need pulled pork shoulder advice

ponz

I am thinking about cooking a Berkshire bone in pork shoulder. The shoulder weighs 30 lbs and cooking times in a recipe I found states 1.5 hours per pound at 225. If this is true it means I have 45 hours of smoking ahead of me?? Any advice?

Jeffersonian

Fill your Egg full of lump and light in at least three places to minimize "tunneling" of the fire through the lump. Keep an eye on your temps, especially after 24 hours or so, to make sure you don't get caught with a fire running out of fuel. Other, more experienced Eggheads can correct me, but my bet is that you're going to need to refuel at some point.

vidalia1

Load lots of lump and I would shoot for 250-260 dome temp...it is an easier temp to reach and hold...

Can it be cut in half? Just asking.

Unknown

a 30lb shoulder? One honkin' big pig! Who told you it was a shoulder?

Weekend Warrior

Thanks Carey. I'm glad someone else said it first. A 350 lb. sow will produce about a 35# HAM give or take, so this butt must have been from hogzilla. I gotta see a pic of this thing.

Canugghead

I suspect it's a New York shoulder before it's separated into butt, picnic shoulder, plus more?

Grilling Away in ?

That is a big shoulder. If you can, get it cut in half or 4 pieces. The normal butts are 7 to 8 lbs. Then your cook would be about normal length of +/- 16 hours. If you can not cut it, I would suspect it will take +/- 24 hours to cook. You need to have a plan to be able to remove the beast and restoke your fire if it takes much longer in case your lump gets used up. I would have your cooler ready and some gloves to lift the beast, the grid and your platesetter to restoke. Good luck and send some pictures of the beast and let us know the length of your cook etc.

dhuffjr

Was thinking the same thing myself. We accustom ourselves into thinking shoulder is a butt or a picnic but it is really the whole shebang......and more at 35lbs :>O

dhuffjr

I cookem hotter. Cook at 275ish dome Give it 4-5 hours and you've got some bark and smoke going on that beast. I'd then double wrap it in foil and let er rip for another 4-5 hours and then poke it with your thermapen or other thermometer to see where you are at. If your getting close and your wanting a good bark you can take it out of the foil and even hit it with some more rub at that point. At 35lbs your hitting uncharted territory for most Eggers. Let us know how it works out.

fishlessman

sounds good to me, cook til it looks good and finished wrapped, could even increase the heat once wrapped, probably done fairly quick that way too. since ive never seen one, my question would be is it too long a piece to fit in an egg without cutting

Weekend Warrior

Couple other thoughts on this thread. It's almost impossible to fit a 20# butt/picnic combination on a large whole. Combined length becomes an issue if it's not cut apart. He could have an XL? A 30# butt/picnic combination would still be from a VERY LARGE pig. Much, much larger than normal slaughter size for a Berkshire pig. Just saying...... I hope he posts photos.

dhuffjr

Me too.....and how he cooks it and the time. Gonna be an epic one no matter how you look at it.

Little Steven

Mark,

Here's an eighteen pound one on a large for comparison.



Steve

Bordello

Are you using a large Egg or XL Egg???

I've done a 9+ lb butt in my large at 220 degrees dome and it took 23 hours, I had some lump left so may have gone close to 30 if needed.

That being said, different lump burns at different rates so like others have said, be prepared to refuel and that may be a job with a 30 lb. hunk.

Best of luck, hope you can post pictures.

Bordello

Weekend Warrior

My point eggsactly Steve.

Little Steven

Could be a hippopotamus shoulder

Steve

thailandjohn

I like to cook whole shoulders.
I have an XL Egg
Here are some pictures of one of the shoulders I cooked for 27 hours at 220 degrees It weighed 21 lbs I do use a Stoker for my long cooks and the temp is always within a couple of degrees during the entire cooking process.
I monitor the temps, (pit and internal meat) from my computer. I did nothing to the shoulder except used a rub. I cook with the skin side down and only raise the lid near the end of the cooking process
This is one great piece of meat to BBQ and you can feed many people and they love the presentation

Click below to go to the pictures: 6 pictures of the pork shoulder

http://www.imagesbyjohnvance.com/Barbeque/Backyard-BBQ-Food/8895898_7iocj#609883000_JaY5V

dhuffjr

Did it look like the picnic and butt together? I've never seen a whole pork shoulder myself in stores.

Little Steven

dhuffjr,

Yes that is a whole shoulder. New York shoulder is what it was sold as.



Steve

Little Steven

Yes, you are quite correct. I posted that picture for the name of the cut. I happened to do two that day, here is the other

Little Steven

So your previous post wasn't meant to be an insult?

Little Steven

I thought you were calling me on a post below where I called one at 18 lbs.