don't have to foil or wrap once you pull meat off the smoker (and that meat is cooked to completion).  It can be beneficial to allow it to keep cooking wrapped if you pull it off early and it needs more cooking.  I pull the meat off when it is done and immediately put on a cooling rack to cool.  Once it is cool enough to eat, I cut/pull it and serve.  If I need to hold it, I'll let it cool for 30-60 minutes and then wrap and put in a cooler. 

Once again, if you pull it early you can wrap it and let it keep cooking while you are doing your FTC hold and hopefully you got it right.

My 0.02 cents.

nolaegghead

Good read here:

https://www.foodfirefriends.com/bbq-myths-debunked/