I've been smoking on a hand me down GMG Daniel Boone for about 3 years now. Even though the results were good, I've always felt like the food I was putting out could be better.
All summer I've been researching, making notes, comparing prices, and trying to decide between a stick burner or a 40" electric MB for my next expansion in to smoking. I threw all of that hard work out the window and picked up a 22.5" WSM at my local Ace Hardware instead.
Below are some details from my cooks, and I can say without a doubt that even with some imperfections, this was the best BBQ I've ever laid on the table.
6 lb Pork Butt - Sam's Club - $1.78/lb
Fuel: B&B Lump Charcoal - Loaded the ring ~13 lbs, pretty much burned it all
Flavor Wood: Hickory Lumps (3 loaded under the charcoal, 1 in the divot for the starter coals)
Rub: Homemade rub with SPG, Paprika, Cumin, Brown Sugar, Chili Powder, Onion Powder
Temp (goal): 250 degrees
Wrapped with peach paper @ 160 (hour 7) until finished
Total Cook Time: 12 hours to 202 IT(probe tender all around)
Cook Notes: I decided to fill the water pan because it was my first smoke, and I'm pretty glad I did, I think it helped keep the spikes I had in a controllable range. I started with a half chimney of lit chunks dumped in to the center of the dug out coal pile. The first 4 hours were really stable, I hit 240 and let it ride, maybe had +/-5 degree roams. The afternoon got really windy (20+mph) and I had a pretty hard fought battle with temp spikes and intake air. Knowing that butts are forgiving this did end up cruising at 270 for the last 8 hours of the cook. Every combo of using downwind intake, or top vent adjustments seemed fairly unresponsive, and 270 was just was it was going to cook at.
Verdict: It was delicious. Extremely tender and just full of smoke flavor. You can smell the smoke when you open the fridge with the leftovers in it.
15.5lb packer brisket - Sam's Club - Prime $3.28/lb
Trimmed: I like a 1/4" Fat cap, so only about a 1 lb came off in trimming edges, 14.5lbs going on smoker
Fuel: Royal Oak Natural Briquettes - Loaded ~13 lbs in to the ring
Flavor Wood: Hickory and Pecan (3 chucks of each buried in the coals, 1 hickory in the coal divot)
Rub: S&P and a little of the rub from the butt
Temp: 6 hours @ 225, then 270 until finished
Wrapped with peach paper at 160 (hour 8) until done
Total Cook Time: 15 hours to 200 IT
Cook Notes: Nervous to cook this bad boy on basically the maiden voyage with the smoker, but it was only $50, so that's all of like 15 minutes in Las Vegas.
Started at 10pm with a 225 smoker and a full water pan. The wind was still blowing but the briquettes seemed to like to hold the low temp a lot better than the lump. I have a ThermoPro remote temp probe to monitor the meat and cook chamber, after a steady 2 hours of 225-235 I felt confident going to bed at midnight with the high/low alarms set to wake me if there was any trouble.
Alarm goes off at 3:30am - low temp, the wind had nearly stopped and choked my fire down to 205, I adjusted, revived to 250, and went back to bed in about a half hour.
6am - high temp alarm at 290, wind had come back up and stoked my coals, but I'd also hit 159 on temp so I stayed up and wrapped. Also checked on the coals and reloaded a cold 3lbs of briquettes.
The rest of the day ran right were I wanted it at 270 and it finished up around 1pm. Felt like butter but I probably should have let it go another few degrees. Took some cap off for burnt ends and let it cool in the oven for about an hour, then wrapped and went in the cooler with towels until 5pm carve.
Verdict: Again, the best brisket I've ever smoked. I'm sold on the Smokey Mountain Smokers. Some of that is a credit to the prime grade for sure, but the smoke ring was good, and it passed the pull test.
Bark at the Wrap
Done (I will probably open the paper at about 195 next time to refirm the bark)
Burnt Ends:
Forgot to take pictures at the carve, but here's what it looked like at the table (need to sharpen my knife)
Thanks to everyone in the forums for all of the knowledge I've gleaned over the last 3 years to make these cooks a success!
