new to smokin and have a some ?

welcome .... I would use the firebox and pay close attention to the temperature at the position of your brisket. There is much information here on how to smoke briskets and others will be posting info for you soon ... so hang on!

Squeezy

 

make your fire in the firebox. make note of your temps at the food rack level, all over the rack. find the area that is hovering 225-240°. place your brisket there.
what kind of wood you using? (splits, whole logs, chunks, chips?) i use splits or whole logs, usually. i have some that made it into chunks when i split it. i use that first. you have a meat thermometer, with a probe, that you can monitor the internal temp of the meat with, while it is smoking? i take my brisket to 200° internal, in the flat. i let it rest for a couple of hours, then slice the flat and pull the point. here is a thread to get you started. here is a thread for a good finishing sauce for brisket. i have made this sauce, and it is very good. here is the whole beef section, where you will more threads on brisket and brisket info. *note i got the above links from this section.*

 

btw, welcome to smf. head on over to roll call, so we can all give you a proper welcome.

 

i use charcoal to get my fire started, then wood for smoke and more heat. do you have a thermometer in your smoker, at rack level?

 

find any wood off this list. make sure it is seasoned. i use oak, mesquite, pecan, and i just got some maple. here, i can get it at lowes or wal-mart. my big grocery store, along with lowes, home depot, and wal-mart has bags of chunks or chips by the charcoal you can use. i am leaving to go to work now, maybe someone else will come along shortly to answer any other questions you have. goodluck, and remember, we like pics.

 

Do you know what type of fire wood it is. As long as it is not pine, or red oak or anything like that it is prob ok. You can use mesquite,fruit woods, or pecan, those will do just fine. I would use charcoal and wood both to get a real consistent burn for your fire. Small clean burning fires really help control your temp and then add wood chunks or small logs for flavoring. Good Luck

 

Cronic welcome aboard looks like chris has pretty much got you up to snuff. Im a wood burner myself thats all I use. I prefer Pecan wood cant go wrong with it.

 

What's wrong with red oak? I use any type of oak and have never had a problem.

I have a Smoke N Pit that I hardly ever use anymore, but when I use it I start off with about 8# of Royal Oak briquettes and use wood chunks for the smoke flavoring. Little pieces of firewood work Ok but the Smoke N Pit is too small for an all wood fire. Be careful of the spot just inside the smoker chamber by the firebox, it will be too hot and dry out your brisket, put a pan of water there if you want to, it helps control your heat spikes. Check into the mods in the charcoal and wood burner forums to find out ways to improve your smoker.

 

welcome!!! now that u have all the info u need (nice posts chris!) here's what it should look like



good luck, and most important, enjoy yourself

 

thanks, marvin and bubba. i bought some firewood at lowes once in a pinch. it was labeled as hardwood; worked ok. how did the brisket turn out?

 

where abouts do you live?

 

Or maybe like this



Good luck on that brisket smoke, I just picked up a small packer to do on Saturday myself.

 

Cronic,did you grab a thermometer yet so you know what temp your running at grate and cooking level???