Tools: Pitboss Pellet Smoker @225 , aluminum foil / pan , Pitboss sweet rib rub , Pitboss competition wood pellets, water pan, brush, cooler/towel/butcher paper
Meat: 5 pound Brisket (I could not find a larger one at the time however I have since tracked down a local butcher that carries whatever I could ask for) for those in Spokane WA EGGERS MEATS
Before I talk about my first Brisket experience I want to go over my First Pork butt attempt. Although tasty I felt it was not up to snuff and definitely not 197 . The night prior I looked at my girlfriend and said wake me up when you get up so we can start right away. 8 am she comes in we fall asleep together for an hour and half resulting gf fail, dedication fail on my part and a start time of pork hitting the smoker at 10 am. I did a dry sweet rib rub threw it on top of a rack with apple juice in a pan underneath. Smoked for hours frequently basting no bark. I did not wrap. All of a sudden got the temp stuck @ 165. And a few hours later 165..... and a few hours later 167 woohoo. Then 7 in the evening 172 and between 9 -10 pm by the fire pit started googling safe pork temp and why I need to wait. I failed to wrap the pork butt to get over the “Stall” and was unaware of any such occurrence. Sad to say I ended up giving in to hunger and pulled it off @179. Shredded pork not letting it rest and added Dr Pepper homemade BBQ sauce served on dinner roll style buns. Was told it was “sooo good” but I was disappointed. Lessons learned : found out wtf the stall was, wrap it, give more time go all in plan out the day.
Monday rolled around and all I could find to throw on the smoker at home was a pack of ball park hot dogs. Success good but I wanted a challenge so had to drive out to my local grocery store and buy my first brisket with my new addiction. I wanted a 10lb but the only option was 5. I did my research, wrote out my game plan and set up that night. I unwrapped the brisket checked the fat ensuring 1/4 thickness on content then rubbed my sweet rib rub all over placed it on the pan aluminum foil covered and let sit over night. Bright and early woke up for work preheated @225 and meat hit smoker fat side up electric thermometer in thickest part with water bowl opposite chimney per some Franklin BBQ YouTube tutorial videos time hack 630 am. Then went to work (currently working from home due to COVID) 930 am first break and time to check brisket finding it already at 167 and for some reason lil to no bark. So I kept it naked checking every 30min to an hour until I read an article a water pan in a pellet smoker may not be the best. Ditched the water pan at 1130 am brisket never stalled and read 180 could see some change in bark at 130 pm and still in the 185 range. Looking good 5 pm rolls around brisket hit 201 I pulled it off wrapped in butcher paper—>towel—> cooler. Waited 1hr 15 min to cut.
The result...... Brisket tasted amazing looked pretty good and I was surprised by how flavorful something without BBQ sauce could be. Served on White Bread and by itself. Nice smoke ring on top with mild overcooking on the bottom with dryness. This did not pass the pull test and I was satisfied with the bark level, flavor, tenderness in 3/4 of the cut.
Lessons Learned:
I need to understand my Smoker fat side up when heat source is located middle bottom was a bad idea. Next time will fat side down
No water pan and wrap with butcher paper between 165-170
Will cook to 203 and let rest 2 hours
Ready to go Again even with leftovers in the fridge
Meat: 5 pound Brisket (I could not find a larger one at the time however I have since tracked down a local butcher that carries whatever I could ask for) for those in Spokane WA EGGERS MEATS
Before I talk about my first Brisket experience I want to go over my First Pork butt attempt. Although tasty I felt it was not up to snuff and definitely not 197 . The night prior I looked at my girlfriend and said wake me up when you get up so we can start right away. 8 am she comes in we fall asleep together for an hour and half resulting gf fail, dedication fail on my part and a start time of pork hitting the smoker at 10 am. I did a dry sweet rib rub threw it on top of a rack with apple juice in a pan underneath. Smoked for hours frequently basting no bark. I did not wrap. All of a sudden got the temp stuck @ 165. And a few hours later 165..... and a few hours later 167 woohoo. Then 7 in the evening 172 and between 9 -10 pm by the fire pit started googling safe pork temp and why I need to wait. I failed to wrap the pork butt to get over the “Stall” and was unaware of any such occurrence. Sad to say I ended up giving in to hunger and pulled it off @179. Shredded pork not letting it rest and added Dr Pepper homemade BBQ sauce served on dinner roll style buns. Was told it was “sooo good” but I was disappointed. Lessons learned : found out wtf the stall was, wrap it, give more time go all in plan out the day.
Monday rolled around and all I could find to throw on the smoker at home was a pack of ball park hot dogs. Success good but I wanted a challenge so had to drive out to my local grocery store and buy my first brisket with my new addiction. I wanted a 10lb but the only option was 5. I did my research, wrote out my game plan and set up that night. I unwrapped the brisket checked the fat ensuring 1/4 thickness on content then rubbed my sweet rib rub all over placed it on the pan aluminum foil covered and let sit over night. Bright and early woke up for work preheated @225 and meat hit smoker fat side up electric thermometer in thickest part with water bowl opposite chimney per some Franklin BBQ YouTube tutorial videos time hack 630 am. Then went to work (currently working from home due to COVID) 930 am first break and time to check brisket finding it already at 167 and for some reason lil to no bark. So I kept it naked checking every 30min to an hour until I read an article a water pan in a pellet smoker may not be the best. Ditched the water pan at 1130 am brisket never stalled and read 180 could see some change in bark at 130 pm and still in the 185 range. Looking good 5 pm rolls around brisket hit 201 I pulled it off wrapped in butcher paper—>towel—> cooler. Waited 1hr 15 min to cut.
The result...... Brisket tasted amazing looked pretty good and I was surprised by how flavorful something without BBQ sauce could be. Served on White Bread and by itself. Nice smoke ring on top with mild overcooking on the bottom with dryness. This did not pass the pull test and I was satisfied with the bark level, flavor, tenderness in 3/4 of the cut.
Lessons Learned:
I need to understand my Smoker fat side up when heat source is located middle bottom was a bad idea. Next time will fat side down
No water pan and wrap with butcher paper between 165-170
Will cook to 203 and let rest 2 hours
Ready to go Again even with leftovers in the fridge