First Time Brisket and First Time Butt...at the same time!!

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UK New Smoker

Newbie
Original poster
Aug 8, 2020
3
2
Hi All
As you can see from my name I’m a very new smoker from the UK. I’ve done a few pieces of chicken in my new smoker quite successfully but now the wife has invited 20 meat eaters over next weekend for our 30th anniversary. She has pushed me to do a beef brisket and a pork butt and I’m looking forward to the challenge but I have some questions.

Can I cook both of them in my smoker (it only has 1 rack) together? Would I put the beef in first and then the pork as it cooks quicker? (Beef is just under 8lb and the pork is about the same). I only have one wireless thermometer with 1 meat probe and 1 grill probe. Do I put this in the beef or the pork? I do have a manual probe thermometer as well. What sort of time will they take? I know it’s a lot of quite simple questions but I am a newb!!

I’m using the Azuma Bandit Barrel Smoker (see picture). It’s not the biggest of smokers but to be honest there’s not a huge selection in the UK yet at reasonable prices. I’ve sealed it all with high temperature resistant mastic and used fire rope on the lid. It holds its temperature quite well and I lose hardly any smoke at all. I’ve also got a good selection of UK woods including oak, apple and cherry. Any help gratefully appreciated.

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Welcome to SMF!
Boy you sure jumped in with both feet.
I would put them both in at the same time.
Your looking at a 12-16 hour cook at 225-250.
There are tons of threads on here on methods of cooking both, so I would get reading.
Good luck, but it’s gonna be a long day for sure!
Al
 
If it were me I would do the pork ahead of time if possible and reheat it the day of party.
 
First of all,welcome!

I'm with Jim.You can definitely do the pork the day before and reheat...use a drip pan and save those juices if possible for when you reheat.I actually like pulled pork the next day better.It will also be "practice" for getting to know your smoker on long smokes.
 
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Welcome from across the pond! Yes, being new I would split them up doing the pork the day before. The most important thing is to ensure good quality food is provided. You do not want to disappoint 20 people and your wife! Butts are very forgiving and are easily reheated. If interested see the butt recipe in my signature below. Briskets are a bit trickier but there are plenty here on SMF that can help with tips, just ask.
 
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First of all,welcome!

I'm with Jim.You can definitely do the pork the day before and reheat...use a drip pan and save those juices if possible for when you reheat.I actually like pulled pork the next day better.It will also be "practice" for getting to know your smoker on long smokes.
How would you reheat it?
 
Hi and welcome from Iowa! I'm with the others, do the pork ahead of time, it will help you get more familiar with your smoker on a longer cook. Also Don't be afraid of running smoker at 275 degrees F. For both meats, it will help shorten your cooks with not much difference in end result. It's better your brisket finishes early than late. Start probing about 195 degrees F. You want a probe or skewer to slide in with little to no resistance, can happen anywhere between 195 and 210 F. Once done wrap in foil and couple old towels and place in cooler, it will stay warm for hours. And you want it to rest before cutting into it.

Good luck and have fun!
Ryan
 
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Hi Guys

So I wanted to let you all know how my first time went.
I took the advice of the general consensus and smoked my pork butt on Saturday. It went really well but as I didn’t know how my smoker would function on a long smoke I literally sat with it for 6 hours keeping the temp right and the fire fed. I then wrapped it and put it in my oven for another 3 hours. It had a lovely bark and had just started to split across the top. I reheated it on the Sunday at a low temperature in the oven but it took hours to get up to a safe, edible temperature. Fortunately there was plenty of food to keep people going. When it was ready I pulled it, put a little more dry rub in the mix and poured a good amount of thinned BBQ sauce on it. It was AMAZINGLY GOOD!

I did the brisket overnight on Saturday. It went in at 11:30pm and I just went to check on it when the temperature changed. I spritzed it with cider vinegar every hour after the first 3 hours. It hit the stall at around 4:00am so I let that piece of wood burn out and took it out and wrapped it at around 4:45am. It then went into the oven and hit the magic 203° at 9:30am. I then wrapped it in a couple of towels and stored it. I bought it out at 1:00pm and I can tell you now it was some of the best beef I’ve ever had. Everyone loved it!!

Thanks to all of you for your help and advice. Here’s to many more years of smoking!!!
 
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