Baked beans w/ pork shoulder

I'd put the pan in at the start of the cook.

You can put it in late in the cook,and add a little more wood.

Some folks don't want all the drippings,and put the pan on top.

I don't put mine on top.

As long as you are not blocking the sides of the cooker,it won't affect anything.

Well, beans been done that way by Q'ers for years. Several great recipes for beans in the recipe forum.

ME, I'm a fan of fat drippin into the beans.

that is an awful lot of drippins. I uderstand the concept of having some drippns in my beans, but that seems like instant vein blockage to me.
I usually just add some of the pulled pork to mine and cook them about three hours.

I did a pork butt with the beans on the bottom...once. There was too much fat for our liking.

The next cook we put them on the top shelf. EXCELLENT. I like to be able to control how much fat gets into the beans.

Well,it might depend on the size of the pan o' beans.

That's why Smokin' suggests you try it both ways,and see what suits ya.

I just know from looking at the drip pan after I cook a pork butt. There is absolutely no way I am pouring that on my food. Of course it tasts good, but I have to draw the line somewhere on what I ingest....I can't imagine taking in a higher concentration of fat.

Okay, rant off.

I think i'll probably throw the beans on about half way through the cook so I get some drippings, but won't have to call the paramedics in advance!

Man...They do sound good, no doubt about that. I cooked some beans not long ago on the top rack with some pork butt added amongst other things...folks just raved about em...It might have been Smokin OKies recipe..

Watch your drip pan to see what's dripping and when. It seems in the latter part of the cook that most of the drippings are juice, while at the beginning it's mostly fat.

Put the beans in during the last few hours of cooking. Then most of the fat will have rendered out of the pork. You will still get some fat from the shoulder if you put the beans under the shoulder. It will help the flavor of the beans a lot. Heat the beans first in the oven or on the stove to a temperatue higher than smoker is set. This way, the beans won't cause the temperature in the smoker to drop while they come up to temperature.

If you have a personal favorite among the commerical canned beans, like Bush's, start with one or two large cans. Put them in a large foil pan. Add an onion quartered. Add four or five ceushed cloves of garlic. Add a quarter to half cup molasses. Add a quarter cup bourbon or sour mash. You get the picture. If you have some leftover smoked meat, add that. A smoked ham hock or two help.

Chili beans are good this way as well. Get a large can or two of pinto beans or Ranch Style beans. Toss in a quarter cup of fresh (preferred) or canned chopped green chiles per large can of pinto beans. Add a quartered onion and 4 or 5 cloves crushed garlic. Add a half teaspoon each cumin and ground oregano. Toss in a bay leaf. Add leftover smoked meat or ham hocks. Cook in the smoker just like above. If you cook this with Texas style brisket, the guests will prefer the beans to the brisket.

Beans are good smoked. Everyone should try them.

Thanks for all the feedback-the beans are just about done. I followed Alton Brown's recipe-posted above-with a couple of minor exceptions-I used beer instead of vegetable stock and threw in a couple of minced garlic cloves. I put the beans in the smoker when the butt was at about 170, so it was getting close to done and probably didn't get a lot of drippings. Long story short, they turned out great. I like my beans mushy, so I let them go all day (8 hours) but you could get away with 5-6 hours no problem. This is going to be a fixture with the pork shoulder from now on, and, along with coleslaw, makes feeding a crowd easy.