question about pork butt size

  • Some of the links on this forum allow SMF, at no cost to you, to earn a small commission when you click through and make a purchase. Let me know if you have any questions about this.
SMF is reader-supported. When you buy through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.

kentuckycal

Smoke Blower
Original poster
Aug 26, 2014
121
12
Elk Creek, Kentucky
Hi y'all, I'm going to try a pork butt in my MES 30" this weekend. This will be the first pork butt I've done in this (new) smoker. I'm planning on taking it over to my wife's grandparents to eat on Sunday, and I'm not sure how big of a butt I'd need for five adults.  We'd be having side dishes too (tater salad, slaw, etc.).  Any and all advice appreciated!

P.S.  Will be making a Carolina Gold mustard sauce to serve with the pulled pork.
 
I'm of the thinking if you're gonna run the smoker for a butt go big and have plenty of left overs.

That's said, time is a factor is decision.  Portion wise, a 4-6 pounder will be plenty.  A safe figure on time is you will be looking at 1.5 - 2 hours per pound.  Knowing how much time you have to do the smoke will help.
 
Last edited:
Figure your going to yield about 50% of raw weight and I find most people use about 1/3 lb per sandwich. Your yield may be a little higher but the 50% is a good rule of thumb.

You can always make some extra it freezes and reheats very well
 
Thanks for the quick response, I really appreciate it.

Time shouldn't necessarily be an issue, however my MES is totally unmodded and as such will have to feed the damn chips in manually, so an overnight smoke is something I'm trying to avoid at this point since I like to sleep.

..and I am definitely ok with leftovers of delicious smoked pulled pork. :)
 
Honestly, and there is debate on this, 2 hours of smoke is plenty to impart flavor.  I've ran butts in the smoker for 2 hours then finished in the oven for hours after and it still had a nice smoky flavor.  So smoke it for a few hours, then stick it in the oven and go to bed.
 
 
Honestly, and there is debate on this, 2 hours of smoke is plenty to impart flavor.  I've ran butts in the smoker for 2 hours then finished in the oven for hours after and it still had a nice smoky flavor.  So smoke it for a few hours, then stick it in the oven and go to bed.
Yeah, I've heard that and I had a butt in my old Brinkmann offset that I (mostly) did in the oven, and it turned out tasting just fine.  I may try to do it this way.  Thanks for the tip.
 
I go about it a bit different if I want to finish it in the oven I will smoke it to 160 internal like I normally do then I will foil and into a 225-250 degree oven to finish.

You need to check into an Amazen Smoker to go in that MES it will give hours of smoke and you can also cold smoke cheese etc
 
Yeah it seems almost like it's the 'law' around here that if you have an MES, you must get an AMNPS to go along with it.  First I need to get a nice thermometer, but the AMNPS is probably next on my toy list.
 
Not sure about a law but just think about getting the smoke for most of or the entire smoke with one filling. Smoked cheese and bacon ain't bad either
biggrin.gif
 
SmokingMeatForums.com is reader supported and as an Amazon Associate, we may earn commissions from qualifying purchases.

Hot Threads

Clicky