4 July Brisket and CharGriller 980 review update

  • Some of the links on this forum allow SMF, at no cost to you, to earn a small commission when you click through and make a purchase. Let me know if you have any questions about this.
SMF is reader-supported. When you buy through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.

RME

Fire Starter
Original poster
Jul 28, 2022
33
33
Saratoga Springs NY
20240703_222243.jpg


20240704_163434.jpg


Hi and I posted a perhaps an overlong review of a Char-Griller 980 2 years ago or so. I did a brisket on this 4th for a crowd of 12 and thought I would update that review via what I think was a successful brisket cook description.

I began with a 14 lb USDA prime full packer brisket. I trimmed the fat, rendered the fat into beef tallow, injected with Butcher BBQ mixed with cider, rubbed with Amazing Ribs recipe beef rub, and let sit in the reefer for 24 hours.

Note the rub recipe I used is not salted. If you are injecting with a salt solution - and Butcher BBQ contains salt - I don't think you need to add salt to the rub.

The 980 is a great value priced temperature controlled offset smoker. But it's control app sucks. To make sure an alarm would go off and wake me if the temperature was off, I used a wireless Wi-Fi thermometer (ChefIQ is brand I have but there are many others). Suggest that if you need an alarm to reliably alert you, an actual Wi-Fi thermometer, wireless or wired, is better than Bluetooth.

The 980 benefits from having some rust-be-gone and flat BBQ spray paint handy, and periodically wire brushing the rusty bits and then de-rusting and spraying.

Would also note that channel where the blade is inserted to shut down the 980 rusts. If you want the blade to work it really helps to periodically use some persistent high temperature lubricant in that channel.

I have occasion to do a brisket maybe twice a year, so don't have the experience to know what of the following technique was necessary and what might not be.

I lit off the 980 at 930 PM with two disposable bread pans inside filled with water and by 10 the temperature was steady at 225F and the smoke was a light haze. I put the brisket in the smoker with the thermometer inserted into the flat and went to bed. I set my alarm to wake myself up twice during the night to mop it with the Amazing Ribs recipe Texas mop sauce. I also set the Wi-Fi thermometer app to go off if the ambient temperature varied more than 10F in either direction from 225F.

The water filled bread pans were used both as heat sinks to further stabilize the temperature as well as provide humidity. I don't know if they are necessary but several people on this site recommend their use.

The smoker hopper was filled with a mix of apple wood chunks and briquettes. Per a lot of advice on this site, you don't need a lot of wood chunks.

By 8 AM on 4 July the brisket had reached 165F. I removed it from the smoker, rubbed it with beef tallow, wrapped it with pink butcher paper, reinserted the thermometer, and put it back in the smoker.

By 12 brisket was at 200F in the flat. I removed it from the smoker and placed it, with pink butcher paper still on, in a big disposable aluminum pan, and placed that into a beer cooler which I had warmed previously by pouring boiling water into it.

By 330 PM the brisket temperature had dropped to 145F. I removed it and sliced it. I began with the flat, slicing against the grain. When I reached the thick bit of fat separating the flat from the point, I rotated the point and began slicing that against the grain. If I was better at slicing brisket, I would have just separated the flat from the point and sliced each separately.

The liquid from the resting pan was served as a gravy. I could have made a pan sauce out of it but I was too lazy.

The brisket was served with sliced pickles and Texas toast I made with brioche bread, fresh garlic, flat leaf parsley, butter, olive oil, and a little minced anchovy, toasted on my gas grill. A useful garlic technique is to smash whole cloves, then slowly poach at low temperature in the olive oil and butter mixture until the cloves are more or less liquified and can be mixed into the olive oil and butter mixture. If you're stove doesn't have an ultra low simmer setting, you can use a double boiler, or set the pan with the olive oil and butter on top of a cast iron pan, and set that on top of your burner.

Other people brought potatoe salad, macaroni and cheese, and an actual green salad. I was trying to keep it a thematic Texas brisket experience with sides a Texas brisket place would serve. As far as I know there isn't a Texas brisket place here in upstate NY.

12 people ate all of 14 pounds of brisket.

Also got kudos for serving the brisket at about the time I said I would. When I invite people over for a smoked protein dinner, it's often ready hours after I say it will be and sometimes people get cranky and leave before eating.

