Please check out my timeline. My first overnight cook, and I'm not happy about it.

[fendersrule]

Mopping to begin soon! 175F.

Check out that color!

 

[clifish]

View attachment 692535

View attachment 692536

Mopping to begin soon! 175F.

Check out that color!

Cherry wood/pellets on those ribs?

 

[JckDanls 07]

I think you'll find the IT will stop going up so much when you start mopping...

 

[fendersrule]

Cherry wood/pellets on those ribs?

50% cherry 50% hickory splits!

Here’s a habenero cherry mop sauced. It looks fall off the bone but it isn’t—193F internal temp. Not served yet!

Y’all won’t want to miss the pic updates in an hour.

 

[tpc74]

50% cherry 50% hickory splits!

Here’s a habenero cherry mop sauced. It looks fall off the bone but it isn’t—193F internal temp. Not served yet!

Y’all won’t want to miss the pic updates in an hour.

View attachment 692551

Looking good! Guess you ate it all before the pic updates! :)

 

[fendersrule]

Alright, a crazy day! Finally have some time for a post mortum!

Here is 50% of the people that showed up:

Let's start off with what could clearly use improvement. That is the brisket:

Essentlly, the fat on the top was not rendered enough. I think it could have got another 1-2 hours . However, it is MUCH better to have it this way than for it to be overcooked and dry, so I'm still cholking it up as a win, and a big time improvement. I think flipping it upside down after wrapping made sense from what I experienced first time to help cook the flat more, but honestly I wouldn't flip it upside down anymore and always keep it fat side up. Instead of a 13 hour cook I would honestly plan for a 15 hour cook on a 12.1LB brisket (untrimmed). My average temp was 255F which seems to be good. Any other tips? I may actually completely forgo wrapping next time and just lead it ride naked.

Pork butt:

Couldn't have been better. I recommend just SPGing pork butt and to use beef woods. You will be impressed!

Ribs:

Ribs were goe within 8 minutes. I think I only had one. Perfect tenderness, clean bite marks.

 

[fendersrule]

Here's a better pic of the brisket. It was still perfectly tender, juicy, and awesome. Just the fat cap wasn't rendered to where it should be:

 

[Dustin Dorsey]

I think the fat is just a trimming issue because it looks well rendered in some places. Otherwise, that brisket looks great!

 

[fendersrule]

It was pretty weird though, because no where on the top did I leave the fat more than 1/2".

Maybe 1/4" should be the max. In that case, I could definitely trim much more next time, which I will do!

 

[schlotz]

Normal philosophy on trimming is to eyeball fat trimming to 1/4". Regarding smoking temp, I usually run mine at 275º. Nice looking meal. I'd definitely fill up a plate and chow down.

 

[agcrock2005]

I'm cooking BBQ for the neighborhood. Well, not for the entire neighborhood, but my family that's relocating up here as well.

I want to knock it out of the park. It will be my second attempt at brisket. My first attempt was perfect, until I held it in a warming oven that was reading too high for 12 hours. Instead of it being 150, it was 190. This time, I will not make that mistake again and will use a meater while it is in the oven with an alarm.

I got a pork butt, 3 st louis ribs, and a brisket. No screwing around here! I'm really not happy about having to stay up overnight, but I'm not sure of how else to do it. Really want to keep my pellet grill out of it. Wood-smoked only, with using my Weber Smokey Mountain as a crutch to gain more space.

Food to be served on Sunday at 5PM.

Please take a look at my schedule and critique it. I don't want to take any shortcuts if it impacts the quality. However, if there's an obvious shortcut I'm missing, please let me know.

Saturday - Saturday Night:

BRISKET

• 7PM- Start brisket on Oklahoma Joe
• 2AM- (estimated) wrap brisket and place in WSM w/ meater alarm.

2:30-5:30AM (estimated) SLEEP

Sunday

BRISKET

• 5:30AM- (estimated) Remove brisket from WSM and place in warming oven w/ meater alarm. Hold until 5PM @ 150F

PORK BUTT

• 6AM- Start Pork butt on Oklahoma Joe
• 11AM - (estimated) wrap
• 2PM - (estimated) finish. Hold in warming oven.

ST Louis Ribs

• 8AM- Add Ribs to Okalhama Joe w/ Pork Butt
• 12PM - (estimated) wrap
• 2PM - (estimated) rest

Basically, I'm able to give myself 3 hours of sleep total.

I haven't read through all of the responses, but I would just finish the brisket/butt the night before and put in holding oven at 140 until you want to cut it the next day. I've held briskets for a couple days at 140 and they're perfect every time. Just make sure when you pull from the smoker that you let temp come down before throwing in a preheated oven. That can result in overcooking it.

