Brisket help

[Rectecin']

Okay, so since my favorite thing in the world is brisket, I am going to try one Sunday for my first cook. From everything I have read, if you want stronger smoke flavor in a pellet grill, you need to lower the temp compared to other types of smokers. So my plan is this:

8 pound packer. Season it Saturday morning before I leave for work. Get up early sunday morning and put it on the grill. I am thinking of setting the pellet grill on the extreme smoke, which I understand is about 180 degrees, for the first 4 hours or so, then raise the temp to 225 until it hits 160 degrees, take it out, wrap it in peach butcher paper with a little apple cider/apple cider vinegar, return it to the grill and cook it until it hits 200 degrees.

Does that sound right? I love a STRONG smoke flavor, so I am hoping I can get that this way.

I have a smoke tube.... Am I better off just doing the whole cook at 225 and using the smoke tube?

Any advice is really appreciated!

 

[Rings Я Us]

Smoke tube and 225-250 sounds great.. start your poke test at 190 and then before 205 it should be good. Beef broth is good too.

 

[Gwanger]

Smoke tube and 225-250 sounds great.. start your poke test at 190 and then before 205 it should be good. Beef broth is good too.

Make sure pellets are 100% hardwood not with a lot of filler woods and sawdust

 

[Rectecin']

Smoke tube and 225-250 sounds great.. start your poke test at 190 and then before 205 it should be good. Beef broth is good too.

Thanks! I was hoping that would be the case. I think it would take forever if I started it at 180.

Make sure pellets are 100% hardwood not with a lot of filler woods and sawdust

I will be using rec tec pellets..... I hope they are good! They are supposed to be 100% hard wood

 

[Geebs]

I would recommend in an A-maze-N Pellet Tube for your pellet grill. This allows you to get extra smoke in the grill. I wouldnt start at 180, I would atleast maintain 225 min otherwise you are going to be looking at a very long smoke.

 

[Rectecin']

I would recommend in an A-maze-N Pellet Tube for your pellet grill. This allows you to get extra smoke in the grill. I wouldnt start at 180, I would atleast maintain 225 min otherwise you are going to be looking at a very long smoke.

Yeah, I don't want it to take 20 hours....

 

[wanna-be-smoker]

What kind of smoker do you have ?? sorry if i missed it someplace. I have a camp chef and it has a high and low smoke setting and they both produce the same smoke just different temps. The high smoke setting is used the most and that has temp swings above and below the dial setting as thats how pellet grills produce smoke. The main thing here is to maintain a average temp of 220 or so throughout the cook and you could crank it up a bit near the end of your pressed for time.


I have never lacked for smoke with my cooker and only use a tube for cols smoking so i cant advise much on that. I also dont ever wrap my meat during cooks so thats an area i cant help much in that area either. But if you feel you need either of them by all means go for it. I have had my cooker 2 years and 99% of the time have ran nothing but Pit boss and have successfully 1000s of pounds over 100s of hours with not one issue.

Dont drink the koolaid on filler woods unless its a wood you have never heard of lol. Most filler woods are oak or alder which are both great BBQing woods. Many people preach 100% stated flavor wood( which is different that 100% hardwood) and the first thing they do is mix it with something else thus creating their own filler blend lol

I use just salt/pepper and cook on 220 unwrapped the whole cook and you do that different but you will want to cook and end the same. So season how you want and out in your cooker at 220--225 with a meat thermometer and do whatever your going to do with wrap and what not. But when you reach 195 in the flat start probing it for tenderness and when the probe slides in and through like a hot knife in butter its done. Most of the time its in the 203-205 range but i have had them not probe tender until the hit 210


Which leads us to the point which will cook differently and take longer because its fattier than the flat. What do you plan on doing with the point ?? many folks will separate from the flat cube and put back in the smoker with some sort of sauce for burnt ends. I used to do that but now i just separate it from the start and cook whole or cube from the beginning

 

[tallbm]

Hi there and welcome!

I don't own a pellet smoker or a pellet tube (I do own the pellet tray-AMNPS), however I have read enough posts from the pellet smoker guys to report that most seem to roll with a pellet tube to get more/better smoke when using their pellet smokers. This seems to be the way to go.

As for pellets, I'm sure Rec-Tec is 100% hardwood HOWEVER that does not mean it is 100% of the wood mentioned on the label. I just looked on Amazon and the RecTec Grills Ultimate Blend of pellets is a mix of Oak and Hickory.
Most of the pellet companies that do a blend usually do about 70-75% of the cheaper wood (Oak in this case) and the rest with the more desirable wood (Hickory in this case). This is a common occurrence.

Unless I'm specifically looking for a blend I buy Lumberjack brand pellets because they will clearly tell you that the wood named on the label is 100% of the wood (Mesquite, Hickory, Cherry, etc.) rather than hiding behind the trickery of the term "100% hardwood". Also Lumberjack will clearly tell you if the bag is a blend and they have no qualms about giving out their blend percentages.

If you have a Cabela's near you their brand of pellets is just rebranded Lumberjack pellets, or maybe you can find a Lumberjack pellets vendor near you. Perfect Pellets brand does a 100% hickory and I think there is one other brand out there that does 100% of the wood they claim. I even read on a few occasions that the A-Maze-N brand of pellets is rebranded Lumberjack but be sure to do your own fact checking rather than taking my word on what I've found.

In any case I think using the pellet tube and definitely burning 225F or higher from the pellet grill is the way to go... my preference is 275F because the brisket doesn't care, especially if it is trimmed well so there are no little thin pieces to burn up... meaning it is trimmed so that all portions of the flat are roughly the same thickness and there are no hanging pieces off meat in other areas.

