Multiple Pork Butt Quetion

jgroes · April 2011

So I'm still very new to the forums and cooking with a BGE. Last week in my first post I described my first experience cooking on the large BGE, which was a ~9# butt. All in all it turned out very well, although I did end up chasing the temperatures a little more than I would have liked. Got a ton of great advice after my posts and should now be able to stabilize/control the temp easier.

However, I may have eyes bigger than my egg cooking ability

I signed up to do a slow and low this weekend for 3 9# butts on my large BGE. Couple questions came to mind when I got home from the store tonight with all three butts.

-I'm using a raised grid on top of the standard grid at gasket level (using plate setter with legs up). When I placed a butt on the top grid I realized it would sit very close to the top of the dome. I haven't been able to find anything on the forums using the search function that stated this is a bad thing or show stopper. Am I correct?

-The two butts on the bottom grid will bumping up to each other. In fact, you could say they'll be butt to butt. Again, I don't see this as an issue, but please correct me if needed.

-I know butts do not cook consistently from one to the next and the rule of thumb for 1 1/2 to 2 hours per pound is just that, a rule of thumb. Here's a silly question though. When cooking multiple butts, the cooking time should be roughly the same whether you are cooking 1 9# or 3 9# butts, correct? I know reaching stable cooking temp after placing the butts in will take awhile longer with more meat on the grill. I ask because I'm trying to roughly work backwards from when I want to pull the butts on the grill to when I should put them on. I'm thinking 14-16 hours for all three? Am I in the ball park?

-Lastly, I plan on cooking at a dome temp of 250F. Once stabilized for a good while I'll throw all three butts on. I know the temps will drop initially; how long is an ballpark guess for how long it will take to stabilize assuming the butts were left at room temp for an hour prior to placing on the grill?

Thanks so much in advance for the help.

Cheers,
Joe

Grandpas Grub · April 2011

Not necessarily in the correct order...

Figure cook time using the weight of the largest butt. 1.5 hr/lb is a good guide. Add the rest and remember the rest can be 4 to 5 hours if you wrap the butts in foil and then in a heavy blanked. Some will say use a cooler.

The butts will shrink when cooking and that will leave you some space between cooking. Many members have cooked butts stacked on top of one another touching through the entire cook. The only issue is that the the bark may be adversely affected.

Once your egg, w/platesetter is stable put the meat on the egg and let it be. Check the egg in about an hour or so and again a while after that. You shouldn't have to adjust any vents.

Let the egg do it's job and as you are cooking for someone else, if it were me I would check how things are going through out the night.

GG

jgroes · April 2011

Grandpas Grub wrote:

Not necessarily in the correct order...

Figure cook time using the weight of the largest butt. 1.5 hr/lb is a good guide. Add the rest and remember the rest can be 4 to 5 hours if you wrap the butts in foil and then in a heavy blanked. Some will say use a cooler.

The butts will shrink when cooking and that will leave you some space between cooking. Many members have cooked butts stacked on top of one another touching through the entire cook. The only issue is that the the bark may be adversely affected.

Once your egg, w/platesetter is stable put the meat on the egg and let it be. Check the egg in about an hour or so and again a while after that. You shouldn't have to adjust any vents.

Let the egg do it's job and as you are cooking for someone else, if it were me I would check how things are going through out the night.

GG

Gramps,
Appreciate the timely reply. I'll have two probes in the meat, one in the largest and one in the smallest. I did plan on using the cooler/blanket method if the smaller one, or ones on the bottom got done quicker. Seeing how I'm still learning the ropes I did in fact plan on getting up a few times to check the temps. Thanks again, I'll post pics when it's done.

Cheers,
JG

Pork Butt Mike · April 2011

Joe everyone has there way of doing butts. Two thing to me is most important. Slow and low is best IMHO, My temps I use is no higher then 225, and to make sure threw out the night you don't loose your fire, meaning going out. My average temp is 210 and I pull my butts when they reach 196 internal. Yes wrap them in foil then heavy bath towel then right in a cooler. Let set for 1 to 2 hours. When you on wrap them they should just about fall apart. I add a can a coke to it and chopped up raw onion. This is IMHO. Again everyone has there own little way of doing them, just don't make it a project and over think it. Enjoy doing your cook, pork butts you have lots of room for adjustments or mistakes. Enjoy have fun.

