I have a couple of friends bringing their families over on Saturday. I was pretty sure one pork shoulder would not be enough, so I got two. When I got them home, I placed them on the egg, and there was just enough room for them both to be on and not touching.

14 (13.5 rounded up) At 1.5 hours /lb, I am figuring 9lbs (they are both a little under 9)

2 hours rest

1 Hr prep, lighting the smoker, and dressing the meat

3 Hr extra for stall.

If I want to serve at 1700 on Saturday, I think I will try to start at 2100 on Friday, just after I get home, shower, and eat dinner.

What do you all think about this timeline? Do y'all believe I am giving enough time to the stall?

I am planning to use two different rubs: Honey Hog and JD all-purpose, one on each of the blobs of meat.

You'll probably be ok, but if it was me I would either allow for a 20 hour cook or be prepared to wrap and crank the heat in case the stall takes longer than you're expecting...which can happen when you're dealing with more thermal mass than you're used to.

You don't want to end up ordering pizza because your pork's not done. You can always let it rest for longer in a cooler if you finish early.

Do have a cooler and towels in case they finish early. Usually I smoke at 220-240, this time I am thinking 250.

Just hope they do not take too long.

To be safe, plan for 2 hours per pound, or just shy of 20 hours total as indicated above.  Also as above, better to be done early and wrap in aluminum foil, bath towel, and place in cooler - will stay hot for hours.

You can use wrap - butcher paper or aluminum foil - in attempt to shorten the stall time during the cook.  It may or may not function as expected.

You'll be fine smoking at 250.

Best of luck, post a couple of photos.

Thank you and will post photos.

I smoked my last butts at 275 for 4hrs then foil wrapped and bumped up to 310. 9 pounders cooked in about 6 hrs or so.

Oh thank God! Thank you, I was just about to express extreme concern.

I had them on about 2100 last night at 250 degrees. Wrapped in butcher paper abo ut 0100.

I pulled off at 0400 when it hit 205 degrees. I probed both in several places, wrapped them in towels, and put them in the cooler.

AAR

There were a total of 11 mouths to feed; 3 would be considered kids portions.

I used my Lg BGE to smoke two 8.8 Lb pork shoulders, and I could have gotten away with one shoulder.

In 1830, I texted my wife and had her remove the meat from the refrigerator.

When I got home from work on Friday at approximately 2000, I lit the smoker and let it come up to temperature while I ate dinner and put the rub on the shoulders.

One I used Honey Hog rub, the other I use Jack Daniels all purpose pork rub.

Put the shoulders on the egg with a target temp of 250 degrees around 2100. I have a MEATER to help with temps.

Once the meat was on the smoker, I spent about an hour regulating the temp.

About 0100 on Saturday I woke up and realized the temperature was at 170 degrees, therefore I got up and wrapped them each in butcher paper and put them back on the smoker.

Since I have trouble going back to sleep once I get up, other than the middle of the night watering of the toilet, I stayed up for a little bit and then decided to stay up when I noticed that the temperature was moving up quickly.

According to the MEATER app, the temperature hit 205 at about 0430, with an elapsed time of 6 hours and 48 minutes.

When I removed them from the smoker, I wrapped them in old towels and put them in my cooler to rest.

We decided to eat at 1700 on Saturday, so I unwrapped and shredded them. The bone easily separated from the sinew, and it was cool enough for me to shred the second one by hand.

This time, I actually remembered to get a few pictures:

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Drafted my buddy to take the pics as I was shredding, and I see that he is an honorary member here since he managed to get his foot in one of the pictures.

Are you saying it took 3 hours before wrapping and 7 hours total @250°F?

Yeah, I was shocked! I probed both in at least three spots each to confirm. I looked it up, and bone-in meat usually cooks slower. Two factors I can think of that may have contributed are A—setting the meat out early or B—setting the meat closer to the edges to let more heat get to them.

I anticipated rearranging the meat, but when I probed, I went toward the center of the grate in case it was due to the proximity to the edge.

When shredding, the meat fell apart like normal. Now, I will say that the butcher paper was well soaked with juices, and no juices were leaking out, so all the juices had either been reabsorbed or soaked into the paper.

When preheating, the smoker was about 300 degrees when I opened the lid to put the meat in, but after I put the meat in the smoker, the highest it got was 256 degrees, and I choked it back down to about 248 degrees.

Neat.

Bewildering to me, I have done 6Lb pork butts that took more than twelve hours at 220 degrees.

I went into this just hoping that it would be resting by 1500 Saturday.

Are you sure your dome temp gauge is correct?  7 hours for those large hunks of meat at that temp doesn't make sense.  That's "turbo-butt" time.

Boil some water and make sure that gauge is reading around 200F.

Did not use the dome thermometer once the meat was on. I used the Meater, and confirmed with a digital pen thermometer.

I understand that for internal......what was the dome temp showing?  Around 250?

Nothing against the Meater, but the ambient temp gauge so close to a piece of meat isn't going to give you the most accurate reading (and neither is the dome temp gauge since it's above the meat--but at least it's further away for the meat.)  Ideally you want the grill temp gauge and the grate level a few inches from the ceramic & meat, not above any drip pans, and definitely not in direct view of the fire.  Even then, it's only measure one cubic inch inside that dome, so it's going to vary quite a bit.

Not trying to crap on your equipment or your cook, just saying 7 hrs for 16-20# of pork butt at 250F defies all odds.  It sounds like something is out of calibration because you were probably running 300-350F to get done that quick.  At 225F, I usually plan on 16-20 hrs for two pork butts on my BGE and I've made hundreds if not thousands of them over the last 31 years of owning one.  "Turbo butts" can be had in that amount of time, but you're running 350-375F.

Again, not trying to call you out here, just suggesting you confirm your stuff is reading correctly so you don't have an issue in the future (like with an expensive brisket).  I'd boil some water to confirm the Meaters and dome temp gauge, then place the meaters in a cup of water with the ambient end sticking out into a 300F oven and confirm the ambient readings.  If it all checks out, make some more butts and see what happens.

Didn't take it in a bad way. I did not look at the dome temp once the meat was in. And did not have a flare up or singed hair when I opened the dome.

Tomorrow I will likely cook something in the BGE so I can use that as reference.  The butts were only the 2nd or 3rd cook this year.

Serious question. Why would you cook pork butts/shoulders for 10-20 hours?  They can be done much quicker and more efficient without degrading the product. I like to sit by the smoker with a cold one as much as anyone but 18 hours for pulled pork is insane. Yes for a brisket though.

Gives time for more fat and collagen to melt out of it.  I've done them at hotter temps, this faster, and there's just too much fat left in it for me.

Have not done it enough to figure it out myself, but that is a good reason to me.

Thats normal for me on my egg for a 9lb butt. Had a few go a little longer some shorter.