4 butts on my 18" Weber Smokey Mountain

[hawgman88]

I have smoked 3 ea 8 pound butts before in my 18" smokey mountain but it took a very long time. Is there anyway to remedy this to get a quicker smoke time? Or is my only other option doing 2 at a time? When I did 3 it toll over 12 hours. Thanks!


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[demosthenes9]

I have smoked 3 ea 8 pound butts before in my 18" smokey mountain but it took a very long time. Is there anyway to remedy this to get a quicker smoke time? Or is my only other option doing 2 at a time? When I did 3 it toll over 12 hours. Thanks!


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Depending on the cooking temp, a 8lb butt is going to take 12 or more hours.   To make the cook go faster, raise your cooking temp to 275 - 300.

 

[brooksy]

I agree with Demo. The number of butts doesn't matter you could do two or twenty its still going to be twelve hours plus for eight pounders. The meat takes as long as the meat take. You can hurry it up a little bit by wrapping and increasing your temp or doing smaller pieces. Don't be in a hurry drink some cocktails relax and enjoy the smoke time

 

[fwismoker]

My butts take 45 minutes per lb.   Just like posted raise the cooking temp, more meat will make minimal difference as long as the smoker has a good convection. 

 

[demosthenes9]

One thing to note with smokers like the WSM is that if you have a specific method of building your coals/fire to reach a certain cooking temp, adding more meat (thermal mass) to the chamber requires a slight modification in how you build your fire.   Reason being is that the increase in thermal mass will require an increase in BTUs to reach the same chamber temps that you normally have.

In short, load a bit more coal into your pan and throw a few more briquettes into your chimney starter in the beginning.  This will of course raise the "preheat temp", but once you add the additional meat onto the smoker, it should settle down into your normal cooking range.

 

[hawgman88]

Basically I am cooking these butts tomorrow and it needs to be served at 7:00 pm. With an average butt of 9 lbs, when should I put them on?


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[brooksy]

If it was me I would cook them over night then reheat tomorrow. Butts will try to screw you everytime when cooking on a time schedule.

 

[brooksy]

But if overnight is out of the question I would give myself minimum of 15 hours for cooking and resting.

 

[oldschoolbbq]

Yep, you can get a good idea of your smoke time with this formula : 1.5 to 2 hrs. / lb. of raw meat... use your therms .to dictate doneness (200*F or so for pulling).

Doing multiple Butts is easier than you think . . . watch the temp. , smoke color and smell , and IMT's. You should end up with something like this :

Betty 004.JPG

• oldschoolbbq
• Sep 5, 2012

Good smoking and        . . .