Decided to replace my old offset smoker I got from wal-mart a few years ago with something slightly more substantial. I still want a Jambo, but until I can afford to either buy or build one, I will make do with this one from the local grocery store. H-E-B owns 'Sear 'n Smoke' brand cookers. Here's mine.
After seasoning, I decided the first cook would be a brisket. Something large and in charge. I put it on around 11:00 AM Saturday, knowing it would keep me from getting a lot of sleep ;)
I have to say, I'm impressed with this cooker. It came up to temp quickly and after some tweaking of the vents on the SFB and the damper on the stack, I was able to get it to maintain 230-250 on the far side pretty much all day. The pic above was from the seasoning process. The rack on the bottom came out of the fire box. It's for grilling, so it won't ever get much use. I have my weber kettle for that work...
The only cons I have for this cooker is that the stack should enter the chamber at a lower point, and I'm going to have serious issues with hotspots inside the chamber until I mod and put a large damper on the firebox side. So, 'a modding we will go'. Did also have a slight bit of warping on the firebox door, so I'll have to beef it up a bit to keep it from leaking too much heat and smoke.
Back to the Q!
I actually finished the brisket to 185d on the smoker around 12 hrs later (that thing sat at 152d for 3.5 hrs...
I let it rest for about an hour so the juices wouldn't just run everywhere when I split it. After separating the point from the flat, I put the point into the oven (wrapped) because I always love to eat that part overcooked. Anyone else? Maybe it's just me...
The flat went into the fridge because I was beat and wasn't about to slice it last night.
My oven has a timer on it, so I can set it to cook and cut off at a specific time. I let the brisket hold in the oven till I woke up this morning. Checked the IT and it was still around 145 so no danger zone issues.
I'm letting it rest now. I've sliced up the flat this morning and getting ready to bag it for sammies all week. I have a plan to re-purpose the point in some chili later this month, so it will likely get frozen.
When I finally get around to pulling the point, I'll post another pic, for now though, enjoy the sliced Q-view! I'm actually very impressed with the amount of smoke ring I was able to get on this thing.
After seasoning, I decided the first cook would be a brisket. Something large and in charge. I put it on around 11:00 AM Saturday, knowing it would keep me from getting a lot of sleep ;)
I have to say, I'm impressed with this cooker. It came up to temp quickly and after some tweaking of the vents on the SFB and the damper on the stack, I was able to get it to maintain 230-250 on the far side pretty much all day. The pic above was from the seasoning process. The rack on the bottom came out of the fire box. It's for grilling, so it won't ever get much use. I have my weber kettle for that work...
The only cons I have for this cooker is that the stack should enter the chamber at a lower point, and I'm going to have serious issues with hotspots inside the chamber until I mod and put a large damper on the firebox side. So, 'a modding we will go'. Did also have a slight bit of warping on the firebox door, so I'll have to beef it up a bit to keep it from leaking too much heat and smoke.
Back to the Q!
I actually finished the brisket to 185d on the smoker around 12 hrs later (that thing sat at 152d for 3.5 hrs...
I let it rest for about an hour so the juices wouldn't just run everywhere when I split it. After separating the point from the flat, I put the point into the oven (wrapped) because I always love to eat that part overcooked. Anyone else? Maybe it's just me...
The flat went into the fridge because I was beat and wasn't about to slice it last night.
My oven has a timer on it, so I can set it to cook and cut off at a specific time. I let the brisket hold in the oven till I woke up this morning. Checked the IT and it was still around 145 so no danger zone issues.
I'm letting it rest now. I've sliced up the flat this morning and getting ready to bag it for sammies all week. I have a plan to re-purpose the point in some chili later this month, so it will likely get frozen.
When I finally get around to pulling the point, I'll post another pic, for now though, enjoy the sliced Q-view! I'm actually very impressed with the amount of smoke ring I was able to get on this thing.
