How many pork butts can handle a 55 gallon UDS?

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Mauricio

Is lookin for wood to cook with.
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I'm wondering if is possible to load a UDS with 12 pork butts, six on each grate without problems? I imagine that there will be a huge amount of drippings that might turn off the charcoal.
Has anyone made that many?
thanks! :-D
 
Last edited:
12!!! Dang!!

Simple answer is no. I can get 8 on mine if I arrange things right and use the lid of my weber kettle.

Now you could do 12 butts if you had 2 drums and did 6 on each. That would be a much easier feat.
 
Unless you have like 4lb butts its not going to Happen. I've had 4 8lb butts on 1 grate and they were very tight but once they cooked down they fit perfect
 
Thank you! I saw a picture on the big drum smoker site with 6 pork butts on one grate and was thinking about it.
Seems like is time to build a second drum smoker! where I live there are no offset smokers commercially available to manage large cookings.
have a great weekend.
 
Can you fit three grates in there? It seems like 6 butts on each grate would be tight unless they're small butts. If they're touching each other, they will take longer to cook.

Can you locate some kind of pan between the racks and coals to catch the drippings? I'm not sure if they'll be a problem bit if they land in a pan they can't be a problem.
 
Best I've done is 80 pounds on 2 grates. I may be able to get more if the sizes were right.
 
HankB said:
Can you fit three grates in there? It seems like 6 butts on each grate would be tight unless they're small butts. If they're touching each other, they will take longer to cook.

Can you locate some kind of pan between the racks and coals to catch the drippings? I'm not sure if they'll be a problem bit if they land in a pan they can't be a problem.
Click to expand...

Thanks Hank, I will try to fit as many as I can in a single rack, adding a second rack to place a dripping pan is something that I have had in mind a while ago, I preffer to mix the drippings back into the pulled pork. At least I would like to catch some of it.
 
MaximumJEFF said:
Four 8 pounders per rack is my max too. Butt, the top rack would take forever to cook
Click to expand...

This has been my main concern since I have to plan ahead the time I will start to have them ready by noon the next day, and leave the UDS free for another load of baby backs.
Seems like I will have to start earlier that I thought and let them rest in a cooler as they are getting done.
 
Mauricio said:
This made me think about the average yield per butt, so I guess you end up with 40 pounds of the finished product on a single session.
Click to expand...

80 pounds was pre cooked weight. I did not weight post cook weight.
 
Last month I cooked a case(10 butts) on my UDS's I cooked 5 per and think that would be most. I put 3 of the larger ones on the bottom rack and the smallest 2 on the top. I could probably do 6 butts per drum, but would have to select the smaller ones for the top.

pwa
 
I have done 6 on my drum with ease but when i tried 7 it added 2 hours to the cooking time. The temp stayed pretty constant i think the problem was airflow.went back to 6 the next time and no problems
 
I make and sell barrel type smokers and do believe you'd be better off using a 85gallon sized cooker to start with. My units are high airflow or convection type smokers, so cook times are not slowed down by big loads to the degree of a standard design. Eight on a 55gallon , with standard airflow(pipe nipples) would cause a concern of time delay and uneven cooking. Just bump up to the next size and you'll be able to cook as you want. When using my racks, thirty racks of spares can be done at once on a 85gallon model. It comes with three grates to use.So cooking eight butts at once is no problem. Good luck. Steve.
 
ssbbqguy said:
I make and sell barrel type smokers and do believe you'd be better off using a 85gallon sized cooker to start with. My units are high airflow or convection type smokers, so cook times are not slowed down by big loads to the degree of a standard design. Eight on a 55gallon , with standard airflow(pipe nipples) would cause a concern of time delay and uneven cooking. Just bump up to the next size and you'll be able to cook as you want. When using my racks, thirty racks of spares can be done at once on a 85gallon model. It comes with three grates to use.So cooking eight butts at once is no problem. Good luck. Steve.
Click to expand...

Thanks a lot for your advices, this helps explain the image that I saw with 6 large butts on a single rack was not from a 55 gallon but probably one with a large capacity.
 
Four of thos asses on one wrack atta time for me arranged something like the post above by biggs98.. Pull them off one at a time If needs be. They get rapped and tossed in the cooler when internals reach 195. Some may smoke longer than others, but 195 is the magic word as to who comes off and when. Let them rest wrapped in foil in the cooler for an hours or so. You won't be sorry you did.
 
I'm in the non diffuser camp but if you smoke 4 butts on one rack wouldnt that be a lot of juices hitting the fire? I love the pit taste but wonder if doing that many would alter the finished product?
 
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