What's the most you've put in that there Bandera?

[texashaze]

I made an open offer to smoke some butts for my coworkers only thinking 1 or 2 would take me up on it. To my suprise 7 people want one not including my own. How many butts can you cook at once? Is the cooking time affected? Do you use more wood?

And on that same note whats the max y'all have put in there??

texashaze

[willkat98]

8 butts, you'll need at least 4 racks. If you got more racks, you can spread'em around a bit more and get better circulation (in my opinion)

Might need to rotate a couple, top to bottom.

8 of them, that sounds like fun. I'd need to go out and get a few more probes though. Not sure about needing more wood. Probably, cuz the butts on top will take a little longer (I think)

I'll have to think a few minutes on what my max was

[chad]

You CAN DO IT (to quote the Cajun from The Water Boy). You don't need a thermometer for each butt (sorry to disagree Bill). Just one at the top and one at the bottom and average them out :D

Because of circulation you may need more wood/charcoal to keep the heat up -- especially early when the pork is cold.

Cooking time shouldn't be affected too much -- but if you follow the usual method of cook to 160ish and then foil to 195 you will be ok. The foil will help hold the heat -- but do have at least a couple of thermometers going and check them all. A couple of electronics would be nice -- but get a Taylor instant read ($8-12 for analog) and check several before pulling.

If you take the meat to about 195 in the foil and then take 'em out and put them in the cooler(s) for a couple of hours you'll be fine. Let 'em come down to at least 160 (160 is real hot to pull) maybe 145 and then pull and finish the pork.

You'll do fine -- don't overthink it!!

Oh yeah, don't keep opening the cooking door chamber :D - be one with the pork grasshopper - trust your intuition, trust your thermometers, trust your fellow monks (????) I mean Brethren when they tell you to allow 1 to 1.25 hours per pound (average weight - not total!).

Have fun and stay sober enough to do the pork justice :mrgreen:

[BBQchef33]

my opiion.. technique.. what ever u want to call it. zig zag em in the chamber to allow the best airflow. 6-8 is definately max. Rotate top to bottom at least 3-4 times. You looking at about 10 hours total time in the chamber, so every 1.5-.52hours, I would rotate them. You may use a little more fuel cause your opening the door. You'll also notice a slightly larger difference in top to bottom temps than your accustomed to because of the lessened airflow. Bandera calls for food every 45 minutes to an hour, so when I'm coming to a refuel point, I wuld prep a small chjimney of lump or (kingsford), just a little bit to add to the firebox with a log to speed recovery time of the temps after opening, but not enuf to overheat once temps ar back up.

[Mark]

You CAN DO IT (to quote the Cajun from The Water Boy). You don't need a thermometer for each butt (sorry to disagree Bill). Just one at the top and one at the bottom and average them out :D

Because of circulation you may need more wood/charcoal to keep the heat up -- especially early when the pork is cold.

Cooking time shouldn't be affected too much -- but if you follow the usual method of cook to 160ish and then foil to 195 you will be ok. The foil will help hold the heat -- but do have at least a couple of thermometers going and check them all. A couple of electronics would be nice -- but get a Taylor instant read ($8-12 for analog) and check several before pulling.

If you take the meat to about 195 in the foil and then take 'em out and put them in the cooler(s) for a couple of hours you'll be fine. Let 'em come down to at least 160 (160 is real hot to pull) maybe 145 and then pull and finish the pork.

You'll do fine -- don't overthink it!!I smoked 16 relatively large whole chickens at once for a wedding reception in my Bandera (4 per rack). Assuming they are similar sized butts, I see no reason you can't do 16. I've smoked whole pig on occaision as well (cut up). In other words, you can smoke as much at once as you can fit in there. But you need to allow some room for circulation.

Regarding your other questions :

Multiple small roasts will take much less time than less roasts (or 1 roast) of the same total weight.
A stuffed full smoker will allways take more time and fuel than a less full smoker.

[rbinms33]

Phil said the key word several times in his post....ROTATE. Not just top to bottom but side to side as well. Just pull the rack out and rotate it 180 deg when you move it to another level. That oughta even things out.

Also, make sure you start the water pan off with hot water. That'll save you on your "come up to temp" time.

[gpavloff]

You guys are not gonna believe this --
I've got 8 racks all together. We put four butts per rack on 4 racks, totalling 16 butts; yeah, it was crowded and not ideally, but we got 'em done. The worst part of that was getting them all pulled.

I've also done 24 racks of baby back ribs - 3 per rack; and once we did 16 turkey breasts! You can also load up a bunch [never counted] of chicken wings - I've never done a whole smoker full of wings -- but all 8 racks would fit a slew of 'em.

Pav

[willkat98]

I just got 2 four pund butts at .99#.

I love these smaller butts.

I can fit 3 or 4 on each shelf!!

Can;t wait to try them

[texashaze]

In the words of my smallest son's favorite cartoon Dora "We did it! We did it!" :D

10 hours of smoking and 3 hours of pulling later, I smoked 7 butts weighing 8 pounds each and a salmon yesterday. Holy smoke Batman! Smokin' was easy, pullin' sucked!

Everyones suggestions worked especially the rotating and foil tips. Thanks. Man that foil really does it.... I can't tell you how many times my patience has been tested waiting between 160 till 190's. The foil did it in an hour! The rotating helped out on the temp diffs in the chamber.

Wished I had one of big Al's baskets and one of those Nu therms... gotta save and wait till payday for those.

Also, any ideas on better ways to pull? Don't laugh but I use fingers and a fork.

My biggest observation to share - use boneless butts. I had both in there. The bone-in ones were harder to pull. The boneless ones had more surface area exposed which meant more smoke ring and flavor. Plus the boneless were easier to pull.

texas(I can't move my fingers today)haze

[slat]

I remove the bone from my butts before smoking. I will buy boneless butts, but only if they are at a good price. Why pay the meat man for what I can do.

