I did a two pork butt cook a few weeks back and these are the results of that cook along with some additional information about the cooker and how it cooks.
These two butts weighed a total of 15.21 pounds and were trimmed of their excessive fat, injected, and then rubbed.
I moved my cooker around to the cooking patio and fired it up. Was a real nice sunny morning with the temp at 26 degrees so it looked like a nice day to cook. Set the starting temp at 165 degrees to give me a less efficient burn (more smoke) which I planned to use for the first couple of hours.
I loaded the heavier thicker butt on the hopper side as this side runs slightly hotter earlier in the cook and then loaded the smaller one on the right side. Now, as the meat heats up, this temperature difference seems to disappear in my cooker.
As far as capacity with pork butts, I have done 3 medium sized butts with a total weight of just under 23 pounds in the cooker and it came out well. To get them in, I loaded them on their sides again with the thickest on the hopper side. Although it is called a tailgate cooker, my 3 butt cook would make up 38 large 6oz sandwiches which would feed 38 hungry fans. It does have some capacity.
After two hours, I raised the temp to 275 degrees for the balance of the cook. Although I prefer foiling when I get the right color and the bark is right, I did not foil these two butts as I wanted to try them without foil. The above picture was taken just before I removed them from the cooker. I started checking the internal temp at 8 hours into the cook and then checked them a few more times during the cook and found both butts within 3-4 degrees of each other. I pulled them about 10-1/2 hour into the cook.
The butts pulled nice and gave me a large 1/2 pan of pulled pork.
Made up a couple of small sandwiches and then dribbled on some Tennessee Red mixed with a little real Vermont maple syrup and sure made a nice meal.
I sure love this little cooker and use it often.
The US Route 15 Virginia BBQ Trail
3 years ago
What is the internal heat supposed to be
ReplyDeleteI usually pull my pork butts at about 200-205 degrees F internal.
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