Best of luck!

 

[Rectecin']

What kind of smoker do you have ??

Which leads us to the point which will cook differently and take longer because its fattier than the flat. What do you plan on doing with the point ?? many folks will separate from the flat cube and put back in the smoker with some sort of sauce for burnt ends. I used to do that but now i just separate it from the start and cook whole or cube from the beginning

I just bought a Rec Tec RT 700 with a smoker box. It will be delivered Thursday. Can't wait.

So I have never smoked anything in my life, so I think I understood three words in that entire paragraph...lol. I had to have a pellet smoker after my buddy bigger a GMG Daniel Boone as made the best ribs I ever had in his first cook. Seriously though, I had no idea the point wouldn't be done at the same time as the rest of the brisket. I have no idea what I will do if that's the case. I love the idea of cubing it and returning it to the smoker in sauce. Ugh. Yet another layer to this mystery I need to learn. I will probably get some foil trays and do exactly that.

Thanks for the information! Very helpful.

If you have a Cabela's near you their brand of pellets is just rebranded Lumberjack pellets, or maybe you can find a Lumberjack pellets vendor near you. Perfect Pellets brand does a 100% hickory and I think there is one other brand out there that does 100% of the wood they claim. I even read on a few occasions that the A-Maze-N brand of pellets is rebranded Lumberjack but be sure to do your own fact checking rather than taking my word on what I've found.

In any case I think using the pellet tube and definitely burning 225F or higher from the pellet grill is the way to go... my preference is 275F because the brisket doesn't care, especially if it is trimmed well so there are no little thin pieces to burn up... meaning it is trimmed so that all portions of the flat are roughly the same thickness and there are no hanging pieces off meat in other areas.

Best of luck!

Thanks! I have heard good things about lumberjack, and my buddy swears by Q pellets, which I hear is a company started by a former employee of lumberjack. When I bought the grill, I bought 200 pounds of pellets because they had a package deal that made them a very good price. My thought process was, the company wouldn't sell bag pellets that would result in bad flavor or grill performance.... And I wanted to made sure I got right up and running when it came in. Hopefully, my thought process isn't wrong....

 

[tallbm]

I just bought a Rec Tec RT 700 with a smoker box. It will be delivered Thursday. Can't wait.

So I have never smoked anything in my life, so I think I understood three words in that entire paragraph...lol. I had to have a pellet smoker after my buddy bigger a GMG Daniel Boone as made the best ribs I ever had in his first cook. Seriously though, I had no idea the point wouldn't be done at the same time as the rest of the brisket. I have no idea what I will do if that's the case. I love the idea of cubing it and returning it to the smoker in sauce. Ugh. Yet another layer to this mystery I need to learn. I will probably get some foil trays and do exactly that.

Thanks for the information! Very helpful.



Thanks! I have heard good things about lumberjack, and my buddy swears by Q pellets, which I hear is a company started by a former employee of lumberjack. When I bought the grill, I bought 200 pounds of pellets because they had a package deal that made them a very good price. My thought process was, the company wouldn't sell bag pellets that would result in bad flavor or grill performance.... And I wanted to made sure I got right up and running when it came in. Hopefully, my thought process isn't wrong....

Some pellets are better than other. I like the 100% so I know what I'm getting but heck I use Pit Boss Competition Blend as well and I just beef it up with more Hickory as needed since it puts off lighter smoke than I like by itself but it is still good smoke and flavor. With my little bit of enhancement it becomes very very good :)

 

[Geebs]

I would recommend checking out Jeffs website. www.smoking-meat.com. Go under the recipes and look at the different ways he has done brisket, he has a ton of information that was really helpful to me on my first brisket smoke. I also recommend taking the 5 day e course that can be found in the 5 day e course thread, there is some very useful information in there to new and veteran smokers.

Once you go through those pellets, venture out and try some other brands. Thats what I am currently doing. Right now I am using Pit Boss Comp Pellets bc they put out a nice flavor and are $16 for a 40# bag, if I want more of a flavor I just add some 100% pellets to the Pitt Boss Pellets and it seems to be working well.

 

[wanna-be-smoker]

for you folks using pit boss comp blend from Walmart. My Walmart stopped carrying them and at first i was like ughhhhh because they were proved right for me and always available as well as the B&B hickory. They are now carrying the pit boss Hickory/Apple and at some places a fruit blend and i could not be happier with the performance and flavor of the pit boss hickory.

we also have a facebook camp chef group if you folks with ( any and all) camp chef products want to join.

https://www.facebook.com/groups/153802645382102/

 

[Geebs]

for you folks using pit boss comp blend from Walmart. My Walmart stopped carrying them and at first i was like ughhhhh because they were proved right for me and always available as well as the B&B hickory. They are now carrying the pit boss Hickory/Apple and at some places a fruit blend and i could not be happier with the performance and flavor of the pit boss hickory.

we also have a facebook camp chef group if you folks with ( any and all) camp chef products want to join.

https://www.facebook.com/groups/153802645382102/

I just saw our local Menards started carrying Apple, Hickory, and Oak-Aged Whiskey Barrel. I am going to have to check them out when I run out of my Camp Chef pellets.

 

[wanna-be-smoker]

I just saw our local Menards started carrying Apple, Hickory, and Oak-Aged Whiskey Barrel. I am going to have to check them out when I run out of my Camp Chef pellets.

They are BBQ Delight which will have the filler of oak but again don't let that scare you because oak is an excellent BBQ wood as well.