Bourbon goes well with brisket, and with a nice cigar after the brisket is done.
 
Last edited:
PS - I said 250F and 225F for ambient temperature. I can't figure out how to edit original post but it was 225F for the entire cook.
 
View attachment 700148

View attachment 700149


Hi and I posted a perhaps an overlong review of a Char-Griller 980 2 years ago or so. I did a brisket on this 4th for a crowd of 12 and thought I would update that review via what I think was a successful brisket cook description.

I began with a 14 lb USDA prime full packer brisket. I trimmed the fat, rendered the fat into beef tallow, injected with Butcher BBQ mixed with cider, rubbed with Amazing Ribs recipe beef rub, and let sit in the reefer for 24 hours.

Note the rub recipe I used is not salted. If you are injecting with a salt solution - and Butcher BBQ contains salt - I don't think you need to add salt to the rub.

The 980 is a great value priced temperature controlled offset smoker. But it's control app sucks. To make sure an alarm would go off and wake me if the temperature was off, I used a wireless Wi-Fi thermometer (ChefIQ is brand I have but there are many others). Suggest that if you need an alarm to reliably alert you, an actual Wi-Fi thermometer, wireless or wired, is better than Bluetooth.

The 980 benefits from having some rust-be-gone and flat BBQ spray paint handy, and periodically wire brushing the rusty bits and then de-rusting and spraying.

Would also note that channel where the blade is inserted to shut down the 980 rusts. If you want the blade to work it really helps to periodically use some persistent high temperature lubricant in that channel.

I have occasion to do a brisket maybe twice a year, so don't have the experience to know what of the following technique was necessary and what might not be.

I lit off the 980 at 930 PM with two disposable bread pans inside filled with water and by 10 the temperature was steady at 225F and the smoke was a light haze. I put the brisket in the smoker with the thermometer inserted into the flat and went to bed. I set my alarm to wake myself up twice during the night to mop it with the Amazing Ribs recipe Texas mop sauce. I also set the Wi-Fi thermometer app to go off if the ambient temperature varied more than 10F in either direction from 225F.

The water filled bread pans were used both as heat sinks to further stabilize the temperature as well as provide humidity. I don't know if they are necessary but several people on this site recommend their use.

The smoker hopper was filled with a mix of apple wood chunks and briquettes. Per a lot of advice on this site, you don't need a lot of wood chunks.

By 8 AM on 4 July the brisket had reached 165F. I removed it from the smoker, rubbed it with beef tallow, wrapped it with pink butcher paper, reinserted the thermometer, and put it back in the smoker.

By 12 brisket was at 200F in the flat. I removed it from the smoker and placed it, with pink butcher paper still on, in a big disposable aluminum pan, and placed that into a beer cooler which I had warmed previously by pouring boiling water into it.

By 330 PM the brisket temperature had dropped to 145F. I removed it and sliced it. I began with the flat, slicing against the grain. When I reached the thick bit of fat separating the flat from the point, I rotated the point and began slicing that against the grain. If I was better at slicing brisket, I would have just separated the flat from the point and sliced each separately.

The liquid from the resting pan was served as a gravy. I could have made a pan sauce out of it but I was too lazy.

The brisket was served with sliced pickles and Texas toast I made with brioche bread, fresh garlic, flat leaf parsley, butter, olive oil, and a little minced anchovy, toasted on my gas grill. A useful garlic technique is to smash whole cloves, then slowly poach at low temperature in the olive oil and butter mixture until the cloves are more or less liquified and can be mixed into the olive oil and butter mixture. If you're stove doesn't have an ultra low simmer setting, you can use a double boiler, or set the pan with the olive oil and butter on top of a cast iron pan, and set that on top of your burner.

Other people brought potatoe salad, macaroni and cheese, and an actual green salad. I was trying to keep it a thematic Texas brisket experience with sides a Texas brisket place would serve. As far as I know there isn't a Texas brisket place here in upstate NY.

12 people ate all of 14 pounds of brisket.

Also got kudos for serving the brisket at about the time I said I would. When I invite people over for a smoked protein dinner, it's often ready hours after I say it will be and sometimes people get cranky and leave before eating.

