Normally I do spares at 275, backs at 325, foiling at the end (the last 45-60 min with spares, 30-45 with backs) with a little juice for an additional flavor layer. Butts I cook, usually, at ~240 if doing an overnight cook, 275 if cooking during the day.
However, this past Thursday, my last day home for a while, with 2, 5.8-lb bone-in butts and a rack of spares to cook, and NO time to dick around, I altered the usual plan. I filled the WSM's ring with WGWW briquettes, topped with some hickory splits, and set a half chimney of fuel to light. While that was happening I salted the butts (I do not trim) and left them to moisten while I made the rub (Aleppo, hot NM chile, onion, garlic, thyme, turbinado, marjoram, allspice, sage, green pepperorn, Vietnamese cinnamon). After rubbing, I assembled the cooker (using an empty waterpan) added the lit, and put both butts on the top grate. I stuck a therm in a vent hole.
Temps rose steadily over the next 45-50 min but the rise then slowed at about 275. I propped the door open a little and the temp rose to ~325 over the next 15 min where it settled; good.
Just before the 3-hour mark I removed the skirt and tips from the spares and removed the membrane. I salted the meat the fleshed out the scant remaining rub with some more Aleppo, onion, garlic and thyme to get it to a sufficient quantity then rubbed the meat when the salt drew its moisture a few minutes later.
Not wanting to deal with repositioning the butts, I simply removed the upper grate, stuck a rib rack on the lower, and stuck the spare rack, skirt and tips in the rack, replacing the butts on top. Temps still ~325.
2 hours later, not having gotten my usual pineapple-tamarind juice blend together for the ribs yet, I figured i'd give them a quick look and remove the skirt and tips. It dawned on me
then that the lower grate was likely cooking hotter and that I'd better check the ribs. A probe check confirmed they were done. (I coould have removed the skirt and tips and foiled the rack anyway but it would likely have ended up fall-off-the-bone rather quickly, not something I am fond of.) I pulled them and wrapped all in foil. I checked the butts: The feel from the probe gave me the impression that they were both at the done/sliceable point, if not yet the done/pullable point so I tuned on the probe to see what the temps were: 184 and 185. I removed them, wrapped them and stuck all the meats in the microwave, stuffing a towel in as well.
About 3 hours later, having made sides, I removed the meats from their rest. Pile-o-pork (click any image for larger):
The ribs on top, the butts below, the tips in the middle.
The ribs were tender, moist and tasty, as was, suprisingly, the tips. The flap was a bit overcooked, as expected, but fine, tasty, dipped in vinegar finishing sauce (I also use for butt) which we ate while I sliced and plated the ribs.
Ribs, sliced:
Dinner (half eaten); sauteed kale with garlic and Aleppo, roasted sweets mashed with butter, maple, chipotle and sherry vinegar; vinegar sauce on side:
The pork I finished later, for storage in the freezer. Rather than slicing it I chopped it fairly coarsely, tossing it with finishing sauce and vac-packing it:
Bowl of chopped pork:
Many cook temps and cook configurations are possible. As Jim notes, you have to be aware of what you're doing vis-à-vis temps and configuration (water, sand, empty, grate positions, etc.) so that you can figure out and allow for these variables. I'm with BFD too: get comfortable with the
cooker first, minimizing any changes to the variables for a while, so that in the future any changes you make you'll know what to expect.