Good brisket,but no smoke ring ??

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t-bone tim

Master of the Pit
Original poster
OTBS Member
Feb 24, 2007
1,558
11
N.B. Canada
Good day all...did a 9# brisket today in my MES...used a combo of oak and hickory for wood,rubbed down with Meowey's rub last night,slathered with yellow mustard and more rub this a.m. and let it sit about an hour.
I preheated the smoker to 130 then put brisket in , upped the temp to 235 and began the smoke,adding only a few chips 4 - 5 every 1/2 hour or so and a spritz of apple juice and rum every hour or so.
1 1/2 hours in the brisket was at 108,so I cut the temp back to 230....4 hrs in were at 163.....8 hrs were at 170, I pulled and foiled and upped the temp to 245....11 hrs we hit 200,I towel and cooler,2 hrs....beautiful,juicy,tasty,smelled heavenly....BUT....no smoke ring ?? anything else I can do to improve this ??
Here are a couple pics
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Marvin , I used my masterbuilt electric....designed for chips I believe ,but maybe I could get away with some very small splits ? will have to try that nextime .
 
Man I dont anything about using electric smoking I'm a wood burner myself,. I wish I knew what to tell you but I'm totally lost.
 
I am a wood burner also. Your brisket looks wonderful, but I actually wonder how much smoke was produced by your chips. One thing I have learned is that sometimes you get a beautiful ring and sometimes it just does not happen. I bet that the taste was just fine, ring or not.
 
I have the MES as well and have yet to get a smoke ring on anything I have smoked. Taste and moistness have always been great, just no smoke ring even though I add chips through out the smoke to keep generating the smoke. The brisket I complete last night (after 14 hours to reach the 185 degree temp) was completely black on the outside with no smoke ( I don't foil at anytime during the smoke). Tasted wonderful though. I think it could be that the MES use of water and the chips kind of sparingly thus no ring.
I have always preheated to 235 degrees and left it there on all my smokes, monitoring the temp of the meat with an electronic probe.

I see you are in New Brunswick? Passed through there a couple of times while my Daughter was going to the Vet School on PEI. Nice folks and scenery you all have up that way!! Different from Texas, that's for sure.
 
I believe the chips to be the problem also. Chunks only. I had a old Pitmaster tell me that meat does not accept much smoke after internal temps reach 145*. Smoke accordingly.
 
I found that chips are ok for grilling, but for smoking I just use chunks. It seems like the chips burn up too quick. But that's just my opinion.
 
Don't feel bad, I have a GOSM and very rarely get a decent smoke ring. You can taste the smoke, just no smoke ring. I want to go to wood, but the GOSM makes it so easy.
 
Cheech,

I read/heard the same thing. Apparently adding 1-2 pieces of lump charcoal or brisquets w/ wood chunks or chips will give the desired effect of a smoke ring.

Supposedly its the chemical reaction between the wood and charcoal that causes it.
 
I don't think its the chips. I used to use them in my cheap water smoker w/charcoal and I could get a nice smoke ring. I'd also go through a small bag of them. I soaked/didn't soak, didn't matter.

Try adding more chips, soak some/don't soak some. I've also read that it doesn't matter too much.

I also wouldn't worry too much. You have a very nice look'n brisket, smoke ring or not.

Good luck, think of it this way..........you gotta smoke another one tomorrow to do some "tests". The glass is half full, man.
 
I also heard that a charcoal brickette or two in the hopper will produce a smoke ring. Some people on the cookshack site do it. I don't know how safe it would be though, so try it at your own risk. If it looks good, tastes good and smells good, why improve? Oh yeah, were all here in the pursuit of perfection.
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have a GOSM. I asked the same thing a few weeks back. All meat comes out with a great smoky flavor but no ring.

Cheech nailed it on the head. It is the lack of charcoal. My last smoke I tried what was suggested. I threw two unlit lump charcoal pieces on top of the wood. It didn't give it a great smoke ring but it was a very noticeable improvement. I did the same with every reload until the meat hit 140 being where the formation of the ring stops.

Next smoke I will play with how many lumps per reload.

Take care,

Brian
 
Funny, I did a brisket this weekend in the electric smoker and didn't get a smoke ring. When I took the thing out of the foil you could smell the smoke, you could taste the smoke, just no ring. I'm going to try the charcoal next time. The brisket was absolutely delicious and juicy though!
 
I have to disagree ... sorry!

I have never used charcoal to smoke anything and if you review my posts you will see a smoke ring in everything ... so the mystery lives on
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