BBQ cook planner
Plan a smoker cook: meats and weights give estimated cook-time ranges at your pit temperature (rules of thumb — the probe decides), the stall and when to wrap, rest and hold; a timeline worked back from dinner across all the meats and the smoker's space; live alarms; and the USDA FSIS safe temperatures kept apart from quality targets like 203 °F brisket.
Added
How to use it
How to use it
The cook — when dinner is, the pit temperature, how much fits on the smoker (in slots: a whole brisket or turkey takes 2, most pieces 1) and how long the smoker takes to come up to heat. Start from an example or add meats.
Meats — each meat with its weight and how many. The estimate shows the time range at your pit temperature, the temperature to pull it at for texture, the rest, and whether it stalls; tick Wrap to wrap through the stall.
Timeline — a chart with a row per meat (season, smoke, the window when it may already be done,
wrap, rest and hold) and how full the smoker is, then the list of times: light the smoker, season,
on, stall, wrap, start probing, off, dinner. Each meat is planned at the long end of its
estimate, so a quicker cook only holds longer; notes say when a meat may wait more than 4 hours
and how to hold it. Meats that will not fit on the smoker at once are moved earlier (up to 6
hours), or reported. Add to calendar downloads an .ics with an alert at each step; ⛶ Full screen shows the chart large.
Live — press Start the cook: a countdown to the next step, a chime, a notification and the screen kept on as each step comes; +15 min moves dinner. Plans save in this browser with JSON export and import.
Food safety
The USDA FSIS minimum internal temperatures decide when meat is safe: 145 °F with a 3-minute rest for whole cuts of beef, pork, lamb and veal, 160 °F for ground meat and sausages, 165 °F for all poultry, 145 °F for fish (shown from the sous-vide tool's FSIS table). The higher targets — 200–205 °F brisket, 195–205 °F pork shoulder — are for tenderness, not safety; tri-tip and rib roast targets below 145 °F are labelled as such. FSIS "Smoking Meat and Poultry": keep the smoker at 225–300 °F, use a thermometer for the food and one for the smoker, thaw meat completely first. Hold cooked meat at 140 °F or above; refrigerate leftovers within 2 hours (1 hour above 90 °F).
Limits
-
Cook times are rules of thumb (hours per pound or per piece at 225 °F, scaled by (225 ÷ pit temperature)², about 15 % shorter wrapped), not measurements. Weather, wind, the cooker, fat cap, thickness and how often the lid opens all move them. Start probing early.
-
Times for the stall and wrapping are placed at fixed shares of the cook (about 45 % and 55 %).
-
One pit temperature per plan; for two cookers, plan each separately.
-
Alarms need the page open; they remind by the clock, not by temperature — use a probe alarm.
Related: meal timing planner (the sides), sous-vide and roasting, brines and cures (dry brines and bacon).
Linking to an example
The plan travels packed in the link (?s=…); a few parameters can be written by hand:
| Parameter | Meaning | Example |
|---|---|---|
|
One of the example plans below |
|
|
Dinner time, |
|
|
Pit temperature, °F |
|
|
Smoker space, slots |
|
example= |
Shows |
|---|---|
|
A 14 lb brisket and two racks of St Louis ribs for 18:00 at 250 °F (open) |
|
Two 8 lb pork shoulders for 17:00 at 225 °F (open) |
|
Chicken thighs, sausages and two racks of baby backs for 19:00 at 275 °F (open) |
|
A 12 lb smoked turkey for 16:00 at 300 °F (open) |
Feedback is a gift. Something to improve, a feature to add, or a bug? Tell me.
Runs entirely in your browser; nothing you type leaves this page.