New user

[luis]

Hi all
New user to the forum and smoking.
I have bought an excel 20 and am looking forward to giving it a go.
God knows I love bbqing!

I'm going to start off simple and work up to cooking for a party in august.
First will be a beer but chicken and then onto smaller cuts of pork and beef.

One quick question though please.
If I was doing 2 pork shoulders at say 5lb each do you apply the principle that it's 1 hour per 1.5lb times just the weight of one or do you have to allow longer because there are 2 of them in the smoker?

Cheers
Luis

[JEC]

Welcome aboard, your obsession will reach a whole new level now!!

Generally the more meat the longer it will take to cook, it won't take as long as the total weight to cook but will definitely take longer than the time for the 5lb piece, if this is for a party I would suggest you have a practice run as there is no point in stressing yourself out on the big day

[Hotdog]

I agree with JEC, the more meat in a cooker the longer it'll take. Going from 1 butt to 2 shouldn't take that much longer but a "test cook" is always good, until you get comfortable with your cooker. If doing 2 butts......try "experimenting" with one, that's how I found what I liked and didn't .

Hotdog

[All Weather Griller]

I did two 4kg butts and a 7kg brisket Friday night in a little under 12 hours on. 57WSM the difference tends to be at the beginning of the cook. When you put 15kg of cold mass into the smoker it takes sometime for it to recover the cooking temp.

I fire up at least 1.5 hours before I put the meat on. This allows me to get it running at the temp I need. Once she's been running at 230 for at least 20 mins I put the meat on.

Now, lifting the lid causes the pit to spike. This isn't a problem at the start of the cook but can be harmful near the end of the cook. Make your lid lifts brief and few!

After placing your large cuts on despite the spike you pit temps will drop and recover to around 180, 190 and stay there for a while. The mistake is adjusting your vents too much to compensate. A little adjustment may be needed but be careful and patient.

Operating pit temps and timings will vary greatly from empty to loaded cuts, water pan or clay saucer, cold or warm weather and type of charcoal used. Pit mastery comes with consistency in your fuel, meats and techniques.

Find good fuels you can get all year round now while they are in abundance and befriend a good butcher.