I spent all night getting my smoker seasoned and my wife volunteered a BBQ at our place the next day so I felt it only fitting to use the smoker on the first try, since it was already warmed up and all. I have to say that I learned A LOT, and also learned that I have A LOT to learn. But I am VERY pleased with the results. I have to give lots of credit to Billbo's world famous rub and BBQ sauce. They were awesome. So here's how it all went down:
The boxes with my smoker (Char Griller Pro Deluxe) and side smoker box have been sitting the garage taunting me until I could get them put together. So finally my 3 yr old and I got the chance while mom was away to get it all set up. I had fun putting it together and my mouth was drooling in anticipation of the upcoming smoke. My 3 yr old thought the boxes made a great fort (2 toys in 1). After that I wheeled it in the backyard and started it going. Many hours, and lots of veggie oil later the inside was a beautiful mahongany color and I deemed it ready for smoke. I put the still burning coals into the smoker and threw on some mesquite chips and watched the smoke flow. And did it! I'm surprised my neighbors didn't call the FD since it was 2 am and LOTS of smoke. While the grill was smoking I coated my brisket in the rub and set it into the fridge. I also just happened to have some bacon and sausage laying around
so I had to make a fatty (just plain with fried bacon inside and more rub. I also got an idea (from the forum of course) to wrap a chicken breast in bacon. These were to be my test subjects.
About 3 am I put the fattie and the chicken on the smoker and started one of many trips back and forth to figure out temp control (needs lots of work) and meat placement. I set the fatty kinda close to the SFB and it got a little well done on the bottom but delicious none the less. The chicken turned out aweseom! Around 5 am I put the brisket on and hoped for the best. I couldn't seem to get the temp on the smoker thermo to hit/stay at 225 so I used A LOT of charcoal. I also used a quite a bit of mesquite chips and a little bit of hickory. To my surprise the brisket made 180F around noon (I expected about 3-4pm using the 1.5 hours/pound math for 7# brisket). The get together wasn't until 6 so I wrapped it in much aluminum foil and several towels and into the cooler in the garage to sit till dinner.
Around 5 I opened it up and the brisket was hot and smelled AMAZING!! Needless to say it was a hit and even the picky friends we invited were impressed with the brisket.
My friend let me know that she saw these on sale at the grocery store (Smith's) 50% off. So yes I paid 64.99 for the grille but I only paid about $25 for the SFB!
The fattie went first
Chicken joined shortly after
Brisket final results.
I have to find the charger for my digi cam so I can stop using the iPhone for photos but these'll have to do.
Lessons learned:
Do more research first. I read a lot of the mod posts last night and went out today and bought more thermometers for the grill to hopefully help out with temp control. I'm still on the hunt for a charcoal basket for the SFB, and thinking about making a deflector to even grill temps out.
Buy more meat. It's only been 2 days and the entire brisket it gone, so it the fattie and chicken.
That about sums it up. Sorry it was so long but I'm super excited, and I posted 3 types of meat in Beef but I figured since the brisket was the highpoint I won't be shunned too bad. I'm already thinking about what I'm doing next. I bought the stuff for ABTs on the last one but ran out of time/energy. I still have them for this weekend though. Thanks to everyone for all the info in your posts, I couldn't be happier!
The boxes with my smoker (Char Griller Pro Deluxe) and side smoker box have been sitting the garage taunting me until I could get them put together. So finally my 3 yr old and I got the chance while mom was away to get it all set up. I had fun putting it together and my mouth was drooling in anticipation of the upcoming smoke. My 3 yr old thought the boxes made a great fort (2 toys in 1). After that I wheeled it in the backyard and started it going. Many hours, and lots of veggie oil later the inside was a beautiful mahongany color and I deemed it ready for smoke. I put the still burning coals into the smoker and threw on some mesquite chips and watched the smoke flow. And did it! I'm surprised my neighbors didn't call the FD since it was 2 am and LOTS of smoke. While the grill was smoking I coated my brisket in the rub and set it into the fridge. I also just happened to have some bacon and sausage laying around
About 3 am I put the fattie and the chicken on the smoker and started one of many trips back and forth to figure out temp control (needs lots of work) and meat placement. I set the fatty kinda close to the SFB and it got a little well done on the bottom but delicious none the less. The chicken turned out aweseom! Around 5 am I put the brisket on and hoped for the best. I couldn't seem to get the temp on the smoker thermo to hit/stay at 225 so I used A LOT of charcoal. I also used a quite a bit of mesquite chips and a little bit of hickory. To my surprise the brisket made 180F around noon (I expected about 3-4pm using the 1.5 hours/pound math for 7# brisket). The get together wasn't until 6 so I wrapped it in much aluminum foil and several towels and into the cooler in the garage to sit till dinner.
Around 5 I opened it up and the brisket was hot and smelled AMAZING!! Needless to say it was a hit and even the picky friends we invited were impressed with the brisket.
My friend let me know that she saw these on sale at the grocery store (Smith's) 50% off. So yes I paid 64.99 for the grille but I only paid about $25 for the SFB!
The fattie went first
Chicken joined shortly after
Brisket final results.
I have to find the charger for my digi cam so I can stop using the iPhone for photos but these'll have to do.
Lessons learned:
Do more research first. I read a lot of the mod posts last night and went out today and bought more thermometers for the grill to hopefully help out with temp control. I'm still on the hunt for a charcoal basket for the SFB, and thinking about making a deflector to even grill temps out.
Buy more meat. It's only been 2 days and the entire brisket it gone, so it the fattie and chicken.
That about sums it up. Sorry it was so long but I'm super excited, and I posted 3 types of meat in Beef but I figured since the brisket was the highpoint I won't be shunned too bad. I'm already thinking about what I'm doing next. I bought the stuff for ABTs on the last one but ran out of time/energy. I still have them for this weekend though. Thanks to everyone for all the info in your posts, I couldn't be happier!
