Food Smokers and Smoking Tips/Tricks/Techniques

In a related subject, on my first outing using a smoker (so effing green) I tried doing beef brisket. Taste wasn't to shabby, texture was another thing. Very tough, of course I later found out beef brisket isn't for the faint of heart.

The question is, what do you guys do to get them tender? A lot of the BBQ shows the guys do all kinds of stuff, not the least of which is injecting the brisket.
what do you do and be honest is it tender after?

 

I smoke brisket for less time than pork. and I cut across the grain and slice it thin - maybe 3/16". Doing this helps me not have to worry about tender. I think brisket should be firm. If I wanted it to fall apart I'd cook it in the crockpot. I am definitely not the brisket pro on the board though. I've only done a couple. As far as I can tell, brisket dries out easily and the last thing I want is mealy beef because I tried to cook it long enough to get it really tender.

 

I thought it was funny that we both have the same grille and use tin foil to stop the smoke from venting so quickly.

The brinkman does a decent job but the loss of heat and smoke make the process take longer than it should.

 

Well here goes nothing, put the shoulder on about a half hour ago.

 

Brisket is tough to do. I make sure to baste often and definitely have a water pan below it to keep it moist. It takes a long time too...I've done brisket for 16 hours before. The best brisket I did was about 9 hours on the smoker, then finished in the oven wrapped in foil. Extremely juicy...people raved over it! I did the technique on virtualweberbullet.com.

 

Good luck! Pork is generally pretty straight forward...just keep the temp right and take your time. As a general rule, a 10 lb butt usually takes me about 12 hours, so I'd guess your 6 lber would probably take me 7-8. I'm sure it will be delicious!

 

So after about an hour or so the "temp" gauge has hovered between the line of "warm" and ideal" and hasn't gotten up any warmer (obviously I need to buy a real thermometer for it to monitor actual temp. Any tips on getting it hotter? Is it just going to hover there now or does it take awhile to get up to temperature? I did have some foil up around the top where the bigger openings were where the lid and the base meet to keep some of the heat from escaping.

 

I'd try to open the bottom vent a little if there is one. If you're smothering the coal, you'll get acrid thick smoke instead of light blue smoke and the fire probably won't stay lit and you won't get the heat you need.

 

I'll check, don't think there's any operable vent per se in the bottom. Just the door on the side.

 

Well I just went out temperature has gone up so ill just monitor for now.

EDIT: and its dropped back down into "warm" grrrr

 

What type smoker you using, a pill type. If so a light breeze used to kill mine. Set up a wind break of some sort if possible. On the temp you need a internal meat thermometer, pull at 190-195, and let rest 1 hour before pulling. No two butts will finish at the same time

 

Should I just stick the meat thermometer in now and leave it in the meat?

 

That's what I used to do, now I use a prob, so I don't have to open up the smoker to check actual temps. "if you looking, you ain't cooking"

 

My sisters boyfriend has the same smoker and has temp problems too. You can try adding a half chimney or so of lit charcoal but I'd think there has to be a vent on the bottom? How does the charcoal get fed oxygen to stay lit otherwise?? If no vent, I'd say all you can do is add more lit charcoal.

 

The latter part is what I'm worried about, constantly opening up to check. But I might as well just throw the thermometer in it and check back later since I don't have anything else. I'm sure the wind isn't helping my cause, I did place it on the driver rather than the back porch since it was less breezy. May have to bring the Taco through the back yard and in front of the smoker to block some of the wind lol.

 

Probe is a nice thing to have...personally I wouldn't just leave the thermometer in there...just check temp every couple hours until it gets closer to being done, then a little more frequently.

 

Alrighty.

First time, didn't except it to go smoothly anyway.

 

It's all about learning and figuring out what works for you. And you get to eat your "mistakes"!

 

I dont know if the gourmet is anything like the regular brinkmann, but I had to put the fire bowl on brick to put it into the smoker to get the temp up a bit. It worked for me. The only reason I put foil around the top was bc there were so many ribs that the lid didnt close. I might try it at some point to foil the edges just to see if I can smoke it quicker.

 

Yeah, trying is half the battle. Sub 200 degree temps are not gonna hurt a meat thermometer (dishwasher is prolly as hot) the one I have as spent countless hours inside of smokers/grills and it's prolly 20 years old. Seems there "should" be a vent/damper on there, but not sure. Do you happen to have the box the smoker came in? I folded the flaps in, top and bottom and set it over my pill smoker for a wind break. That's the main reason I swapped to a double insulated electric, it's like cheating, program times and temp, load smoke generator, forget it. Rain, wind or cold. I use a Masterbuilt Smokehouse and a A-MAZ-N smoke generator.