IF I am going to do two Pulled Porks for a picnic and I want them to be done say 2pm Sunday I have a few questions:
1) What time Saturday should I start the smoke process so that I know they will both be done by 2pm. Figure (2) 6 lb butts . Typical mild summer day.
2) Is it true the lower rack butt will finish well ahead of the upper rack butt?
3) How long can I let one sit in the FTC and still serve hot?
4) I've heard the butts reduce in weight by 30%. What is the number of sandwiches I can expect to get from one 6 Pound butt?
Puckeater;
Welcome to the forum.
I can't help you with the times. Too many factors to consider and I don't take my internal temperature as high as others, and I generally don't FTC. There are many on this forum that can provide you with more helpful information.
But as to the weight, you can loose as much as 35% to 45%.
I'm with Habs. I smoke at around 200. I can however give you an answer to questions 2 and 3. If you do not rotate racks then the lower one will get done first. I have FTC'd for 4 hours and still could not pull with fingers because of the heat that was still there.
I'd start at about 5 to 6 pm the night before and aim for a target cooking temp of 210 to 220F (that's worked for me and has been low enough to accomplish the tenderness). Using the overnight method (Icerat4's technique) posted below, I would expect the first to finish by early morning (into FTC) and the other to be done by noon (also into FTC). You can pull them out at the picnic, shred them, and toss them with your sauce. Having made my best guess, I have to qualify time estimates. All kinds of variables can creep in to make the cooking time longer. Still, I think you should be safe if the meat is in the smoker by 5 or 6 the night before.
Here's the link: http://forum.bradleysmoker.com/index.php?topic=4528
Good luck to you!