18# pork loin, rough smoking time?

MonteLSx

Hey guys, I've done plenty of shoulders and butts, never a loin. My MIL bought us an 18# loin and it is taking up an entire shelf of the fridge, so we plan on cooking it tomorrow or Sunday. I know you cook to temp (seeing many pulling it at 135-140 and resting), but I'm looking for a rough cooking time so I can schedule when to put it on. Plan on having it for dinner and going indirect at 250-275. I've also seen 20-30 mins per pound, so would it make sense to cut it in 1/2?

Typically when we do pulled pork the time is all over the place due to the stalls, but I get it done early, wrap it and place it in a cooler for a couple of hours before serving. I would assume I can do it with the loin as well if it is done early, right? Sorry for the stupid ?s, just my first loin and we are having my parents over for their anniversary, don't want to serve dry ass pork.

Thanks guys.

dharley

At 275, I would schedule it to cook for 5-6 hours.

You can certainly FTW a loin. I think up to two hours would be really safe. I would also add some liquid to the foil to ensure it didn't dry out (as you mentioned). Maybe apple juice/cider seasoned with some rub and honey?

I would cut it in half just so it was easier to handle. Also, at 18#, it must be 26-30" long. You'd have to get creative to make it fit whole. (I'm assuming you have a Large or XL)

Good luck and welcome!

Gulfcoastguy

Maybe others differ but I usually don’t do a low and slow on pork loin. Plus that is a truly massive one. Have you compared the length to the Egg diameter? Hopefully someone else can help you . My approach would be to cut it into 4 pieces and do them raised direct and pull them at a temperature of 150 degrees. Some people like to stuff them .

MonteLSx

Thanks guys. I have a large and yes, the thing is just over 2 feet long and would need to curl to fit in the large. I've seen 50-50 of going direct vs indirect. I was planning indirect since the kids and I will be doing a lot of stuff in the garage and around the house and planned on having my Flame Boss do most of the work. Then I could monitor it from my phone. We'll try cutting it in 1/2 or 1/3s.

SmokeyLopey

Cooked a much smaller one (3lbs) last week indirect at 300 with pecan wood and took just over an hour. Rubbed with Four41 South Honeysuckle.

MonteLSx

Yum, looks awesome. Thanks

lousubcap

Once the length gets past the diameter the cook time is the same. I would definitely cut in half (or slightly less depending on total crowd and desire for left-overs).

Give the search function a look for a good pork roulade (stuffed) recipe to really up the game.

I would cook indirect at around 350-375*F and pull around 140*F. FWIW-

jtcBoynton

Plan on having it for dinner and going indirect at 250-275. I've also seen 20-30 mins per pound,

Time to cook depends on thickness, not weight. It will not take 20-30 minutes per pound. It will be done a lot sooner than that. Think in terms of a couple of hours, not six. A lot of the recommended times for pork cooking seem to be left over from the olden days when pork shoe leather was the recommended cooking way.

MonteLSx

Shoe leather, that one made me chuckle. Thanks guys, I think I'll start it a little after lunch and see where I'm at, if I find it's going to be done later than dinner, I will go over to direct and finish her off. Then next time I will have a basis at least. Wouldn't mind if it was just my wife and I, don't want to mess up my parent's anniversary dinner :)

msloan

I don’t do a lot of pork loins but when I do it’s usually around 275, indirect, no wrap, done in 2-3 hours depending on size of the loin. But based on what you describe that is about the same size we buy.

GoldenQ

I cook pork loins at 300-325 indirect and it it usually rather quick about 1-11/2 hours. they dry out too much at lower temps