First Brisky on New Smoker!

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tukson

Smoke Blower
Original poster
Well, minding my own business and just walking by the meat counter and a 11lb pounder just committed suicide by jumping into my cart! What could I do?

At least if this is a bust, I will blame erain, he has graciously given me pointers.... LOL!

Washed it and patted it dry then checkered the fat side and rubbed steak grilling spice on and let set till am.
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Up at 0430hrs this am and got it seared lightly till high points just charring..Couldn't bring my self to turn it black, so I sorta seared it..
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The fire is mesquite logs with a pile of kingsford coals dumped on top after lighting in a chimney. At 0600hrs off the grill and into the smoker...
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You better keep this thread going today I am very interested to see what you do and how it turns out. Plus it looks so good! 
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 How long and why did you sear it?
 
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Looks like a good start and if you follow Erain's suggestions it'll come out great I'm sure. My only thought is that mesquite is a strong flavor for a long smoke but some people like the strong smoke so thats a matter of your preferences. I'll look forward to watching your progress so keep the Qview coming
 
I seared it over the flames in the fire pit for about 5minutes on each side... the reason I did it is because erain told me too.....LOL.....he said it helps the flavor... sounds good to me!       I took it off when the high points just started charring and it seems to have a beautiful toasted look and smell to it..... I also am only using a steak grilling dry rub.... it is mostly salt, black pepper, garlic and onion on the ingredients label! I also let it sit out on the counter last night after putting the rub on from 2300hrs till 0500hrs since I didn't have room in the fridge and it was at room temp when I put it over the flames..

The smoker is settled down and holding very nicely at 230f and with the mesquite logs it is getting a good dose of smoke this first hour.... the wood has been outside in the rain the last couple of days and there is more smoke than usual..
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I think it is because we eat a lot of mesquite smoked meats, that even the grandkids are used to the heavy smoke flavor ... it would be, I'm sure too much smoke flavor for the average taster... I have apple and fig and orange and grapefruit trees, but always seem to come back to the mesqite...
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Looks pretty awesome. Good thing that brisket decided to end it's life in your shopping cart!

The searing looks fantastic. 
 
I seared it over the flames in the fire pit for about 5minutes on each side... the reason I did it is because erain told me too.....LOL.....he said it helps the flavor... sounds good to me!       I took it off when the high points just started charring and it seems to have a beautiful toasted look and smell to it..... I also am only using a steak grilling dry rub.... it is mostly salt, black pepper, garlic and onion on the ingredients label! I also let it sit out on the counter last night after putting the rub on from 2300hrs till 0500hrs since I didn't have room in the fridge and it was at room temp when I put it over the flames..

The smoker is settled down and holding very nicely at 230f and with the mesquite logs it is getting a good dose of smoke this first hour.... the wood has been outside in the rain the last couple of days and there is more smoke than usual..
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It sat on the counter for 6 hours at room temp?
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It was almost frozen last night when I got it from the gro. After putting spices on it, I put it back in the plastic and wrapped it up in a quilted apron and covered it with a towel to help hold the temp during the night... this morning when I put the probe in it was 67f. It had a beautiful color and sweet raw meat smell... I hope I didn't screw up! ....
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Sitting on the counter at room temp for 6 hours isn't going to kill you (depending on what room temp is - you are in Tucson - hope you had the AC on) but you will get less than the best results.  At home I will let the meat set out for an hour just to take the chill off the meat so there is less work for the smoker to do initially with the cold shock.  At comps I am now leaving the meat in the coldest part of the cooler until the last second to increase the thickness of the smoke ring. Keep posting pics so we can see how it comes out!
 
You should get second opinions, but the whole "on the counter for 6 hours", and "probed at 67˚ this morning after that 6 hours" just doesn't sound good to me.

The danger zone when a probe is involved is 4 hours from 40˚ to 140˚. It isn't even known how long it was in the zone between 40˚ and 67˚.

I don't want to rain on your parade, but it sounds scary to me.

Bearcarver
 
Thanks guys! I guess I will have to be the first to eat a slice and save till tomorrow for the rest of the family..
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At two hours the smoker is holding at 225f and I won't add a log right now... maybe in an hour or so!

The internal temp is 134f and rising slowly! The smoke has settled down and looking good!

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I would like to voice my concerns along with Bear. I worried about the 6 hours on the counter. Now I have thawed meat for a period of time on the counter also but I don't let it thaw completely. I always let it only get to maybe the halfway mark. Now that that's said I would also like to see this thing smoked
 
Tukson,

The good thing is you are going to cook the $hit out of that meat so any bacteria that could have built up will get smoked / killed.  Looking good so far.
 
meatinc, Yeah, I'm counting on that since it will go to almost 200f before I'm finished and the fact that I got it from the butcher shop that evening and at least to that point someone more responsible than I was taking care of it... I have at least learned something else to watch out for in the future.. It really helps to have pros on here to help keep me on the straight and narrow. I'm learnin each and every day!
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Duffman, I can't take credit for the flag... my granddaughter put it there on the 4th of July weekend! She takes good care of grandpa!
 
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