Last smoke before surgery- It's brisket time!

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grillin_all_day

Smoking Fanatic
Original poster
SMF Premier Member
Jun 5, 2008
511
46
Barksdale Air Force Base, LA
Well, I'm rolling in for knee surgery next Monday and wanted to get one last smoke (my second one on it) in on the new O.C. Wrangler.  Being that I'm going to be out of commission for a bit, I decided to go big with a brisket.  This is only my third brisket, and first one in about 3 years.  Got a packer that weighed in at 11.68 lbs, watched Aaron Franklin trim a brisket on youtube over and over, and rubbed it down.  It's tucked back in the fridge for another 3 hrs or so, then I'm going to throw it on the pit with some oak and pull an all nighter.  Not to leave you guys hanging, here's a few qview's just to tease.

The packer


All trimmed up. I probably took between 1.5-2 lbs off. I'm also a little rusty.


Trying a new beef rub that's heavy on CBP, sea salt, garlic and onion powder, paprika, and chile powder


And finally all rubbed down, getting ready to take a nap for a few hours. It already smells amazing.

 
MMmmmmm, looks great and a great start!  Good luck on your knee surgery!  A knee replacement?  Or a clean out?  
 
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  Looking good, get er on the smoker!
 
MMmmmmm, looks great and a great start!  Good luck on your knee surgery!  A knee replacement?  Or a clean out?  
Thank you very much!  It's a torn right ACL and meniscus.  Sad thing is that I did the same thing to the left one and had it repaired back in 2004, so now I have matching knees!
 
Wow!  Do you install flooring? lol!

Had the ACL on my left knee, ripped out both meniscuses too, know what you're going through and it is not fun at all - I fell off a ladder 10 ft and landed on my left leg and popped 'em both, luckily at work, but it took 5 months to get approved for the surgery.  I was off for 6 weeks after the surgery, didn't miss a single day before, arranged all my therapy appointments after work, but the dist. supervisor forced me to come back after 2½ weeks from the surgery, even called my doctor to end my off work script.  Like a dummy I didn't fight it.  He was one of several that prompted my 5 strokes too!
 
Nah Pops, don't install flooring, I'm in the Air Force.  It's really no fun injuring yourself, but it especially sucks when your bosses aren't understanding about it.  As of right now, I'm getting 2 weeks off (I had 4 weeks after the last one) and will be given more time if needed.  I fought for everything this time (still took 2 months to get a surgery date), unlike last time where they yanked my chain until they figured out what was wrong 3 years later and did the surgery.  

Just thought I'd post another quick update, I'm 2.5 hours and a 6 pack in and finally think I got the kinks worked out for my heat.  Still getting used to the smoker and oak, but am keeping it between 225-260.  Had some issues with adding wood too late a few times and the temps dipped to 195, but I didn't inject this time, so there shouldn't be any safety issues.  My plan is to let it go for another 1.5-2.5 hours before I peek to see how it's doing.  Here's a few more shots for you guys to enjoy

Just pulled out of the fridge and waiting to get thrown in the smoker. Smelled fantastic!


Found another use for the SFB.  Got a mop of beef broth, butter and worcestershire sauce going

 
Just went out and spritzed it down with my mop and I have to say that so far I'm really impressed at how well the Wrangler is holding temps.  Now that I figured out how the oak is burning, I've been able to run a constant 225 (a little lower then the 250 I want to be running, but still good) on one big split for the last 1.5 hours and it's still not showing any signs of coming down.  Had both the intake and damper wide open and it's been a dream to maintain.  Here's another sneak peak.  Trying fat side up for the first time and I think it's looking pretty good so far.

 
Looks Great and good luck with the Surgery and the future dealings with the Air Force bureaucracy. Unfortunately virtually any Knee Surgery is a temp fix until Arthritis rears it's ugly head...JJ
 
Looks Great and good luck with the Surgery and the future dealings with the Air Force bureaucracy. Unfortunately virtually any Knee Surgery is a temp fix until Arthritis rears it's ugly head...JJ
Thanks Jimmy. Btw, I grew up in South Williamsport, not too far from Harrisburg.  So far I've been lucky arthritis hasn't set in the other knee, but it's going to be hell once it does.

Well boys and gals, here comes some rain that we weren't supposed to get.  Thankfully the pits under my back porch and out of the rain.  On that note though, looks like I'm having brisket and eggs for breakfast!  After a short 6 hours (in which time I only opened the pit twice), I stuck my probe in and am reading 180 in the flat and around 175 in the point.  I'm very shocked because I've never had a brisket get done this quickly, but it's done when it's done.  I thought my probe might be off, but I calibrated it tonight and was about 5 degrees off (it's reading 185), so I'm going to shoot for around 195 and pull, foil, wrap in towels and into the cooler for a few hours of rest.  Here's another qview before a good probing

 
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Im up with you brother, i dont get off till 7 in the morning. Unfortunatly i cant have a cold one but im here, Keep it rolling, Keep up the qview and its Looking good so,far. I have the O.C pecos
 
After only 7 hours and 45 minutes, my brisket's done.  By far the fastest I've finished a brisket, but that thing was oozing juices and was so tender pulling it out.  It turned out to be less than an hr. per pound, but that's why we go off of temp and not time.  If it tastes as amazing as it looks and smells, I'll have one happy family in a few hours.  Got it double wrapped in heavy duty foil, wrapped in 2 towels and put it in the cooler to take a little rest.  I'll probably be pulling it out and slicing in about 3-4 hours, so I'll post a final qview then.

Coming out of the pit

 
Woooow, lb'er in 7 hours. True testiment of by temo and not time. All meat is different. That was one well raised cow. Cant wait to see it sliced
It really is a testiment of temp., not time.  I was expecting to be around the stall when I inserted the probe, not almost finished.  Based off of the time, that's right around 50 mins/per lb. and I allocated myself 2 hrs/per lb.  It was also never foiled until it was done, so I really would have expected it to take longer.  I've actually had smaller pork butts take longer than this thing did.

How are you liking the pecos?  I almost picked that one up, but decided on the heavier steel over the size.  If the pecos would have had the thicker steel though, I would have gone w/ the pecos.
 
It actually does well. Compared to my old brinkman pitmaster the pecos steel is pretty thick. I smoked 10slabs of ribs for memoial day and it didnt Miss a Bet. I love it. Only con is it doesnt have the extra rack up top.but ill get that done later
 
Woke up after a short nap and sliced up some brisket to go with some eggs for breakfast.  It turned out really good.  The only critique I have for next time is I need to tone back on the salt a little bit for next time.  The rub has a nice peppery bite to it that went really well with the beef.  I sliced it all the way to the point, wrapped it back up in foil and threw it back in the cooler for later on. And now finally.....

All sliced up


First time not injecting and it's still oozing juices


Thanks for tuning in!
 
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