5 Pork Butts for party

[VaRivahQ]

Hope everyone had a good Labor Day and had some good BBQ. I have a question/need some advice from this group of pros. I have been asked to cook pork butts for a party next week and am planning on cooking 5 butts on my The Good One Open Range, but I have not done that many before. It will be a tight fit, but they all should fit with room for air to circulate. I am planning on two butts on the bottom rack and three on the top and then switching them halfway through to even them out. I normally do 2 butts at a time at 225 which take around 15 hours depending. Anyone have any rough idea of how much time I should plan on 5 taking? Rough being the key word. 50% longer? I know it is a difficult question, but any and all help/advice is appreciated. Thank you

[Jerod Broussard]

Given ample room they shouldn't take much longer than just a couple. I would opt to run about 250 just to make sure things get going and stay going.

[DavidNorcross]

Based upon experience, the time will be close to the same. Maybe allow yourself some room just in case. Butts are easy to hold.

[HawkerXP]

I cut them in half for more bark.

[HawkerXP]

Welcome to the Pit!

[scottranda]

If it’s a tight fit, it’ll be a bit longer. Maybe an hour. But if there is room, should be about the same time.

just start early. Resting butts is a good thing.

[Donw]

You really can speed up the time and still produce a great chunk of meat by smoking at a higher temperature. 250 or 275 will still give you a great product, and let you gain some spare time for other things.

[mrteddyprincess]

+1

[realdocBBQ]

Agreed. Pork butt is very forgiving and going to 250 would likely be fine and speed up your cook significantly. Maybe even higher. Doesn't sound like you're planning on wrapping them, either, which is also fine, I almost never wrap pork butts. The suggestion above to cut in half is a good one, would yield more bark and things would go ALOT faster, too.

[Steve R.]

As others have noted, it shouldn't really take any longer if air can circulate normally. In the interest of time management, consider wrapping even if you don't normally do that.

[realdocBBQ]

I will add that if it is even slightly crowded, it will definitely lower temps in the cooker. I've noticed a significant drop in ambient cooker temp when adding even moderate amounts of meat, more than I would have expected.

[jfmorris]

I will second/third the advice folks are giving to run the cooker a little hotter than 225. 250 to 275 will get things done several hours faster. Aside from that, the closest cooker I have to the Good One Open Range is my offset, and if I run that with charcoal and wood chunks, it really doesn't care if I put 1 butt or 6 in there - as long as they are not touching, cook time will be the same.

[VaRivahQ]

Thank you all for the great advice. I appreciate it.

What are your opinions on spritzing vs not spritzing?

[radiodome21]

Nor do I since I wrap mine.

[realdocBBQ]

I like spritzing both pork butts and ribs with a mix of 50/50 water and ACV. I think it helps with bark production, they get a little stickiness without being sweet from sauce, etc. So I've become a bit of a fan, but I don't always do it.

[Draznnl]

I’ve never spritzed. But, when I’m short on time, I have wrapped.

[VaRivahQ]

I know the whole spritzing thing is a huge topic. Thank you all again for the advice.

[Santamarina]

You already got the advice you need, so this is just another vote in support of it…

A) Run that pit hotter. I usually go between 250-275.

B) As long as there’s airflow between each butt and your pit temp stays consistent it shouldn’t take any longer to cook. Where you’ll need to keep an eye on that temp is at the beginning. Adding 5 butts will be a big thermal load, so having the pit hotter at the start would help.

C) If they’re done early you can hold them for a long time. I’ve held butts in a warm oven for 12 hours. So give yourself plenty of time, and rest easy if they’re done early!

[VaRivahQ]

Thanks again the for the advice and it all worked out great. I put the 5 butts on at 6pm and took them off starting at about 8 am and I did run the pit hotter at about 250. I had three across the top rack and two across the bottom rack and then about halfway through I switched the racks. Anyway, I guessed that it should take the same amount of time, but I ended up feeding about 60 people and my nightmare was that I would suddenly realize at 8am that my timing was way off. So thank you all again for your advice.

[Jessterr]

@ VaRivahQ, might I ask about the charcoal details of your cook? In particular, what type and brand of charcoal was used, approximately how much did you start with, lighting technique, and especially whether you needed to add more during the cook. The reason I’m asking is that I also have an Open Range but haven’t used it all that much as yet, still learning on it, so this could be very helpful. Thanks, and happy to hear that your cook went as planned, congrats.

[LA Pork Butt]

I’ll add just one thing for you to think about which might affect your cook, but you are in the best position to evaluate this. I once did 40# of Boston Butt on my large Big Green Egg. It was a tight fit. In effect the two level cook made 4-5” thick Butts cook like 8-10” Butts. Remember thickness of meat determines cook time. What was typically a 12 hour cook became a 22 hour cook. It sounds like you will have more breathing room than I did. My advice would be build in some margin of error. I have held Butts in a faux cambro for 4-6 hours before serving. That being said I would plan on finishing 4 hours before serving. That way you are covered if the cook takes more time and also if the cook takes less time. Have fun!