- Sep 4, 2012
- 1
- 10
Hi all,
I started my smoking adventure earlier this summer with the purchase of a Chargriller Pro with SFB (on sale at Fleet Farm). I've been working on the basics, ribs, pork butt, any random food I would usually grill, when all of a sudden I realized the summer was nearly over and I better do a brisket.
I drove down to the local Sam's Club, as brisket there is 2.48/lb and every other place in town is over 4.50/lb. I found a nice 14lb'er to take a shot at. First brisket smoke...go big or go home! I trimmed it as best I could (really need a new knife), and rubbed it before I put it to sleep for about 18 hrs in the fridge. Monday morning I woke up at around 3:00 to start the smoker.
Fig. 1 If you look close you can see the porch light on my steps at 3:30 am!
I then began my usual dance with adding wood/charcoal, opening/closing the lid, adjusting vent grates, before I settled in at a solid 200-250 degrees. This took about 45min to stabilize (is 4:15 to early for my first beer?). By the way, I used a combination of "hardwood" and mesquite charcoal lumps, along with oak slab cutoffs you can see in the above picture.
My girlfriend picked up the ingredients for Chef JJ's au jus on the way home from the nightshift, and I threw on the veggies. A little bit later, about T+6.5hrs, I opened up the lid to check on things a bit.
Fig. 2 Please excuse the excessive temp probes, just got my wireless thermos and wanted to put them to use!
I decided to make and can some homemade tomato sauce since I really had nothing better to do. Got about 6 quarts out of the latest batch of garden grown Roma's, Basil, Oregano, etc.
Fig. 3 I'm Italian so I have to keep Grandma happy!
After the sauce I was starting to feel the drag from waking up at 3:00, so as I continued to watch TV I spread out on the couch a bit. Big Mistake! I came to a while later (not sure how long) and noticed my smoker temp was around 165. I ran out and stoked the fire, then came back in and spread out on the couch again....ZZZZ...roughly 20 min later...Oh Crap! 400 degrees....run outside, close vents, open lid. When I finally managed to wake myself up, I finished out the smoke to an internal temp of 185ish for slicing. Some more pics follow:
Fig. 4 Fresh off the smoker and resting
Fig. 5 Some of that Au Jus
Fig. 6 The Flat
Fig. 7 The Point
All in all, I was pretty damn happy with my first brisket. Decent smoke ring, stayed nice and moist, great flavor from the rub and smoke. It took about 14 hrs which is fast for a 14lb'er according to most places, and I think it was a result of my falling asleep and spiking the temp pretty bad. Here are some of my notes on the smoke, let me know what you think:
Dave
.
I started my smoking adventure earlier this summer with the purchase of a Chargriller Pro with SFB (on sale at Fleet Farm). I've been working on the basics, ribs, pork butt, any random food I would usually grill, when all of a sudden I realized the summer was nearly over and I better do a brisket.
I drove down to the local Sam's Club, as brisket there is 2.48/lb and every other place in town is over 4.50/lb. I found a nice 14lb'er to take a shot at. First brisket smoke...go big or go home! I trimmed it as best I could (really need a new knife), and rubbed it before I put it to sleep for about 18 hrs in the fridge. Monday morning I woke up at around 3:00 to start the smoker.
Fig. 1 If you look close you can see the porch light on my steps at 3:30 am!
I then began my usual dance with adding wood/charcoal, opening/closing the lid, adjusting vent grates, before I settled in at a solid 200-250 degrees. This took about 45min to stabilize (is 4:15 to early for my first beer?). By the way, I used a combination of "hardwood" and mesquite charcoal lumps, along with oak slab cutoffs you can see in the above picture.
My girlfriend picked up the ingredients for Chef JJ's au jus on the way home from the nightshift, and I threw on the veggies. A little bit later, about T+6.5hrs, I opened up the lid to check on things a bit.
Fig. 2 Please excuse the excessive temp probes, just got my wireless thermos and wanted to put them to use!
I decided to make and can some homemade tomato sauce since I really had nothing better to do. Got about 6 quarts out of the latest batch of garden grown Roma's, Basil, Oregano, etc.
Fig. 3 I'm Italian so I have to keep Grandma happy!
After the sauce I was starting to feel the drag from waking up at 3:00, so as I continued to watch TV I spread out on the couch a bit. Big Mistake! I came to a while later (not sure how long) and noticed my smoker temp was around 165. I ran out and stoked the fire, then came back in and spread out on the couch again....ZZZZ...roughly 20 min later...Oh Crap! 400 degrees....run outside, close vents, open lid. When I finally managed to wake myself up, I finished out the smoke to an internal temp of 185ish for slicing. Some more pics follow:
Fig. 4 Fresh off the smoker and resting
Fig. 5 Some of that Au Jus
Fig. 6 The Flat
Fig. 7 The Point
All in all, I was pretty damn happy with my first brisket. Decent smoke ring, stayed nice and moist, great flavor from the rub and smoke. It took about 14 hrs which is fast for a 14lb'er according to most places, and I think it was a result of my falling asleep and spiking the temp pretty bad. Here are some of my notes on the smoke, let me know what you think:
- Burn two chimneys of charcoal and ~5 pieces of wood to allow temps to stabilize before throwing brisket on initially.
- Foil and throw in the oven at 7 hrs. I feel like this is cheating, and I am somewhat of a purist, but it would help me get some sleep and is at least worth a try for comparison.
- More <secret ingredient> in my rub.
- Make some modifications to my smoker to allow it to maintain temp longer and steadier. I am a mechanical engineer by trade and also worked in HVAC for about 7 years, so I think I have some decent ideas. I didn't seem to need this with smaller cuts and/or shorter cook times, but a 14lb brisket I think could definitely benefit.
- Use actual beef stock for Chef JJ's au jus, I didn't have any and had to use boullion cubes for mine.
- Cut more fat off! I left 1/4 - 1/2 inch fat cap and smoked with fat cap up, but I don't think I needed it. I want to try one with the fat cap 90% gone to allow the rub and smoke to penetrate deeper.
Dave
.