Bourbon goes well with brisket, and with a nice cigar after the brisket is done.
That looks fantastic! Great job on the brisket :D
 
PS - I said 250F and 225F for ambient temperature. I can't figure out how to edit original post but it was 225F for the entire cook.
That looks fantastic! Great job on the brisket :D
Thanks and appreciate the comment from a senior member. Let me know if you have any critiques or suggestions for further improvement. I haven't smoked that many briskets, and this is the first one I did where both the point and the flat came out well, and where people weren't dumping a lot of sauce on it to make it palatable. And it is really embarrassing when I was asked if I had any catsup after some of the previous attempts. This time they also ate all of it. Brisket is weirdly like fish - and I have done a lot of fish having worked offshore in the Alaska seafood industry for a long time. Take it off the heat a little too early and it's not good. Take it off a little too late and it's not good. As opposed to, e.g., a pork butt. Which is hard to screw up.
 
PS - I said 250F and 225F for ambient temperature. I can't figure out how to edit original post but it was 225F for the entire cook.

Thanks and appreciate the comment from a senior member. Let me know if you have any critiques or suggestions for further improvement. I haven't smoked that many briskets, and this is the first one I did where both the point and the flat came out well, and where people weren't dumping a lot of sauce on it to make it palatable. And it is really embarrassing when I was asked if I had any catsup after some of the previous attempts. This time they also ate all of it. Brisket is weirdly like fish - and I have done a lot of fish having worked offshore in the Alaska seafood industry for a long time. Take it off the heat a little too early and it's not good. Take it off a little too late and it's not good. As opposed to, e.g., a pork butt. Which is hard to screw up.

Only suggestions I have are simple ones that will help ensure you consistently nail a brisket.

I see you pulled at 200F in the flat.
It's best to check for tenderness all over when you see 200F in the flat. A brisket is only done by tenderness, never by time or temp.
You check for tenderness by stabbing all over with something like a wooden kabob skewer. if it goes in ALL OVER without resistance, then it is ready. If you get any resistance (likely in the flat) then you let the temp rise a degree or 2 and check for tenderness. Repeat until tender all over.

You want to temp probe the flat, not the point. The point is easy and will be tender way before the flat. The flat is the problem child. Putting the probe in the thickest yet center most spot of the flat is where you want to aim.
Now it is important to know that it is easy to miss this spot. I use 3 probes from 3 different angles and go off the lowest one. I firmly believe this is why people report briskets being done at any temp from 203 - 214F temp. It's because it's hard to hit the perfect flat spot, so only pull when tender.

There are tons of other quirks and things to deal with when doing a brisket but when to check for tenderness and then pulling when it is tender will really do wonders for having a consistently done and tender brisket.

Next, a brisket does not care what temp you smoke it at as long as you are not burning it. So feel free to crank that smoker up to 275F smoker temp so it cooks faster. For timing estimate, a steady smoker temp of 275F at meat level and NOT opening the smoker (if you're lookin you're not cooking) a brisket will take about 1hr 5min per pound for when it may start telling you to check for tenderness. Yes its not done by time or temp BUT this is a good guesstimate for planning.
Add an additional 4 hours buffer/rest time to that time estimate and that total time will pretty much guarantee it will be done.
So for planning a 15 pound brisket would be like 16hr 15 min estimate + 4 hours so start the smoke 20hr 15 min BEFORE you plan to eat.
If you want to eat at 5pm then put it in 9pm the day before.
It will likely finish 4 hours before 9pm and you can just rest it those 4 hours by tightly double wrapping in foil and then tightly wrapping in 3 bath towels and setting on the counter.
Unwrap and slice at 5pm dinner time and it will be piping hot.

This will help you with your timing, tenderness, and consistency. Let know if this helps :)
 
Thanks! Will follow your advice next time I do this.
No problem.

There is more to doing brisket but if you start with those points you can get and consistent. After that it's all fine tuning to make it exceptional.
You can read about more things that are options with a brisket here:

Ask any questions you have and know there maybe more than one way to skin this cat when it comes to getting into exceptional brisket :)
 
SmokingMeatForums.com is reader supported and as an Amazon Associate, we may earn commissions from qualifying purchases.

Latest posts

Hot Threads

Clicky