6 Butts Hanging in Hunsaker and 3 in Egg

[Jason TQ]

Got a friend doing a fundraiser at work or something and they needed some extra pork so I'm cooking some butts today. Got 5 whole ones and 20lbs of pulled to finish off.

Got the smokers ready yesterday




Butt from RD. There is one of the 10 I'll save for an event as the MM is massive


Not the biggest ever but I like this one


Fired up and they will go on around 9am




Keep that smoke white and billowing

[rwalters]

Fun pics and looks like you are off to a great start! Love the last one w/ the smoke rolling :)

Glad you are able to help your buddy... nicely done!!

From your experience, which of the 2 cookers produces a better end result when smoking butts?

[bgross88]

I've been very happy with the butts I've gotten at RD in the last 12-18 months as well.

Good luck on the cook.

[jasonjax]

Very nice!

[Jason TQ]

Game time edit (changed the title)..........now 6 butts hanging and 3 in the XL Egg. The butts I was putting in the egg were the 11+ lb'ers and 4 wouldn't fit. This is a cool scenario because show the capacity of hanging vs on one rack.

But I will say this too.......when those 6 butts hit the hunsaker it went from 325 to 200 and sat there until I re-opened everthing and is taking maybe 20minutes to get back up. That egg with all the heat retention didn't blink a degree from 300. So pros and cons to everything. Not that I consider drums taking 20mins to come back up a problem over a long cook.

Here's the hunsaker after loading 5 butts thinking 4 would go on the egg


3 went on the egg.....


6 total on hunsaker


And that is 6 good sized butts ranging from 8-11lbs and they all fit nicely. Not over crowded. We'll see how it goes. Going to wrap everything after maybe 3hrs or so. Might finish some butts in the oven after wrapping since 6 wrapped in the drum might not work

[wmarkw]

Hey Jason can you comment on the quality of pork from RD? Do you know who the packager is by chance? Was reading the unmarked mystery ribs from Sams thread and wonder if RD falls victim to this as well. Just curious.

You saving that MM for Sip & Swine?? lol Enjoy the smoke day!

[rwalters]

Originally Posted by Jason TQ

Game time edit (changed the title)..........now 6 butts hanging and 3 in the XL Egg. The butts I was putting in the egg were the 11+ lb'ers and 4 wouldn't fit. This is a cool scenario because show the capacity of hanging vs on one rack.

But I will say this too.......when those 6 butts hit the hunsaker it went from 325 to 200 and sat there until I re-opened everthing and is taking maybe 20minutes to get back up. That egg with all the heat retention didn't blink a degree from 300. So pros and cons to everything. Not that I consider drums taking 20mins to come back up a problem over a long cook.

Here's the hunsaker after loading 5 butts thinking 4 would go on the egg


3 went on the egg.....


6 total on hunsaker


And that is 6 good sized butts ranging from 8-11lbs and they all fit nicely. Not over crowded. We'll see how it goes. Going to wrap everything after maybe 3hrs or so. Might finish some butts in the oven after wrapping since 6 wrapped in the drum might not work

Love it! Curious... having never cooked on a Hunsaker, do you anticipate a good amount of grease dripping from the air intake vent on the bottom of the barrel? Maybe unwarranted, but that’s the only part of the design that has kept me from seriously considering a Hunsaker as much as I love everything else I see.

[Jason TQ]

Originally Posted by rwalters

Fun pics and looks like you are off to a great start! Love the last one w/ the smoke rolling :)

Glad you are able to help your buddy... nicely done!!

From your experience, which of the 2 cookers produces a better end result when smoking butts?

This answer starts with the generic boring "it depends" answer . The drums definitely give it more smoke flavor and it is common for folks to say the egg produces more mild smoke (I agree there).

I'm playing around with some more wood in the Egg today to see what happens. It just burns so efficiently the wood doesn't combust and put off as much smoke as other cookers.

I like the product off both and it is all personal preference to how you like flavor. I do use my drums at home the most when I am smoking as I do like that end more "smokey" flavor, but the egg still rocks.

Some say the egg/kamados is a jack of all trades and a master of none, but that isn't true. Maybe not the best at getting full smoke flavor, but crushes grilling, pizza, other baking, wings, etc. I have had some good results with indirect smoking where charcoal is off to one side and no baffle. But you can't do a lot of meat that way.

[Jason TQ]

Originally Posted by wmarkw

Hey Jason can you comment on the quality of pork from RD? Do you know who the packager is by chance? Was reading the unmarked mystery ribs from Sams thread and wonder if RD falls victim to this as well. Just curious.

You saving that MM for Sip & Swine?? lol Enjoy the smoke day!

IBP has been most of what they carry for butts that I see. The butt I sealed up looked great and had lots of marbling.

And probably won't be for sip & swine as I stay busy enough vending for the charity, but..........i'm considering doing both this year as my crew can run the show without me. They know what they are doing.

[Jason TQ]

Originally Posted by rwalters

Love it! Curious... having never cooked on a Hunsaker, do you anticipate a good amount of grease dripping from the air intake vent on the bottom of the barrel? Maybe unwarranted, but that’s the only part of the design that has kept me from seriously considering a Hunsaker as much as I love everything else I see.

No. I have nothing under the smoker right now. People will use drip tray and I have, but that is mostly for drippings coming through where the wheels are connected. But after a bunch of cooks they seal up well. A lot of time I will toss some foil underneath.

All cookers have their clean up nuances and you just have to figure out what you want to deal with and what cooker is for you. Great question.

[D&D BBQ]

Doesn’t the Hunsaker have slots for 2 grates so you could get 3-4 butts per grate and therefore no need to hang (assuming you have 2 grates)? That’s what I do on my Gateway clone UDS. Also use a Gateway deflector as I’ve been told that more than 2 butts can cause temperature swings with a lot of grease hitting the charcoal directly. You haven’t found that to be the case?
Nice looking butts, btw! Love the color on those.

[Jason TQ]

About 1:45 in here

[Jason TQ]

Originally Posted by D&D BBQ

Doesn’t the Hunsaker have slots for 2 grates so you could get 3-4 butts per grate and therefore no need to hang (assuming you have 2 grates)? That’s what I do on my Gateway clone UDS. Also use a Gateway deflector as I’ve been told that more than 2 butts can cause temperature swings with a lot of grease hitting the charcoal directly. You haven’t found that to be the case?
Nice looking butts, btw! Love the color on those.

Ya it technically has slots for 5 grates. I think total I have 3 hunsakers 5 regular racks, 2 hanging racks and a hybrid rack.

So the way my brain synapses fired off this morning led me to hanging without another thought .

I've done the double racks before cooking 3 butts on the bottom and 2 briskets on top and it turned out great. You can definitely have a grease fire from that much meat dripping in a drum so you have to watch it a little. I like this way today because I can easily access all 6 butts and when I wrap they will most likely go into the oven to finish.

Versatility of these Hunsakers with the hanging and hybrid racks is what sold me on them.

[Jason TQ]

About 3hrs in here

[noobieQ]

I always wondered how much of a big deal it was to crowd meat together when doing large cooks, in terms of how the smoke is able to access all sides and surfaces. As the meat contracts from the heat, does that open up enough space between them to allow all surface area's to build up a bark?