50lbs of pulled pork

[Bubbagump]

I am in a pickle, I need to cook a boat load of pork for a church picnic, I will be using an offset smoker (charcoal and wood) and have 900 ci of cooking space what's the best way to do this, and what kind of time will I need I have NEVER smoked more than a single piece of meat at a time, and here is the real kicker.... never used this smoker.....please help.

[SMOKE FREAK]

First off to Smoked-Meat...

My question is how much time do you have to get this done...

If you have time you should definitely do a test burn in the smoker to get a handle on how it runs...
Also I would not over crowd the cooker if you want the best quality...So when you say 50 pounds of PP are you talking 50 pounds of finished or 50 pounds of raw meat which will only yield 25-30 pounds of finished pork...

[Bubbagump]

50lb Raw

They will have burgers dogs and chicken as well but there is a huge variance in number of people 60-100 All of the men are heavy eaters most are prior or active military.

I am going to try to do a test run on the grill tomorrow and on the smoker We. or Thursday trying to come up with something that wont take to long in the smoker for a test burn.

I need it done by Sunday morning I have from 1 pm until midnight on Friday or All day Saturday to get this done, I do have two ovens available if need be to finish though I would rather finish it on the smoker. The rack area is about 3.5 feet by 2 feet.

[SMOKE FREAK]

50 pounds of raw pork butts will probably be around 6 or so...If you only end up with 50% yield that will make around 70-100 sandwiches depending on how ya make em...Should be able to do 6 butts on a smoker that size without crowding them...

Others will be along to give better advise...But I think you will handle it just fine as soon as you learn the smoker and its fire...

Good luck...And take pics

[Bubbagump]

Will do I have some picks of some 2inch porterhouses I grilled up a few week ends ago Ill get them on here eventually as well.

Cook time should only be a few more hours doing multiples with good spacing than doing a single right ?

[SMOKE FREAK]

If not crowded they will take longer but ya just never know how long...
Also if ya got a big temp spread from one end to the other you will probably need to rotate them for a more even cook...

And there is no shame in finishing in an oven if this is what gets it done for ya...

[Bubbagump]

Thanks

I am fairly sure I will need to rotate I have no plates in this smoker yet and I am sure it will be warmer nearest the box, I was figuring a spin at the 2 hr mark and a shift at the 4 last man up style does that sound about right ?

[L20A]

Yes, spin them. Do you need 50 # of meat AFTER SMOKING? Or do you need 50 pounds of meat that will get smoked. Big difference. If you don't have enough room, just do some the day before or a couple of days before. They will be just as good then.

[Bubbagump]

50lbs before

I am going to go with 40 lbs before, after getting better numbers I am only expecting 40 adults and 30 children, so 40 pre cooked should be more than enough.

Friday to get the feel for this new smoker I am going to do some beef ribs and chicken.

Figure start the ribs 2 hrs before the chicken to give them some heavier smoke and more time put them by the smoke stack and the chickens by the box to try to finish them around the same time, I am figuring about an hour per lb on the yard birds.

[Richtee]

Chicken and anything else in a cooker is an issue, because you really wanna cook yardbird north of 275... 300-ish. Perhaps the temp gradient in your cooker will allow for somewhat higher temps at the box end tho...

When I do birds it's rare to see more than 1.5 hours..but then again I am in the 300F range.

[Bubbagump]

running a trail master off set without plates

From what I have been reading until I add tuning plates I can expect about a 35-50 degree swing between the box and exhaust, push comes to shoves I'll throw them in the oven to finish I will have about 6 hours to play with getting these done Which should be more than enough for the ribs and like I said if I am to far off on my birds internal temp at the 4-5 hour mark I'll toss them in the oven for an hour to finish.

So going off of what every one else has said If my on grill temp reads 250 I will be lower at the stack and higher at the box by quite a bit either direction.

Once I get these butts done (which I will have the full day to deal with) I will be adding tuning plates and modifying the exhausts to get a more even temp throughout my cooking chamber.

[curious aardvark]

easiest way is to use large foil trays.
Cut the shoulder into (roughly) 4lb chunks. 2-3 to a pan. These should reach pulling temp in around 5-6 hours.

The trays make life easier all round. Keep the juices, make it easier to foil and you pull, reheat and serve in the same tray.

ALso running the smoker at 300 - won't effect the quality of the finished product but will knock the cooking time down by an hour or so.

So you can even cook several batches if you can't fit everything in at once.

I usually pour off final juices, defat, reduce down a bit, usually tart it up a bit and mix back in to the pulled pork.

[Bubbagump]

how would the smoke get all around penetration

If I were to smoke it in a large foil baking pan wouldn't it effect the amount of smoke the butt gets? I was thinking of putting drip pans under each of the butts to do what you mentioned with the juices however.

[Richtee]

If I were to smoke it in a large foil baking pan wouldn't it effect the amount of smoke the butt gets? I was thinking of putting drip pans under each of the butts to do what you mentioned with the juices however.

You can pan 'em a couple hours in. It does make things easier...and cleaner. And you'll have plenty of smoke on them by then.

[Bubbagump]

sounds like a plan thanks every one.