NEW CS 50 & First Smoke with 50 People Coming Over

J
Welcome to the forum.. I hope you enjoy your new 50, I have a 009 so my capacity is smaller than yours, as for cooking for a group of people like you are speaking of, In my conservative opinion, I would incorporate the 50 to cook only one type of meat, and cook the rest on the offset so as to acclimate your cooking technique to your new cooker while learning its abilities. I have an offset and never cooked for anyone other than close family(where I could easily get by with mistakes) until I got some practice under my belt with the 009. Cooking on a new device, is to me like jumping out of one airplane, and getting into another totally different with no instruction. The end result is the same to fly, but how it is done is different because of the differnce in the machines. I hope this helps.

In the meantime, at least season it up good with a big ol fat butt or 2.

Rule One, and I do repeat myself. NEVER do a large cook on a new smoker for a group of people. The timing of finishing everything is impossible to predict.

I'd highly suggest doing a practice brisket, by itself this week. The a practice butt. Then practice ribs. I've seen too many horror stories in this forum about doing that.

But, if you insist...

First question. Tell me how you plan to load it? Sounds like you've got too much meat for a 50.

The briskets @ 225/250 will take between 1 and 1.5 hours per pound.

You post said "butts" in four hours? 6lb'ers won't be done in 4 hours. A lot of people have been saying recently they're getting 2 hours smokers on their butts. Me, I get 1 hour per, but that's me and my butts. So if you take 12 hours like some people, see how the timing can get off?

My suggestions. Do the butts, plan on 1 hour per pound and set to finish when you need to put the ribs on, if they're not done, bump it up to 250 and do them both.

Oh, and did I say don't try this

I couldn't agree with Russ more about your first cook. Try to do a couple practice runs first. I like Vernon's idea of doing only one meat in the 50, first time through. Then you can take smokin's advice and practice on that meat a time or 2.
First time through I'd suggest a couple butts for sure. The cookshack is so forgiving, if you follow Smokin's 101, and the advice on the forum you can't go wrong. Most of my butts seem to take a bit longer than 1 hour per pound. Did a big one Sat/Sun, it was over 10 lbs. had it in for 14 hrs.
I've cooked ribs for about 35 in my 50. Had all 5 shelves fully loaded with 10 full racks of baby backs. I cut the racks in half so 4 halves fit comfortably per shelf. I usually cook my ribs for 5 hours, and just a bit. They come out not quite meat falling off the bone, but coming off very easy when you eat it.
Depending on the size of your butts, you can fit 2 big ones for sure, maybe more depending on how the shelves and spacing work out.
Good luck to you. You won't regret going with a Cookshack. The more you use it, the more you'll love it!!!
Regards, Steve.

Thanks for the replys. SmokingOkie, I heed your warning but I'm a glutton for punishment.

I did two 4 pound racks of practice ribs last night and at 225 degrees it took 8 hours before they feel off the bone. Tasted great but took longer than I expected. So the timing will be a challange (like all BBQ cookouts). If it is one thing I have learned, it is better to be early with the BBQ and keep it warm than to have people waiting. I went and purchased the digital thermo's as suggested in the forum and that should be a great help in taking the guess work out of "to open the door/lift the lid or not".

On the capacity, the whole rack of ribs would not fit on one shelf without cutting them in two. I could have hung them but that would not have been game like conditions next Saturday when I have multi things cooking in there at once. I thought about folding them over but could not find any users that did it or suggested it.

As for loading, sounds like phasing in the CS50 and using the offset for backup support. I plan to start the briskets on the middle shelves the day/night while having mandatory cocktails. Then in the morning take them out of the 50 and put in the butts on the lower racks and the ribs on the upper shelves. The briskets will not be done but I can finish them in the offset. My event starts at 5:30 p.m that gives me a 10 hours to smoke the butts, ribs and finish the briskets.

If my methodology is flawed, please let me know, otherwise wish me luck.

Sounds like you've cooked enough to have an idea ,and know the the pitfalls.

Just like on your offset,you can always foil and crank it up,to speed up butts and packers.

Have fun.