Food Smokers and Smoking Tips/Tricks/Techniques

I'll check it out. I know you aren't in Texas, but there is a chain of grocery stores called HEB. When I get to go I stock up on this rub they call "Grillin' rib rub". It's basically Montreal Steak with a little extra pepper to it and maybe one other spice. I love it on pork chops and tenderloins. Marinate a tenderloin in that and some Allegro original and you got something pretty damn tasty!

 

I do 3 hours of smoke at 225-240°
Until the ribs get to about 168°.
Then, Wrap them for 2 hour and check, until about 191°And finish grill. One thing I have found that I ended up correcting is I would prep my ribs the night before but then I had to much spice leach into the ribs. So I have since been prepping my ribs only 3 hours before the smoke and that seem to be the perfect timeline for me.

 

There ain’t nothing wrong with that, smoking is all about the basics. I do the temperature so that I can produce and reproduce the same outcome as close as possible with a piece of meat that is always different from one smoke to another as we all know

 

There are two main reasons, but they are really minor nitpicks. I don't think it is a huge difference, just my preference:

1. The fat cap melts away and drips down the brisket. If it is up, it can pull some of the rub away with it as it drips. I want the rub to stay put.
2. The fat side is kind of the "ugly" side of the brisket. Leaving it down means that it takes all of the marks and indention from the cooking grate, though I fully admit this isn't a beauty contest.

As for the 250* cook, I was going to be spending a good bit of time away from the smoker (I was away for 4 hours), so I cooked at a slightly lower temperature than I normally do to keep the window for hitting the mark for wrapping and pulling as wide as possible. Easy to speed it up towards the end if needed, but harder to slow it down, in my experience. I usually cook at 275* and very frequently do at 300*. As @oscolivar1 mentioned, I do not find there to be a discernible difference with the higher temp cooks and they have the added bonus of getting the cook done quicker. The only downside, as far as I'm concerned, is that the window for getting it pulled at the perfect time is smaller the higher the cook temp.

 

You and I are pretty similar, then, I think, though I haven't cooked at 225* in a while. 275* is my most frequently used temp, too. Good balance between speed and control. Ever do hot & fast briskets? I was cooking them at 300*-325* for a while and that is a fun, wild ride. Coupled with wrapping, those suckers cook fast. One of our other cooks did his at 350*. Still turned out great and he got to sleep in and have brisket for dinner .

Give it a whirl! Bark will likely be a little firmer, but that is just more of a good thing.

 

Never smoked something above 300 unless it's chicken. But hey I'm always up for a new way to smoke. I've seen a lot of people on YouTube who have tried hot and fast smoke and it looks just as good and just as juicy.

I could imagine doing a fast smoke if I was on a time crunch or overslept lol

 

Might have to bump up my temp sometime. ive been running 225* (give or take due to charcoal/wood in my cooker and the damper control is moody (have since solved with gadgetry) I always figured/was instructed fat cap up to keeps the goods moist. also the lower temp was supposedly supposed to render the fat better because longer cook. Of course i may have been misinformed.

 

I've been a little quiet in here lately but man have I been busy. Took a trip to Traeger HQ at the end of September for their first ever "Man Week" event. 2 Days of cooking classes and marketing talk and 2 days of camping, fishing, drinking and smoking expensive cuts of meat.




Then I was lucky enough to be given the opprotunity to take home my own 1300 Timberline. Decided to break it in the only way I saw appropriate, a 17lb Prime Brisket rubbed with Oakridge Black Ops and Cimarron Docs Sweet. Started at about 9 last night, just about ready to wrap pull and rest. The WiFire feature on these grills is a game changer.

 

Smoked a couple fatties this weekend along with two smaller pork shoulders. Those fatties were sure a hit. They didn't last long at all.

 

Or what about at one of @bvbull200 's competitions?

 

Good chance we won't compete again until next Labor Day weekend, what with all of the other irons we have in the fire, but a meat meet would be awesome! The UDS and keg smokers travel real nicely .

 

Hi, fellow BBQers!

I like wood grill over the fire pit. I have too much firewood, so I never use charcoal.

On the pit, I start with the grill high until it gets down to coals, then flip the grill over for direct heat. Chickens are skewered on fireplace poker hooks, tied with cotton twine. Easy to handle and flip the birds.



Hot/wet smoke chickens in an old weber, with wood fire. Cut up an old baking pan to make a firewall in the weber. Fire on one side, water pan under the meat. 3" chunks of split firewood... easy to add more. I am sure this will do brisket as well.

 

well, brisket turned out fantastic but lacked the texture I was after. I have really, really shitty knives so Im sure that was part of the problem but alot of it wanted to pull instead of slice so i just rolled with it and did chopped brisket which I will reuse tomorrow and make some tacos in cast iron.

 

that looks like excalibur

 

Sharp knives are key, without them it’s hard to gauge how the cook went. As you know.

 

Lol the drift boat mounted grill is amazeballs

 

"That sumbish got a dang smoker on a boat " is exactly what i thought

 

Damn man that's pretty freaking cool. 1300 is the one I'm trying to decide if I want to upgrade to or not. Mine isn't quite old enough to convince the wife it needs replacing yet.