Chief Chef · April 2011

Sounds right. My last 8.5 pounder went 17 hours at 250 deg to reach 195 internal. Doing it for friends makes it a labor of love.

SmokeyPitt · April 2011

One more tip- make sure the dome thermometer is not in the touching or sticking in the top butt!

gdenby · April 2011

The butt on top will probably cook a little quicker. There is a measurable temperature change from the felt line to the top of the dome for several hours after a cooking session starts.

After placing a large mass of cool meat on the grill, I usually wait an hour to see if the temp has returned. Very large pieces of meat change the airflow, and sometimes require a vent adjustment.

Pieces of meat not touching each other cook for a duration appropriate for just their weight. Pieces pushed together act as one large piece. So, as your 2 lower butts cook, they will take somewhat longer until they shrink enough to have air space in-between.

I always check the fire temperature every 4 hours. Most times, its fine, but there have been a few where the fire is going out because it burned straight down.

Worse case scenario means you move the butts to the oven to finish, or at least keep them hot while re-building the fire.

stike · April 2011

like you mentioned, the meat itself cooks at the same rate when you have multiple butts (meaning three butts won't mean three times the length of cooking time).

but you may end up extending the cook an hour or two simply because when you add all that cold meat it will take a while to get back to temp.

i wouldn't worry, because a cook can be an hour more or less compared to the last one, even if there's nothing different. so many variables, i don't know if i would bother trying to plan for any extra time.

butts touching won't cause any extra time to be added to the cook.

Desert Oasis Woman · April 2011

Good morning, Joe
Been a while since I've done some butts, but did a 4 butt cook (33 #s) early in my EGGing career, too. It's a little nerve wracking when first cooking for others

But is also fun!
Learned that the butts in the back cooked a lot quicker than those in the front (all 4 were cooked on the same level over platesetter). Rotated grate about 2/3s into the cook and things evened out :cheer:
As for the resting, I typically just put the ceramic cap on and let the EGG cool off a few hours, then pull the butts from the BGE and straight to the pulling of the pork! Since there are no new holes to allow microbial entry, this method has worked well from the beginning for me. I add this time to the cooking time and also work backwards from estimated serving time.
Have fun -- it's kinda like checking on the new baby throughout the night :woohoo:

probe1957 · April 2011

I wonder if you stand your butts on edge if all 3 of them wouldn't fit on one level? That would eliminate a potential complication if they would.

Grandpas Grub · April 2011

Guessing your cook is done now. I will be interested in seeing and hearing about the results.

GG

jgroes · April 2011

Grandpas Grub wrote:

Guessing your cook is done now. I will be interested in seeing and hearing about the results.

GG

As a matter of fact, I just fired her up. After stabilizing ~230 I'll throw the two smaller cuts on the lower rack and the larger 10 pound on top. For the mean time I'm enjoying a Dogfish Head 90 Minute IPA.

Pics to follow as soon as I throw them on the grill.

Cheers,
Joe

jgroes · April 2011

The first pic is of my probe setup. First ET73 temp probe is on top, through the daisy wheel. Second probe is at grate level.

Second pic is of the larger butt just warming up slightly before placing it on the grill. I applied a generous helping of Dizzy Pig.

jgroes · April 2011

probe1957 wrote:

I wonder if you stand your butts on edge if all 3 of them wouldn't fit on one level? That would eliminate a potential complication if they would.

Thought about that but I got somewhat worried that at some point one of them may fall over as the cut shrinks. Didn't want to wake up to find all three had fallen on each other or on the inside of the dome.

jgroes · April 2011

So I've been watching my two temperature probes over the last 30 minutes as I'm waiting for the temps to stabilize. For some reason the grate temp was coming in at 246F and the top was coming in at 230F. I reset the probes, and sure enough the same readings.

Went and opened her up to take a look and I immediately saw the problem. My temperature probe on the grate was attached to a grill portion that stuck out past the plate setter. I was essentially in direct heat. I moved it towards the center and the grate temp fell below the dome temp.

So, I now have the grate at 233F and the dome at 243F. Just waiting a wee bit longer and then in they go.

Cheers,
Joe

jgroes · April 2011

Three butts on the grill. Here's to hoping I get a few hours of rest.

Cheers,
Joe

Multiple Pork Butt Quetion

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