Pulled Pork for July 4th - advice requested

[JCBII]

I volunteered to be one of the backyard chefs for this year's neighborhood 4th of July gathering of 80+ people. One of the meats I will be smoking is a 15.5 pound boneless pork shoulder that my neighbors bought at Costco (they tried to find bone-in, but unfortunately all sold out).

Question: I'm wondering if I can start the cook on my "22 WSM on July 3rd and place in a warming drawer (guessing late evening) until the gathering starts around 3pm the next day. Or should I start the cook sometime during the evening of July 3rd (or even early am on 4th) so there's less time in the warming drawer?

There's one other option which would probably be least stressful. And that is start smoking the pork butt early morning, July 3rd, and when it's done and shredded into pulled pork, just put in the fridge and let my neighbors heat it up in their oven on the 4th. But I want all the neighbors to enjoy it, so I'm not sure if letting it cool, then re-heating is the best approach.

I haven't smoked a pork butt larger than 9lbs so I'm not sure how long this will take. If I go by Malcom Reed's comments on youtube, he mentioned about an hour per pound at 225° so that's approximately 16 hours. But I plan to smoke it at around 250° if I can, so I'm sure that would shorten the timeframe.

Any advice is appreciated. Thanks!

 

[bowhnter]

I would probably cut it in half and smoke 2 for more bark area.
Shorten your cook time as well.

 

[JCBII]

I would probably cut it in half and smoke 2 for more bark area.
Shorten your cook time as well.

That's a great idea! I'm going to do that. Thanks!

 

[smoke ninja]

it's most likely 2 butts in the one package. I can knock one out in 8 hours so would most likely start early and just be done for 3pm service. you could start later tonight and try and catch it in the morning and hold until it's time to eat. a long hold on pork can be tricky but I've done some extended ones with success. definitely pull early and use the hold to finish if you go that route

 

[JCBII]

it's most likely 2 butts in the one package. I can knock one out in 8 hours so would most likely start early and just be done for 3pm service. you could start later tonight and try and catch it in the morning and hold until it's time to eat. a long hold on pork can be tricky but I've done some extended ones with success. definitely pull early and use the hold to finish if you go that route

Thanks, I haven't pulled it out of the plastic sealed wrap yet, so maybe it is two butts (seems like Costco normally does that). In any case, I really like the idea of two pieces that can be done in about 8 hours - that will make the planning part so much easier. I'll just start an early morning cook on the 4th and make sure I have enough time to pull and let rest before 3pm.

 

[Gore]

I get the Costco butts a LOT. Pork butt is great value and tasty. They are always two in a package and they never have bone in (at least at our Costcos). Here is my brainless method for smoking them. I usually put them in an Al pan, season them, and put them in the Mak set at ~210* about 11:00pm (sometimes earlier, even 9:00pm, sometimes midnight, it doesn't really matter, just depends how late I plan to be up). After that I go to bed, or drink tequila and go to bed. About 8:00am or so, I will check on it. Usually the IT is hanging around 160* - 170*. I'll put foil over the top of the Al pan and wrap the edges to sort of make a seal and maybe crank the temperature up a bit if I'm in the mood. Usually the IT is in the 200-205* range around noon although sometimes earlier or later (I just poke the thermopen right through the foil because this is the brainless method and I probe mainly for tenderness). When I feel it is tender enough, I'll put it in the oven to rest (usually I'll set the oven at 150*, but not always) until dinner time when I pull it. If there is any question on whether I should or shouldn't do something, I always do the method requiring the least work -- this is pork butt, you really can't fark it up too badly. I could easily take it out of the oven and pull it at 3:00 or earlier -- I've done that and we've eaten it for lunch. I've let them set in the oven for from 1-10 hours, just leaving them there to ponder their fate.

 

[JCBII]

I usually put them in an Al pan, season them, and put them in the Mak set at ~210* about 11:00pm (sometimes earlier, even 9:00pm, sometimes midnight, it doesn't really matter, just depends how late I plan to be up). After that I go to bed, or drink tequila and go to bed. About 8:00am or so, I will check on it. Usually the IT is hanging around 160* - 170*. I'll put foil over the top of the Al pan and wrap the edges to sort of make a seal and maybe crank the temperature up a bit if I'm in the mood. Usually the IT is in the 200-205* range around noon

I'm all in for "brainless" on this cook since I'll also be smoking/grilling several tri-tips on the 4th and don't want to be worrying about the pulled pork. I'm not looking for any award winning bbq for the gathering -- just good bbq that everyone will enjoy eating. I like your idea of using a pellet grill so I think I'm going to nix my plans to use the WSM and go with my Traeger. I've followed Meat Church's video "Weekday Brisket 1.0" where Matt smokes a brisket over night using a pellet grill set to low temp, so your suggestion sounds perfect.

Thanks Gore!!!

 

[JCBII]

Hey Gore, I forgot to ask - Do you put a water pan in the Mak pellet grill when smoking pork butt or is it just the pork butt in an aluminum pan? Thanks

 

[Gore]

No water pan. Several years back a number of brethren did tests with water pans and spritzing and it didn't make any difference. I put the butts in the pan. Primarily this is to keep the mess down and makes it easier to foil. Just one sheet over the top and I'm done. The goal is to be brain dead and still put out a product

 

[JCBII]

Ok thanks, I'm going to do the same thing (pork butt in pan). Have a wonderful 4th of July!!

 

[JCBII]

Pork butts hit 202-205° around 11am and went into the warmer drawer set at 150°. I'll find out how it all turned out when I shred the pork around 5pm (neighbor said party starts at 3pm, but eating at 5pm which makes more sense). In any case, it smells really good! Thanks again for the info.

 

[cardman]

Sounds like you nailed it with the timing and everything. Good Job!