First Brisket (and I have questions)

fried gizzards · Jun 7, 2016

My wife's co-worker gave us a thawed 5-6 lb brisket to smoke tomorrow. She didn't know the weight so I weighed myself on the bathroom scale with and without it to find the difference. I have thrown a rub of chili powder, cumin, black pepper, white pepper, garlic, Creole seasoning, and red pepper flakes on it for the night.

The problem is I have to work tomorrow from 7:30-3:00 and it is supposed to be about 90ish degrees out. I have no problem leaving my traeger out while I'm gone but should I set it for 180 and hope the ambient heat raises the temp to 200 OR set it to 225 and run the risk of it sitting at 240 for most of the time I'm gone?

We are hoping to eat around 6ish.

jcbigler · Jun 7, 2016

Set it to 225, the ambient outside temp won't have much effect on the smoker temp. And it certainly won't raise the smoker temp to 240 from 225.

fried gizzards · Jun 7, 2016

I have noticed on my traeger that the ambient heat doesn't necessarily increase the heat drastically, but because it is a pellet smoker the temp does oscillate. When it is hotter outside the heat spikes tend to be higher as more pellets or fed into the fire pan, and the temp doesn't drop as much as the pan burns down prior to the next cycle. The temp won't hold at 240 but the ambient heat may cause my average temp over that time to be greater than 225

sfprankster · Jun 7, 2016

fried gizzards · Jun 7, 2016

Okay. 225 it is. My thought was it would be easier to foil and raise the heat when I got home than it would be to try and salvage an overcooked brisket. This being my first one, and having several people coming over expecting quality Que, I wanted to make sure I was going about it the right way. I will post some pics tomorrow of before and after.

SmokinAl · Jun 7, 2016

Good luck!!

Al

fried gizzards · Jun 7, 2016

20160606_220356.jpg

fried gizzards
Jun 7, 2016

Here is the before picture. In about 20 minutes I'll fire up the smoker.

fried gizzards · Jun 7, 2016

20160607_065606.jpg

fried gizzards
Jun 7, 2016

Quick pic of it going on the smoker. I'm using a mix of cherry and mesquite. There is some mesquite in my cheap-o char-griller smoke tube to help generate more smoke during the first few hours of the cook.

fried gizzards · Jun 7, 2016

20160607_151751.jpg

fried gizzards
Jun 7, 2016

Here it is in all its glory. Got home to find it at an IT of 207. Its now foiled, wrapped in towels and in a cooler for the next few hours. Money shots to come!

SmokyMose · Jun 7, 2016

Looking forward to it, Gizzards!
Get over the cheapo stuff. You don't need high$ equipment to turn out good chow! Trust me [emoji]128578[/emoji]
Dan

sfprankster · Jun 7, 2016

sauced · Jun 14, 2016

Looks real good.....how did it turn out?

fried gizzards · Jun 18, 2016

The brisket was so good it didnt last long enough for me to take photos of the finished product!!! Very juicy. Great smoke flavor. Next time I may pull it a little sooner, or try and avoid the long time spent in the cooler, because it was fall apart tender when I went to cut it.

SmokyMose · Jun 18, 2016

Fried Gizzards said:
The brisket was so good it didnt last long enough for me to take photos of the finished product!!! Very juicy. Great smoke flavor. Next time I may pull it a little sooner, or try and avoid the long time spent in the cooler, because it was fall apart tender when I went to cut it.

I don't know if I'd change a thing. Sounds like it came out perfect!
However:
:th_nopicsye3:
Just kidding! Good job!

First Brisket (and I have questions)

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