[racer_81]

Texashaze,

Somebody, somewhere on here, posted a link to some pulling utensils called "bear claws".

I haven't tried them but they look like they would make pulling a snap.

Anybody remember those?


Eugene

[parrothead]

Anyone ever see an old time chicken plucker? I'll bet that if you hold a butt up to that thing it will pull and shred the living crap out of it.

[Solidkick]

I hear a "spork" from KFC does a nice job.

[willkat98]

I hear a "spork" from KFC does a nice job.

Glad your paying attention Mr. Kick. Spork is my "go to" puller.

Mary has a pair of claws. What is your opinion of them Phil.

[gpavloff]

If I'm cookin' butts for friends I leave 'em in the foil and let them do the pullin'. I came to this great revelation the same way that you have - hours of pullin' and sore arms for 2 days.
Otherwise, the best thing I have found to date is the bear paws. Another thing that I do to make pullin' easier is to let 'em cook til they get 200 to 205 degrees. I have found that 10 -15 degrees can make things alot easier.

Pav

[Mark]

Good technique Pav; let your friends do some of the work. Let em bring the beer too.

BTW: Where in Southern IL are you?

[chad]

Anyone ever see an old time chicken plucker? I'll bet that if you hold a butt up to that thing it will pull and shred the living crap out of it.

Greg
middle coast chapter

Greg;
Is this the type contraption you mean?? We used to use one similar to this when I was in FFA. The one I used was hand held but same idea.

[parrothead]

Yeah, something like that, cept the one I saw was a stand up model. Huge. Maybe take those nipple thingys off and attach some bear claws to it

[BigAl]

Texashaze,

Somebody, somewhere on here, posted a link to some pulling utensils called "bear claws".

I haven't tried them but they look like they would make pulling a snap.

Anybody remember those?


Eugene

:shock: Here is a link, don't remember where I got my claws. I did one butt but wife had put em away and I couldn't find them when I needed to pull, so I just "forked" it.


http://www.bbq-tools.com/store/moreinfo.cfm?Product_ID=51

P.S. Your Basket is almost ready for shipment :!: :wink:

[chad]

I can see where the claws would help, but I use heavy rubber gloves and pull and shred by hand. That way I'm cleaning the connective tissue and excess fat or waste as I go. The pork has always been so tender that I don't need the forks or claws to actually pull the pork -- mostly I use utensils to protect from the heat :D I've got the heavy blue/black rubbermaid glovesright now but am planning on getting the heavier 250 degree rated all black gloves soon.

[texashaze]

I remove the bone from my butts before smoking. I will buy boneless butts, but only if they are at a good price. Why pay the meat man for what I can do.

Costco had boneless pork butts for $1.09/lb which was too good to pass up. Someone else mentioned Fiesta's 99c/lb which is where I go now. I think though I'll loadup on Costco's boneless when they're in.

T-haze

[MikeG]

Pulling pork:: About ten years ago and friend of mine and I were Qing about 200 chicken halfs and realized we didn't bring gloves. The Porto Toilet guy was unloading three portables nearby so...we talked him out of a couple of pairs of gloves. They are great , they are elbow length, strong but flexible with little rubber bumbs for gripping. I still use mine...the logo is eye catching...have fun...Find the toilet guy and get you some gloves....you won't believe some of the looks you get!!
MikeG:idea:

[Mark]

DFLittle wrote: "Is this the type contraption you mean?? We used to use one similar to this when I was in FFA. The one I used was hand held but same idea."

I wonder if either can be modified with a roll of Charmin.

[chad]

I wonder if either can be modified with a roll of Charmin.


Probably but you'd definately want Aloe and Vitamin E -- whoo haw!! :D

[Stucue74]

You guys are not gonna believe this --
I've got 8 racks all together. We put four butts per rack on 4 racks, totalling 16 butts; yeah, it was crowded and not ideally, but we got 'em done. The worst part of that was getting them all pulled.


Pav


Where do you guys get your extra racks? I need to buy a couple extra for doing jerky and peppers.

bryan

[brdbbq]

http://tinyurl.com/2cllw

Follow the above link to our files section. There will be a PDF doc there on how to order spare racks.

[Stucue74]

http://tinyurl.com/2cllw

Follow the above link to our files section. There will be a PDF doc there on how to order spare racks.


Well, I called th numbers Bill posted in the file section for the additional grates and talked with less than intelligent customer service reps that insisted that the $23.20 price was for 1 grate, not a pair like Bill got. Has anyone else tried to order these through this number? I called both numbers talked to two people and they both said the same thing. By the way....these are for the smoke chamber, not the fire box right?

thanks.

[willkat98]

Just ignore them. They are idiots.

I had to walk them threw there own screens.

They are sold in sets of 2. She sees 1pc, which is the number of boxes.

First she tried to sell me the ones that were $10.50 each. The 23.20's are what you want.

Thats is a call center that screams to be moved off shore.

[BigAl]

Just ignore them. They are idiots.

I had to walk them threw there own screens.

They are sold in sets of 2. She sees 1pc, which is the number of boxes.

First she tried to sell me the ones that were $10.50 each. The 23.20's are what you want.

Thats is a call center that screams to be moved off shore.

Off shore = "swinning in the sea of idiots" yada, yada, yada...Farkers

[G$]

Soon (Next month or so), I am going to try 80 pounds in a bandera at one time.

[willkat98]

Soon (Next month or so), I am going to try 80 pounds in a bandera at one time.

It took 2 years to decide this?

:grin:

[G$]

It took 2 years to decide this?

:grin:

This is a weighty decision.

[willkat98]

This is a weighty decision.

that was pretty bad :-P