First Multi-Meat Smoke

[SmokedGouda]

My wife and I are having friends over this weekend and I'm starting to plan a smoke for this Friday. At first I thought they were coming over on Saturday so I would've had all day Friday to prep the meat cause I took off of work. It turns out they are coming Friday instead and now I'm left with much less prep time. I also have to go to a doctor mid day Friday, right around the time that the meat might be done. So I'm in a bit of a pinch...

I'm going to do a pork butt and a brisket. If Costco doesn't have a full packer then it'll just be the flat which would prob actually save me a little prep time since I won't have to do much trimming. Unless I feel like driving around to a couple Costcos to find a packer.

Now that they will be coming for Friday dinner instead, I have to toss on the smoker around midnight Thursday. (Pending size of meats, but assuming 1.5 hrs/lb). I'm going to aim to have the meat done smoking around 2-3 PM so I can then allow it to rest until we are ready to eat. I'll be away from the house for the DR from about 10:45-1ish. So there's obv a chance that my estimates are off and my wife has to take it out (I know she won't be thrilled about that), but I'm going to try and get it into the smoker as late as possible to try and get the timing right. Should my time estimate be revised if I'm smoking 2 meats?

My new plan is to purchase the meat Wed night after work. I'm going to brine them both in the same solution. I'm trying to figure out if brining for about 24 hours is a good idea or not. I would either put them in the brine around 10PM Wed night and remove them around the same time Thursday night before rubbing and putting in the smoker. The alternative would be to toss in the brine before I head to work Thursday morning around 7 AM and then leave it in there for about 12-15 hours or so. Doing it in the morning will just be a bit of a pain since I'll have to get up earlier than normal. Any thoughts on that?

With my last brisket brined, I let the brisket rest after brining for a few hours and I think that led to it being drier than I wanted. So I'm trying to avoid having a large gap between brining and smoking.

My next question would be which meat to put on top/bottom. I was thinking that since the butt will be thicker, to put that on the bottom and then the brisket on top. (Not the bottom shelf, just the lowest piece of meat.) Then lastly, should I dial up the recommended amount of wood since I'm smoking 2 meats at once instead of individually?


Sorry for the rambling... To sum up my questions:
1 - Increase time estimate for smoking 2 cuts of meat together?
2 - Brine for 12ish hours or 24ish hours?
3 - Location in smoker. Which meat goes on top?
4 - Increase amount of wood? Was originally thinking 6 oz.


Thanks for the help everyone, as always!

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[NDKoze]

Here is my 2¢:

1 - Increase time estimate for smoking 2 cuts of meat together? I haven't smoked a butt and a brisket at the same time, but I do regularly smoke two butts at the same time and increase my temp from 225 to 235 because of the extra meat mass. For the most part, the two pieces of meat will not increase your smoke time too much especially if you bump the temp a little bit.

2 - Brine for 12ish hours or 24ish hours? 12 hours is usually enough, but I have gone 24 with zero issues.

3 - Location in smoker. Which meat goes on top? Definitely put the butt on the bottom and try to place it so it mostly covers the flat of your packer brisket which will shield the flat.

4 - Increase amount of wood? Was originally thinking 6 oz. - I would not increase the wood. 6 ounces of wood is perfect for this smoke.

[SconnieQ]

Buy the Prime whole Packer if your Costco has it, as opposed to Choice. It is much more forgiving, and when you are smoking two meats like that, you will need all the advantages you can get. I don't even brine or inject my Prime briskets, but it certainly won't hurt. Butt is pretty forgiving no matter what. Gregg's advice is all excellent.

[SmokedGouda]

Thank you both for the advice, much appreciated! Unfortunately I won't be putting much of it into action as originally planned but I'll save that for the future. This has turned into a single meat smoke...

I commute an hour for work and there were train delays yesterday that led me to be an hour late getting home, so I got to the stores later than I wanted. The Costco I went to didn't have any briskets. No packers or flats. I didn't have the time nor was I in the mood to go to multiple Costcos to find one, so I decided to just go with the pork butt that I picked up from a Wegmans.

There's only going to be 4 people so there will be plenty of food, just no more variety.

I tossed it in the brine around 6:45 this morning and plan on taking it out between 11:45-12:45 tonight. I'm aiming to start smoking around 12-1 AM, estimating about 1.5 hrs/lb (9.3 lbs) at 235. This should put me at about 2-3 PM on Friday afternoon. That gives me at least 2 hrs for resting prior to eating.

The last thing I'm deciding on is what to use as a base for the rub, yellow mustard or maple syrup. I did mustard last time and want to change something up so I'm leaning towards giving the syrup a try. I'm using the rub that I used on my last butt, just adding a little more sugar. I'm using the same brine as my last butt too, just about 5 more hours submerged. I will be increasing heat from 225 to 235 on this smoke as well as using a combo of hickory & sugar maple this time. Only used hickory the last time.

I'm excited to see how the small tweaks change the meat. I'll share some pics and feedback after the weekend!

Thanks again!

[DivotMaker]

It'll still be great, Phil!  I like mustard for Boston butts, and save the pure maple syrup for loins and tenderloins.  The small, lean cuts actually take on a little of the maple, which I don't want in a pulled pork sandwich....but that's maybe just my Southern taste talking.  Either would be great, and you might want to try both, eventually!

[SmokedGouda]

It turned out great!

Brined for 17hrs then rubbed with maple syrup base and then a simple rub. Mainly brown sugar, salt, garlic powder, onion powder and paprika. The maple syrup was a little too runny and I def lost some rub, but it still worked out well. The bark was perfect in my opinion, much better than the first time I smoked a butt.

It was 9.3 lbs and took 14:45 to get to 190, while smoking at 235 and then wrapped in a cooler for 2 hours. 3oz of hickory and 3oz of maple. I put a water pan in the bottom of the smoker filled with apple cider.

The meat was so moist and tender, everyone loved it. The bark was much more firm than my first smoke and I'm very happy with how it turned out. I used a little more sugar in the rub this time than the last time, which along with the maple sugar, probably helped with the caramelization a bit. Also dialed it up to 235 instead of 225 based on prior advice which also helped on the bark. Looks like 235 is prob my go to temp now for pulled pork. I'll try with yellow mustard next time to see how mustard and syrup change things.

Thanks again for the help!

[swthorpe]

That's what we like to hear!  Congrats on a successful smoke!

[DivotMaker]

Outstanding, Phil!!  That looks absolutely PERFECT!

I use 235, with no problems, if I want to shorten cook time.  But, I also use 220-225, if I need to go longer, for timing.  I did an 8.5 lb butt last weekend, and put it on at 10 pm Saturday night, at 220.  I've had way too many finish in just over 1 hour/pound, so I didn't want to chance it being done at 8 am!  When I got up Sunday, it was firmly in the stall at 168, where it remained until about 11 am.  Once the temp started climbing out of the stall, I bumped up to 230, and the timing was perfect.  Done by 3 pm, rested 2 hours in the cooler, and one of my best!  ...and the bark, at that temp, was killer!

So, the moral of the story is this:  There is no single "perfect" temp, in BBQ!  It depends on what you are trying to do.  Some things are more temp-sensitive than others, but pork butts have about the most flexibility of anything.  Experimentation is the key, but keep an open mind!