Biggest cook yet on a new (to me) smoker!

I would try a practice cook if possible Starting that late will not give you much time for the cook, rest and pulling the pork- at least it seems that way to me

Running a stick burner takes a bit of skill, but if you've ever tended a camp fire or something, you'll probably manage alright as long as the cooker drafts well and you're using decent wood. That being said...my personal rule is to never try a new thing for guests, whether that be a recipe, a new cooking method, a different cooker, etc. Also, 6 butts sounds a little light for 100+ people...guess it depends how hungry they are and what "+" really means. I cooked twelve 8lb butts a couple weekends ago with a targeted crew of 100. Your timeline sounds really tight as well. If you light at 5:30 AM, meat on at 6:30 AM, that only leaves 5.5 hours for the whole cook. The 8lb butts I cooked at 300*+ still took almost 8 hours to finish.

Sounds like you are cooking for a lot of kids They usually have healthy appetites

Yeah I'd probably be shooting for 8oz cooked per person to be on the safe side.

6 1/2 hour for pork butt? I would want about twice that amount of time. At those times, you are going to have to cook hot. Some cookers like that, and some don't. Offsets generally have a temp they like to run at, and if you try to change it, you fight them all day long. Since you don't know the cooker, and aren't use to tending a fire, sounds like you are asking for failure. If you don't do a test cook, I would at least cook the day before, to give you time to correct any problems. Pork butt reheats really well.

I would also consider buying some kiln dried splits, just because it will make it easier, to run a clean fire, while you are learning.

Midnight maybe You can keep them hot in a cooler for ever. Better to be done early If you are using reg size coolers don't put in more than 2 Butts otherwise it will be like a convection oven

Start about 6 PM Friday run to about midnight -2 am , wrap them and toss them in a cooler, take a nap, come about 10:30 -11 am start shredding some pork..........

OR - run 6 Butts in your 2 grate UDS overnite starting about mid nite........

JbTech said:

Brethren,



What am I in for?

Party starts at noon. Pit owner says start around 5:30am.

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Pit owner is going to get you in big trouble. That's not even enough time to cook, much less rest the meat or have any wiggle room. And 6 butts is not going to feed 100 people. I'd at least double that.

Dont freak out. Its not impossible.
First start early. No sense being late.
Second dont ignore the pit owner. He knows his pit and you should listen to him. At least as far as understanding how it runs. Ask what temp it normally runs at. The only thing I would ignore if possible is the start time. Ask him to go over his timeline with you and if possible contact him before he leaves the pit.
Now you have a basic timeline.
So back the timeline up 2 or 3 hours. Bring a welding blanket and wrap the butts up in a cooler.
I would pick up foil and disposable half pans. A few things of apple juice too.

Get some smoke on them and then foil the pans and add maybe an inch or 2 of apple juice to the pan. Wrap the pans in foil and back into the smoker. When it temps pull them from the smoker. Store in coolers until close to time and pull.

I have cut pulled pork down to 4 hours. I once got home fell asleep with pork uncooked on the table and ruined it tossed it out ran like crazy and got new pork and had it pulled in under 4 hours with this method. Nobody was aware of how bad I messed up.

So smoke for a few hours and foil for a few hours. Store it and pull when ready for the party. Got a kitchen aid mixer? If yes use it to pull the pork. It will make it fast and take care of any tenderness issues you might have. Seperate the fat out before using the mixer. Pour the pan juices into the mixer to flavor it. Maybe add a little dry rub to the mixer as it pulls the pork. It adds a nice touch imo. Kicks the flavor up a notch.
Anyways you will be fine.

Just because you can do something, doesn't mean you should. If I'm cooking for anyone especially a large group, I want to bring my best. You can't do that in 6 hours.

Joshw said:

Just because you can do something, doesn't mean you should. If I'm cooking for anyone especially a large group, I want to bring my best. You can't do that in 6 hours.

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I disagree. You can bring your best easily in 6 hours. Some guys swear by hot and fast.
That being said low and slow gives you a much larger window for getting it right. Hot and fast you have a very narrow window for perfection. Better be on your game if your are cooking hot and fast.
I use both methods.
He has 6 hours and hot and fast is doable with great results.

Sounds like the pit owner said 530 am so he won’t scare you. I like the Friday 6pm start time so you have some hours to sleep before you go back and pull the meat.

Rusty Kettle said:

I disagree. You can bring your best easily in 6 hours. Some guys swear by hot and fast.
That being said low and slow gives you a much larger window for getting it right. Hot and fast you have a very narrow window for perfection. Better be on your game if your are cooking hot and fast.
I use both methods.
He has 6 hours and hot and fast is doable with great results.

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Mmm...not seeing it. Its not 6 hours of cook time, it is lighting the smoker at 5:30 AM and serving at noon. If 6 butts have any hope of getting close to feeding that crowd, theyre gonna have to be 10lb+ each. Dont see that happening in (at best) 6 hours...in reality you might have 5 if you truly light at 530 and want to be serving at noon. You will probably need more like twelve+ 8lb butts to feed that crowd, which is additional overhead timewise.

Comp guys that cook a "butt" in 4 or 5 hours do so on a highly trimmed piece of meat to get certain sections or muscles out of it yet still meet the 4 or 4.5lb or whatever minimum raw weight.

I say cook it all in advance on your UDS and reheat the day of....on the stick burner if you have to, for showmanship reasons. Otherwise, I would recommend starting earlier...a lot earlier. If for some reason you can only maintain a 250* cooker temp cuz that's what the wood/smoker wants (nevermind the fact you've never ran a stick burner and are using someone else's), you will be in trouble trying to do it in 6 or whatever hours.

Cooking enough meat to feed 100+ people is a lot of work...from buying/transporting/storing the raw meat, to actually cooking it, then holding and/or pulling/serving it in a safe manner. I just did it 2 weeks ago and it wasnt my first time.

Honestly it sounds to me like your neighbor is throwing a bag of poo over the fence and leaving you to deal with it.

My .02

JbTech said:

Thanks for all the info/advice!

I know i've been dealt an odd hand, but I've got to run with it.

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I guess I am not seeing the need in using this new cooker. Put three butts in your UDS, wrap them and put them in your oven...then start the next three. Take out all these crazy variables!

Think about it this way:
What time frame, cooking butts of the same weight range, on your UDS, have you experienced?

An offset won't cook any faster. Especially one you don't know how it runs!

Please don't take the risk of ruining your son's graduation, and the respect of his peers.
Take the advise of the comments from the guys here. They know of what they say.