68 pounds of pulled pork - how long?

[Santamarina]

Start early. A longer hold is better than a late lunch! I’ve held shoulders overnight in a warming oven with great success.

[MrSkimo]

I considered that. If two 8 pounders are touching, that will cook more like a 16. I have had 8 - 8 pounders in there before with at least three or four inches of separation. Plenty of room!

[MrSkimo]

Yah, good thought. If they get done early I will do that.

[MrSkimo]

Will do. I don’t know why, but I’ve always run a temp of 225 on butts. But then again, for years I was imprecise on temp control. Pretty dialed in now.

[MrSkimo]

Great idea...after comments like these, I’m going to start even earlier

[PBCDad]

I think if the meat has space between for air to flow, I wouldn't expect radically different times. You may need to rotate the top and bottom shelf so the bottom doesn't get all the bark washed off and you even out the temps.

The difference I would expect you to see is the amount of fuel you go through to maintain temperature in your smoker. If you are leaving it overnight, add in more pellets than you think you need. I would guess 12 hours at 275 should be fine, if it were me I would probably give myself 14 to be safe. Nothing wrong with holding them in the cambro.

[MrSkimo]

Are you going to dry brine??? You should last weekend was my first time doing it that way and it will be the way I do it from now on!!

Yes, done already - giving them a full 36 to soak in that salt. Always a necessity!

[MrSkimo]

Okay - fantastic ideas from you all, as expected! I had splurged on the two 18 pound Kurobatas and was just planning to cook them whole (leg and shoulder bones still in). I knew it would complicate things to have dissimilar sizes in there, but frankly it intimidated me to cut it up. Shredding is easier!

I have a friend on his way who cuts up a moose and a couple of caribou every year who is coming over to help me. We’ll wrangle those suckers down to something similar. With the pieces all being close in size, I’ll be able to run them on the same cycle.

I’ll start it at 7 or 8pm, smoke at 225 for a couple of hours, then bump it up and run it a little hotter until I hit target temp and drop down to 150 to hold.

I’ve got a 6 probe FireBoard thermometer, so between that and the grills food probe I will be able to set temp limits on 7 of the 8 pieces. After 20 years cooking exclusively on a Weber kettle, I almost feel like I am cheating with the pellet grill. I may even get some sleep tonight. Thanks everyone!

[HouseHomey]

I concur 250°-275°. Don’t mess with the stall and reserve the right to wrap for later. If you manage the cook you’ll be fine with what you already know how to do and what’s said above.

clean your cooker, and plan for 12-16 hours from cook to hold. It’s all down hill after that until service.

[HouseHomey]

Nailed it!!

[JeffJ]

Consider subdividing the larger butts. When I cook pork butts I like to cut them down to 2.5-5 pound butts. You'll get a bit shorter stall and much more bark.

[Troutman]

Solid advice

[Troutman]

I was going to say the same thing, I'd do that cook at 275* at least.

[HawkerXP]

If you have the room cut big ones in half. More bark. Once you've got your bark put in foil pans with a little liquid of your choice and foil the top. Finish outside or in the oven. You now have individual shredding / serving pans.

[LA Pork Butt]

I think one of the issues is how wide you are able to space the meat. I typically cook a ten pound Boston Butt on my Large Big Green Egg at 225 for 12 hours to an internal temp of 200. I once cooked 4 ten pounders and because of how tightly they were packed in the Egg they took 22 hours. In both cases I didn’t wrap until after the cook and they spent 2-4 hours in a faux cambro. So if they have some space I think it would be more like a normal cook, but if not plan on a really long cook. Two butts were touching side by side and the two in the second level were almost touching those on the lower level.