Here's a better pic of the brisket. It was still perfectly tender, juicy, and awesome. Just the fat cap wasn't rendered to where it should be:

View attachment 692619

The internal fat looks like it rendered perfectly, and the flat doesn't look like it dried out too much. How long was the rest period? I've found that the most important thing to a brisket cook is pulling at the right time and letting it rest for a long time. I pull mine a little before they're probe tender all the way through, because I like to let them rest for at least 4 hours. During that time the carryover cook will get you where you want to be without drying out the flat. What I do now is finish my briskets the night before I want to serve and let them sit in a warming oven at 140 until I'm ready to slice.

 

[fendersrule]

I haven't read through all of the responses, but I would just finish the brisket/butt the night before and put in holding oven at 140 until you want to cut it the next day. I've held briskets for a couple days at 140 and they're perfect every time. Just make sure when you pull from the smoker that you let temp come down before throwing in a preheated oven. That can result in overcooking it.

The internal fat looks like it rendered perfectly, and the flat doesn't look like it dried out too much. How long was the rest period? I've found that the most important thing to a brisket cook is pulling at the right time and letting it rest for a long time. I pull mine a little before they're probe tender all the way through, because I like to let them rest for at least 4 hours. During that time the carryover cook will get you where you want to be without drying out the flat. What I do now is finish my briskets the night before I want to serve and let them sit in a warming oven at 140 until I'm ready to slice.

The rest was from 7AM to 9:30AM. Then it went into a 145F warming oven from 9:30AM til about 5:30PM.

Next time instead of staying up all night, I can do pork butt/brisket at noon and finish by 2AM. Let it rest for 6-7 hours while I sleep, then just wake up and throw it in the warming oven until serving. Easy peazy.

I cooked the brisket to 197F or so (flat probed).

 

[912smoker]

Everything looks great fender and looks like a good variety of sauces in the mix.
Love the Kosmos and Blues Hog.

Have you tried finishing sauce for the pulled pork?

Keith

 

[fendersrule]

Everything looks great fender and looks like a good variety of sauces in the mix.
Love the Kosmos and Blues Hog.

Have you tried finishing sauce for the pulled pork?

Keith

Heya Keith!

Wife usually adds some butter along with any rendered liquid when pulling apart the pork. We don't add any sauces or whatever as I feel like people can add their own sauce if they wish.

Or are you talking to baste the pulled pork with the sauce on the smoker?

I actually have moved to treating pork butt like a brisket. Salt and Pepper only (maybe some garlic) and using beef woods (Oak, Mesquete), etc. It's surprising how amazing it is and I highly recommend everyone try it once. Lots of people like to treat pork like a birthday cake, but if you strip it down to the essentialls and throw beef-cooking woods at it....it's really hard to go back and IMO, creates a superior pork butt!

Ribs, I do sauce 'em though. It's just too much fun.

 

[fendersrule]

btw everyone, look out for some updates tomorrow.

Brisket attempt #3. I would consider my last brisket a good success, just needed to trim more off the top. This time I assured the top is 1/8-1/4".

This brisket required a lot of trimming. It's an angus one, so whatever that means, but there was fat chunks on both sides, and the point needed some shaping.

The brisket had some defects. A nice gash on the flat side, one bald spot on the fat side. Feeling good about my trimming now, but this one really took more effort than usual. It's the largest brisket I will have cooked.

Mesquete and red oak chopped up and ready to roll. Going to do a 10AM-12AM (or up to 2AM if needed) offset adventure tomorrow. Let it rest somewhere insulated for a few hours of sleep, wake up and put it in the warming oven and serve by noon on saturday.

Also SPG pork butt (cheap insurance) will be going in there with it.

 

[FritzHlzr]

Good looking cook. Those large gatherings with multiple proteins are defy nerve racking, so satisfying when it all comes together though.

 

[forktender]

You are way over thinking things.
To avoid tis in the future smoke things the day before you need them. Almost everything smoked taste better the day after.
As far as a time line goes there are no constants in smoking the meat is done when it probs like butter.

So drink a few beers, watch a game or race, and relax.

Toss the time lines.
Dan.

 

[CallMeMattD]

I've never cooked a pork butt on my offset. I was planning on it being a 8-hour cook @ 225-250F. Am I underestimating this?

I've been reading that I maybe I should plan for a 12 hour cook with a porkbutt. Plus, pork butt can be held, so no downfall at all if it's done any faster! Maybe I can throw the pork butt in with the brisket...and that may work out to being more sleep for me?

I've pork butts take anywhere from 5-16 hours, not including resting.

 

[agcrock2005]

I've pork butts take anywhere from 5-16 hours, not including resting.

A 5 hour pork butt being done would be the smalled butt ever. They take time.

 

[CallMeMattD]

A 5 hour pork butt being done would be the smalled butt ever. They take time.

Yes, it was 4lbs. I accidentally bought bonless...plus I was trying to get it done before some nasty storms rolled in, so I cooked hotter