Firstly following this thread:
https://www.smokingmeatforums.com/t...sustain-big-fire-modification-project.287777/
...I made most of the mods to my Reverse Smoker turning it into a traditional offset.
I decided buy/mod this thing so I could try and cook a brisket, having visited Texas (from the UK) I was hooked on smoked Brisket.
So I decided to try and smoke a full Brisket. It's not a hugely common cut in the UK so I had to order it online.
Ok, this thing is huge, only just fit on the block. I was little concerned that it didn't have the really thick fat cap that I see on American cuts - but I think that's normal for grass fed beef - which most British & Irish beef is.
It was 5kg before some very light trimming so I lit my fire at 4.30 and stuck it on the smoker an hour later. I was hoping to be done at for like 6 or 7 - how wrong I was!
My first time opening the cooking chamber 4hrs later! I gave it a quick spritz, topped up the water pan and cracked on (I repeated this ever hour until wrapping).
After 8hours I wrapped the brisket in butcher paper (sorry no photo).
Unfortunately this is where the problems kicked in. I was fully prepared for the stall - I knew it was coming I wasn't ready for quite how long it was going to take to over come. Basically my brisket hit something like 64C around the time I wrapped it. But after that it crawled up. I was expecting to be done at 6 or 7. But I'd only hit 70 by like 9.
I all honesty I was starting to really struggle to maintain the fire. In the early hours I had established a bit of a groove and I was just adding new sticks every 20mins or so. But ass the charcoal that I used to start it dwindled by coal be ebbed way and I was having to micro manage the fire feeding it basically kindling - I have another post on this issue alone:
https://www.smokingmeatforums.com/threads/a-few-more-mods-advice-needed.290608/
It was 9pm and I had people over who were getting hungry. I am not very happy about it but I did finish the last 1hr in my normal domestic electric-fan oven. It was wrapped at this point so I think bulk of the flavour had been obtained.
Anyway here are the results:
I am super happy with how the brisket turned out. The flat was possibly a tiny bit dry, but a few of the guests said they actually preferred the flavour of the point. I am a massive fan of the cross sections where the two muscles overlapped - so I was really happy with how tender the very middle section of that was.
The smoke wasn't over powering at all and the bark was decent too - I'd probably hold off wrapping it for longer next time and perhaps use a tiny bit more seasoning.
Plenty of things to learn for next time, but I really want to nail the fire management and the design of the smoker - the easier I can make it the more often I can do these smokes in my otherwise very busy schedule.
Thanks so much to all the users of this forum who have helped me so far!
https://www.smokingmeatforums.com/t...sustain-big-fire-modification-project.287777/
...I made most of the mods to my Reverse Smoker turning it into a traditional offset.
I decided buy/mod this thing so I could try and cook a brisket, having visited Texas (from the UK) I was hooked on smoked Brisket.
So I decided to try and smoke a full Brisket. It's not a hugely common cut in the UK so I had to order it online.
Ok, this thing is huge, only just fit on the block. I was little concerned that it didn't have the really thick fat cap that I see on American cuts - but I think that's normal for grass fed beef - which most British & Irish beef is.
It was 5kg before some very light trimming so I lit my fire at 4.30 and stuck it on the smoker an hour later. I was hoping to be done at for like 6 or 7 - how wrong I was!
My first time opening the cooking chamber 4hrs later! I gave it a quick spritz, topped up the water pan and cracked on (I repeated this ever hour until wrapping).
After 8hours I wrapped the brisket in butcher paper (sorry no photo).
Unfortunately this is where the problems kicked in. I was fully prepared for the stall - I knew it was coming I wasn't ready for quite how long it was going to take to over come. Basically my brisket hit something like 64C around the time I wrapped it. But after that it crawled up. I was expecting to be done at 6 or 7. But I'd only hit 70 by like 9.
I all honesty I was starting to really struggle to maintain the fire. In the early hours I had established a bit of a groove and I was just adding new sticks every 20mins or so. But ass the charcoal that I used to start it dwindled by coal be ebbed way and I was having to micro manage the fire feeding it basically kindling - I have another post on this issue alone:
https://www.smokingmeatforums.com/threads/a-few-more-mods-advice-needed.290608/
It was 9pm and I had people over who were getting hungry. I am not very happy about it but I did finish the last 1hr in my normal domestic electric-fan oven. It was wrapped at this point so I think bulk of the flavour had been obtained.
Anyway here are the results:
I am super happy with how the brisket turned out. The flat was possibly a tiny bit dry, but a few of the guests said they actually preferred the flavour of the point. I am a massive fan of the cross sections where the two muscles overlapped - so I was really happy with how tender the very middle section of that was.
The smoke wasn't over powering at all and the bark was decent too - I'd probably hold off wrapping it for longer next time and perhaps use a tiny bit more seasoning.
Plenty of things to learn for next time, but I really want to nail the fire management and the design of the smoker - the easier I can make it the more often I can do these smokes in my otherwise very busy schedule.
Thanks so much to all the users of this forum who have helped me so far!
