Firing up my PBC for the first time tomorrow!

[pillpusher]

Very excited for my first cook in my new PBC tomorrow! I will be doing two pork butts at 7.5lb each. Trimmed them this morning and have them dry brining in the fridge. I'm going to use Memphis Dust rub on them right before they go on the PBC.

I've read the lighting procedure on here and plan to follow it instead of the one in the manual.
I'm debating whether to wrap them or not. I have seen different opinions on here. More concerned about time than anything else
I work nights in a hospital and we're having a potluck tomorrow for NYE. I'll get home around 7am tomorrow morning and will start the charcoal first thing. I figure I can have the butts on the PBC by around 7:30. I don't have to leave for work until 7pm, but also need to find some time to sleep during that time period.
I plan on putting them in a faux cambro once they're at 203 and keeping them there until serving time which will be around 10pm.
What do you guys think I should do about wrapping? I want to make sure they're done in time, but I also don't want them to finish too early and drop below 140 in the cambro.

Thanks for your help and Happy New Year!

[Jerod Broussard]

If I can keep things running 275+ I don't need to wrap it all. But if the temperature does drop some I find eventually I will have to wrap to meet timelines.

[xaugievike]

Im a fairly new PBC owner myself.

I've not yet done 2 pork butts, but I did a roughly 9 pounder and it took 8 hours with no wrap (I like the bark) I'd imagine the mass of 2 butts would add a little time, but I cannot guess how much. with that said, I've cambro'd for 5 hours and still had the meat come out screaming hot. to do that I stuff all empty space in the cooler I used with some towels.

good luck and post your results!

[dshein01]

Unwrapped doing a couple pork butt cooks took in the 7-8 hour range with it running north of 280 most of the time (in the 280-310 range) unwrapped, I imagine the bigger issue will be the thermal mass which may require cracking the lid a bit to keep the temp up, but if you have it started by 7:30 - 8am I can't imagine it taking more than 10-11 hours even with the larger mass / time assuming you get the fire started right (a 10/10/10 lighting procedure will likely work fine, I'm at sea level and have found 10/7/10 with 40 briquettes works better for me but shoulder has been forgiving if the fire is a bit hotter IMO)

[DWCowles]

Good luck on your cook. We like pics. Cheers!

[RonB]

If they are done too early, you could wrap and put in the indoor over @ minimum temp setting. Most ovens are in the area of 170* for minimum temp.

[phoccer]

I had two finish a couple hours early on me this summer. Put them in the oven at 170 for two hours and they completely fell apart when I went to shred them. Most amazing pulled pork I've done yet.

[pillpusher]

Thanks for all the replies!
Looks like it's going to be super cold tomorrow as well with temp only reaching the teens.
No idea how my PBC is going to run temperature wise. I imagine I will probably have to crack the lid quite a bit. I've got me vent set at 1/4 as I'm ~800ft above sea level. I'll keep you guys posted!

[kmhfive]

Good luck with the cook! Those folks at work are lucky to have you!

[pillpusher]

So far so good! Got the butts on the PBC just before 0800. Filled the basket to the brim with Kingsford Original and put 40 of the briquettes into a chimney. Fired her up with the 10/10/10 method and hung the meat. I threw on two small chunks of oak. It is SUPER cold today: currently 3*F with about 3-4 inches of snow on the ground. I swept off the patio so snow wasn't in contact with the bottom of the cooker. I had to crack the lid after 10 minutes to get the temp up to 360 and now it's on it's way back down to hopefully 270-290

I'm going to wait and see where the temp settles down into and how long it takes to reach the stall before I make my final decision about whether or not to wrap.
For those of you who don't wrap do you still pull it off the hooks and onto the grate around 150-160?

[RobertC]

I've definitely lost parts of pork butts to the fire gods when using hooks. Now I move to the grate at around 170 or so.

[UncleFester]

Yes, I definitely recommend pulling the hooks and finishing on the grate. I learned the hard way on that one with an entire boston butt laying on top of the coals. Cheers

[Jerod Broussard]

If you tie properly they can ride the whole way.

[kmhfive]

Looks good so far! Good luck.

[DogFaced PonySoldier]

I never ever ever have wrapped a pork butt. I think you'll be done in plenty of time, as long as you can keep the fire going. But I have always wondered about ppl using the PBC for pork butts and chuckies... seems like quite a risk to me, lol.

Good luck, and as a fellow night-shifter in the hospital, good luck, and I hope the shift goes as well as the cook is likely to... I know without a doubt whenever we plan on bringing food to work, the ER gods inevitably punish us and we don't ever get to eat it until it's old and cold. Pork butt is pretty forgiving, though!

Hang in there! I'll raise a glass for you tonight, since I'm off NYE, but I'll be back in the muck tomorrow night again!

[pillpusher]

Thanks for the well wishes! I work in a trauma center so it's all hands on deck on NYE. Last night wasn't too bad, but I'm sure it was just a warmup for tonight. Good food always makes things better though!

[Spinaker]

If you daisy hook the pork butt or brisket, you should not lose the meat. Here is how I hang mine. I use two sets of hooks. Two on the top, then two more daisy chained to the first set of hooks, set on the opposite side of the meat. I hang the second set of hooks off of the bottom of the top hooks to form a kind of daisy chain. So if the top hooks pull out, you still have the
bottom ones in, it also help to distribute the load when the meat gets tender.
Not the best pictures to show it but I think you get the idea. This one had just finished up and was being wrapped for the Cambro. I have never lost a chunk of meat to the fire, when doing this method. I did have one piece fall in to the fire, but I had them hooked a different way.

I hope this helps. On the bottom picture you can see the loop from the second hook; the bottom on the top hook is threaded through the top of the bottom hook, on the back side of the Brisket.
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[pillpusher]

Thanks for the tips! I pulled them off the hooks and onto the grate so I don't have to worry about it and hopefully can get some sleep. I've been having a little trouble keeping my temp up which is understandable since it's still only 13* here. I've been cracking the lid and letting it come up to around 310, but it settles back down to around 235 after a while. I'm going to try some strips of foil under the lid now.

The meat is stalled out at 151 and has been there for about an hour so far. Still think I've got plenty of time as long as I don't run out of heat.

If I'm burning through fuel more quickly to keep my temperature up, do you think I'll need to add more charcoal? What's the best way to do that?

[kmhfive]

Sounds like you will need more fuel to keep cooking in the PBC. You could finish in the oven, now that you've got good smokiness...

[Steve R.]

You're a braver person than most, attempting your first PBC cook in that time frame for a crowd at work. Not sure I could sleep at all under those circumstances!