[Dave Russell]

Well, I put the five butts totaling 40.25 lb. on the pit last night at 9 pm, and took the last one off this afternoon about 18 hours later. WOW, what a cook. The two on the bottom weighed 8.5 and 9 lb., and the three on the top grate (leaning on their sides against the beer can chicken rack) averaged about 7 3/4.

What did I learn?

With that much meat on the cooker, water in the pan might not be a good idea if weather conditions are less than ideal. I went to bed with the vents wide open, lid vent temp at about 220, and woke up with it at 250 this morning, never touching the vents all night. I cocked the lid a couple of times before going to bed two hours into the cook, but after replacing the lid, both times the temp would go back down below 225. I said the heck with it and figured it would eventually go up as the meat warmed and the water went down some. I've never left all vents fully open all night, and no surprise, at ten this morning I added a chimney and a half to finish the cook. If it had been cold or windy, water would have made it near impossible to keep over 200, for the first few hours at least.

The real issue was the consistancy of the butts on the top grate. I should've flipped and rotated them this morning when I got up, but never do this and usually cook three or four at a time, no problem. The two on the bottom were fantastic, and moist, too, pulled at about 190 and 194. However, the top three had the bones sticking out and loose, but weren't tender all over.

I guess the point is that flipping/rotating meat is probably a good idea with a really full cooker. I look at it like this: One end or side is fully tender and moist, but starts drying out by the time that the other end/side is tender. I know it's one piece of meat and butts are supposed to be "forgiving", but does that make sense?

From now on though, I think I'll stick to four large butts. I'd be interested in any suggestions, though.