Next weekend I'm having my biggest cook since getting involved with BBQ. I'm looking to Pitmaster Club to help me out!
I'm planning on smoking 6 racks of St. Louis Ribs and 2 pork shoulders in my KBQ. I'm expecting the weight of the meats to be 35 - 40 lbs. This is 5X more meat than I have ever smoked at the same time. I'm looking for tips - how will I get the best quality end product for a neighborhood BBQ (where I'm providing all of the BBQ!)
Thanks -
Kevin
Last edited by kmuoio; August 17, 2019, 03:35 PM.
Reason: grammar and whatnot
I've never cooked that much meat, but I seem to recall that when loading the KBQ you don't want to cover the rack so much air/smoke can't circulate around it. Found it, page 9 of the owner's manual.
Other than that, I would guess timing would factor in. If you can fit all the meat in you can cook it all at once, but if the shoulders take longer than the ribs, you would want to put them in earlier so everything finishes at the same time, or have something to hold meat that gets done earlier.
So those are my random thoughts, hopefully someone with more experience will chime in.
Not sure what you are cooking on or your capacity.
i would cook the pork shoulders first and wrap them and place them in the faux cambro. You can hold these for about the same time it cooks the ribs. The ribs can also be held for about an hour.
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Maybe give yourself more time than you think you need. You can always hold the meat if you get done early but it's hard to speed things up if dinner time is approaching and you're not up to temp yet. Sounds like you have this under control! Make sure we get to see the results and the happy neighbors!
The above about covers it. Put the butts on first they will take longest depending on size up to 8 -10 hours. The ribs depending on whether they are Baby back or St Louis of Spare will take 4 - 6 or even a little longer. So I would plan on putting them on part way through the butt cook.
Thanks for the responses so far -- this is exactly what I was looking for. Just one question for jecucolo - do you mean start the shoulder that much earlier so that I won't need to cook the ribs and the shoulder at the same time?
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If it were me and I only had the one cooker I'd do the butts the day before and the ribs the day of while the butts are re-heating. Then you don't have to stress as much about timing.
Huskee - thanks for chiming in on this. Hate to ask super basic questions, but, can you walk me through the shoulder "cool down" and then reheating the day of? Sorry to ask such a basic question, but I've always listened to Meathead 's guidance that meat cooked in advance would be "serving leftovers."
I agree with Huskee. Pulled pork reheats very well. Make the butts a day ahead, pull, and refrigerate in a large aluminum foil pan (or 3). Got a kettle or a gasser? Reheat on one of those an hour or so before serving. I like to put a little Carolina BBQ sauce in the bottom of the pan to keep it from sticking. Avoid super high heat.
Hey everybody -- thanks so much for the guidance. Ended up being my largest cook ever (8 Racks of St. Louis Ribs) - that was just the right size for the KBQ. I outsourced the Pork Shoulder from my local RI BBQ joint and I'm pulling and reheating that based on the guidance above. Thanks again!!
I cook for large groups (300+) fairly regularly. I also prefer my vertical smokers. Personally I cook it all at once so it is a hot product. Get your timing down, and account for drippage. Since cooking all pork, shouldn't be as much of a problem, unless you are using two different rubs. Still for aesthetic reasons, I would put the ribs on under the butts only after the butts have been crutches. Also account for the hold. You NEED to hold the butts 4 hours minimum in my opinion, and no more than 30 minutes for the ribs. With this in mind, for me, the process would go:
72 hours prior - inject and dry brine the butts, make sauce if needed
48 hours prior - Trim and dry brine the ribs
24 hours prior - light pit, bind and rub butts and put in Pitt. Startcold sides
8 hours prior - assuming bark is set, crutch butts, bind and rub ribs, add ribs to Pitt below crutches butts, start sides
4 hours prior - remove butts from Pitt and Cambria (assuming done)
30 minutes prior - remove ribs, foil and hold
service time - pull butts to service, and cut ribs to service
adjust the cook times based on how long it will take you for the cook. Bigger cooks seem to take about an hour longer when my cookers are truly loaded down. If you want more advice or have any questions, just ask. Here to help. Now off to plop 6 butts into one of my smokers for service tomorrow at noon.
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