Smoking Multplie (5) Small Pork Butts

[Splash]

Good morning everyone.  I am going to be smoking some pulled port tomorrow for a large group.  Unfortunately I was only able to find smaller pork butts instead of a couple entire shoulders.  I ended up with five butts, that are all around 3 or 4 lbs each.

Now Ive read that a rule of thumb is to smoke them for about 1.5 hours per pound at around 225.  (Please correct me if Im wrong here).  I was wondering though if I need to add time to this to account to the multiple pieces, or is it a factor that once its up to temp then I should be fine (I have a Bradley Original).

Based on this, my thoughts were that this would only take about 6 hours on the smoker?  I would like to have them done a bit early to be sure so Ill likely allot 8 hours or so.

Does anyone have thoughts on this that might help me out?

Thanks.

[beefmann]

with you  having  5 butts, they will all  get  done at  different times due to the nature of  the  meat,  the   smoker,,, the way the  meat is stacked in the  smoker,, I also believe you  are  on the  right track,,  smaller  pieces due cook  quicker...

what  i would do is use 2 to 3 racks,,,  most  likely 3  racks starting at the  bottom with  the two largest buts... then them next two largest and the  smallest  on the  top rack... place all the   racks up as far as   possible  leaving the very bottom shelf support empty.

set the   smoker tower at  225 F..  smoke for  no  more  then 4 hours .. at the   end of the smoking  process start  monitoring the temperatures  of the meat starting with the  bottom  butts... and rotate the  meat from  front to  back if  needed .. and  continue to  cook till done... pulls the  buts when  they are   ready.... again  plan for them all to get done at different  times...

I  have done 5  cured  pork  loins  in the  past  and it was almost and hour and  half  difference from  when i  pulled the first  one  till i  pulled the   last,,, they ranged in  weight  from 4.5  lbs to 5.3 with the  largest  on  bottom...

this is  only my  two  cents...

[tskeeter]

Splash, since you've got between 15 and 20 pounds of meat, cooking your pork butts is probably going to take longer than 6 hours.  I'm guessing in the 8 hour range.  You're talking about a pretty good load of meat and you need to consider that a stock Bradley has a relatively  small, 500 watt, heating element. 

To help speed things along, don't move your pork directly from the fridge to the smoker.  Let the pork temper on the kitchen counter for an hour or two before putting it in the smoker.

I often use a foil wrapped brick or two tucked in out of the way spots in the smoker as heat sinks.  Since they are preheated along with the smoker, they hold a lot of Btu's that can be transferred to the meat when it first goes into the smoker.

I, too, generally plan to have the meat fully cooked well in advance of when it will be served.  As each piece of meat gets done, I start it on the FTC (foil, towel, cooler) process.  I've held pork shoulder this way for 4 hours and it was still too hot to pull easily with my bare hands.

Another option would be to move the pork to your house oven to finish cooking, once the smoking part of the process is completed.  This lets you take advantage of the additional heating capacity available in an oven.

If you want to complete the cooking process in your Bradley, rather than the oven, keep your puck burner operating after you have completed the smoking phase of your cook.  The puck burner adds 25% to the heating capacity of your smoker and continuing to run the puck burner doesn't seem to have any effect on it's service life.  Several forum members make a practice of keeping their puck burner operating all the time the heating element is on.

Good luck with your smoke.  Your guests are in for a real treat!

[Splash]

Thanks for the helpful advice everyone.  Ill follow your tips and see how it goes.

Now if only I could find larger pork shoulders in my neck of the woods.

[tskeeter]

Thanks for the helpful advice everyone.  Ill follow your tips and see how it goes.

Now if only I could find larger pork shoulders in my neck of the woods.

I buy boneless pork shoulder at Costco.  Packed two to a cryopack.  Normally about 7 - 8 pounds each.

[watchdog56]

ALSO PUT A FOIL PAN UNDER YOUR BUTTS TO CACH YOUR JUICES. AFTER THE SMOKE YOU WILL WANT TO CHANGE THE LIQUID OUT. YOU CAN USE PLAIN WATER OR ADD APPLE JUICE FOR SOME FLAVOR.