All summer I've been researching, making notes, comparing prices, and trying to decide between a stick burner or a 40" electric MB for my next expansion in to smoking. I threw all of that hard work out the window and picked up a 22.5" WSM at my local Ace Hardware instead.
Below are some details from my cooks, and I can say without a doubt that even with some imperfections, this was the best BBQ I've ever laid on the table.
6 lb Pork Butt - Sam's Club - $1.78/lb
Fuel: B&B Lump Charcoal - Loaded the ring ~13 lbs, pretty much burned it all
Flavor Wood: Hickory Lumps (3 loaded under the charcoal, 1 in the divot for the starter coals)
Rub: Homemade rub with SPG, Paprika, Cumin, Brown Sugar, Chili Powder, Onion Powder
Temp (goal): 250 degrees
Wrapped with peach paper @ 160 (hour 7) until finished
Total Cook Time: 12 hours to 202 IT(probe tender all around)
Cook Notes: I decided to fill the water pan because it was my first smoke, and I'm pretty glad I did, I think it helped keep the spikes I had in a controllable range. I started with a half chimney of lit chunks dumped in to the center of the dug out coal pile. The first 4 hours were really stable, I hit 240 and let it ride, maybe had +/-5 degree roams. The afternoon got really windy (20+mph) and I had a pretty hard fought battle with temp spikes and intake air. Knowing that butts are forgiving this did end up cruising at 270 for the last 8 hours of the cook. Every combo of using downwind intake, or top vent adjustments seemed fairly unresponsive, and 270 was just was it was going to cook at.
Verdict: It was delicious. Extremely tender and just full of smoke flavor. You can smell the smoke when you open the fridge with the leftovers in it.
15.5lb packer brisket - Sam's Club - Prime $3.28/lb
Trimmed: I like a 1/4" Fat cap, so only about a 1 lb came off in trimming edges, 14.5lbs going on smoker
Fuel: Royal Oak Natural Briquettes - Loaded ~13 lbs in to the ring
Flavor Wood: Hickory and Pecan (3 chucks of each buried in the coals, 1 hickory in the coal divot)
Rub: S&P and a little of the rub from the butt
Temp: 6 hours @ 225, then 270 until finished
Wrapped with peach paper at 160 (hour 8) until done
Total Cook Time: 15 hours to 200 IT
Cook Notes: Nervous to cook this bad boy on basically the maiden voyage with the smoker, but it was only $50, so that's all of like 15 minutes in Las Vegas.
Started at 10pm with a 225 smoker and a full water pan. The wind was still blowing but the briquettes seemed to like to hold the low temp a lot better than the lump. I have a ThermoPro remote temp probe to monitor the meat and cook chamber, after a steady 2 hours of 225-235 I felt confident going to bed at midnight with the high/low alarms set to wake me if there was any trouble.
Alarm goes off at 3:30am - low temp, the wind had nearly stopped and choked my fire down to 205, I adjusted, revived to 250, and went back to bed in about a half hour.
6am - high temp alarm at 290, wind had come back up and stoked my coals, but I'd also hit 159 on temp so I stayed up and wrapped. Also checked on the coals and reloaded a cold 3lbs of briquettes.
The rest of the day ran right were I wanted it at 270 and it finished up around 1pm. Felt like butter but I probably should have let it go another few degrees. Took some cap off for burnt ends and let it cool in the oven for about an hour, then wrapped and went in the cooler with towels until 5pm carve.
Verdict: Again, the best brisket I've ever smoked. I'm sold on the Smokey Mountain Smokers. Some of that is a credit to the prime grade for sure, but the smoke ring was good, and it passed the pull test.
Bark at the Wrap
Done (I will probably open the paper at about 195 next time to refirm the bark)
Burnt Ends:
Forgot to take pictures at the carve, but here's what it looked like at the table (need to sharpen my knife)
Thanks to everyone in the forums for all of the knowledge I've gleaned over the last 3 years to make these cooks a success!