How many butts will fit?

[blackwelder_derek]

Relative newbie with a question for the more experienced.  I'm smoking pulled pork for about 50 people.  How many 8-9lb boston butts will fit in the black bradley smoker?  And is there a limit to how many/much I should try to smoke at one time? 

[rcger]

Someone with more knowledge is going to weigh in with the perfect answer, but if it were me, and I was smoking several butts, I'd just leave them in the Bradley for 3-4 hours of smoke.  Then I'd transfer them to a 225* oven and finish them  After all, after the smoke, that's all the Bradley is.  I would say you could probably get 2 per rack, but you're gonna have to skip a few levels due to the height of the butts.

[FLBentRider]

You can get four of them in there if you get creative.

[TedEbear]

I saw your question in the chat room a few minutes ago and sent you a PM but here's a copy of that:

blackwelder_dere: Does anyone know how many 8-9lb Boston Butts will fit in a Bradley smoker?

I've had 4 pork butts in my Bradley at one time. Two each on the same rack and the bottom and second from the top positions.  Remove the other two unused racks. If you just have the 500W single element they will take a long, long time to cook. 

You might put them all in the Bradley for the first 4 hours, or however long you apply the smoke, and then move at least two of them to your oven to finish cooking.  Maybe move the two largest ones to your oven and let the smaller ones finish in the Bradley.  Keep the cooking temp at 225*F for both the oven and Bradley and shoot for an IT of 195*F. 

I did that several weeks ago when I had to prepare 4 butts for a party.  They were all done between 10-14 hours. I have two 500W elements in my OBS.

Jeff

[blackwelder_derek]

Thanks a bunch for the replies, much appreciated.  Ya'll find that it pulls pretty easily at 195?  I took it that high once before and ended up having to cut it into pieces...

[rcger]

I like to pull mine out at about 190* and then FTC them.  They're going to continue to cook a bit.