Food Smokers and Smoking Tips/Tricks/Techniques

That thing can make a fine smoker with a little arranging of the coals. That's a hell of a deal! Congrats on the nice score. I've gotten rid of two objectively "better" grills to go back to a Weber kettle in my grilling time. The last time I "upgraded" was when I went from an 18" kettle to a 22".

 

I had an audible called on me for tomorrow's meal. The time got moved up quite a bit from what I was originally told. Now I'm stuck having to get this brisket on around 2 a.m. Oof. 6 a.m. sounded so much better. I'd go hot and fast with it instead, but this is supposed to be my first real practice cook for comp.

Packer is trimmed beautifully, however, and injected with Butcher BBQ Prime Brisket injection. There is about a 7-8 slice section of this little brisket (9.8 lbs) that I'm really interested in seeing what happens.

I was just about to go prep the smoker, get some coals ready, etc. and then it started absolutely POURING rain. I'll cook in it, but I'm not fussing around with pre-cook prep work in it if I can avoid it.

 

Agreed, I bought my sister in Burbank a 22 and use it to smoke all kinds of goodies whenever I'm down there.

 

When you go hot and fast for brisket, is it like 350 until stall and then wrap and put back on, total of about 4 hours plus rest?

 

The cook usually lasts around 5-6 hours total, but otherwise you pretty much got it. I'll shoot for 325*, but let the smoker climb up to 350* if it wants. 4-5 hours unwrapped plus another wrapped, usually gets it done. If you go straight from the pit to the rest without venting, you can carryover cook a decent amount if you're needing to cook, then travel somewhere.

 

Curious, since you are a pro, how much fat do you trim and do you go fat up or down?

 

I'm going to like Costco. Do you know how hard it is to find ribeye cap steak? And Prime to boot. Cut the strings holding it and wrapped in bacon so it was proper.

I've tried reverse sear couple of times and personally for me don't see much difference from sear and slide. And I use charcoal rails to hold a second charcoal grate right under the grilling grate. I never can get the coals as hot as the beginning IME. Although I have used a fan before to get it even hotter but it gets hot enough without forced air for me.



128* and done


Cut up 2 quarts of vidalia onions and 4 strips of homemade bacon. Cook the onions down until can put in a package of sliced mushrooms. A little butter to go with the bacon grease, I do it on the side burner of the gasser. Have to stir at least every couple of minutes. But is a fantastic steak topping. Not that these needed it but it does take them over the top. And will go well with the Choice ribeyes I got.



With local fresh picked corn from a pickup truck selling it on the side of the road


Yeah I like Costco and have only been there once.

 

I think you're giving me too much credit , but here is goes.

I always do this:

Deckle and all of those large "chunks" in the brisket all get taken out. The fat cap gets trimmed down to about 1/4" and gets cooked down the entire time.

For comp, I also do this:

The top side will get the first 1/8" or so trimmed off as well. This gets any strings of fat dangling on the top removed and ensures that the little thin membrane is completely removed. Additionally, if the grain is running 45-degrees to the direction of the brisket (or basically just not parallel), then I'll square up the sides, too, so that, when it's ready, I can cut every slice right across the grain and still end up with equal width slices. In KCBS, you can square them up after the cook, but the judges can tell by the lack of bark on the edges.

The other 364 days that I cook (sans practice cooks ), I'll almost always leave that alone, though. The improvement isn't worth the lost yield, in my opinion.

 

Thank you kind sir.

 

Such a great cut of meat. The cook looks excellent. Thanks for the topping recipe. I cooked a mediocre steak tonight (as in, crummy quality meat) and, while there was no taking it "over the top", a topping like you mention here would have done wonders for it. I'll save this for next time!

Always happy to share.

I'll never say my way is the best way, but I will say it's the best way I've found for me!

 

Picked up that 18" WSM today. After cleaning it up, it looks like it was only used once it twice. I may need a new top grate, won't know until I finish detail cleaning it tomorrow (there is some rust on it). I may just burn it/ season it, and see how it looks after that.

 

Congrats on the "new" WSM I search CL almost every day here and usually nothing. Most are at least $200 used. I love my Weber's, all of them. The only flaw to me that is a major one are the cooking grates. It seems to be a common complaint the WSM and kettle cooking grates both seem to rust just by looking at them. I am going to replace them all with stainless steel. The nickle plated ones only last me a year on average. Granted I grill and smoke a lot but still... On the other hand $20 for a grate isn't too bad but each year it add ups.

The WSM stainless steel third party options aren't too bad and reasonably priced. Like this 18" WSM top grate: https://www.amazon.com/Heavy-Stainless-Steel-Smokey-Mountain/dp/B01N5A67BY

The kettles are a different story. Weber still has about a dozen stainless grates for the 22" Kettle left in stock. But you have to order by the part number no one there seems to know the difference between plated and stainless. The first one they sent me was plated even though I made sure the guy knew I wanted the stainless one. The stainless cost quite a bit more than plated.



Part number is 80728 for the hinged stainless steel for the 22" kettle.

If you want a real beast and don't mind spending $140 there is this option in stainless.


Killa Grilla makes stainless replacements that are hinged or flat, at just a little bit more than Weber.

 

Hell, I did good on this one then at $80. I was just looking at replacement grates. Going to see how bad they are tomorrow after sanding them, and go from there. I think the lower is ok, but the upper has a decent amount on it.

Thanks for the links and info.

 

You and your damn foto skills... Knock it off! You're killing me over here.

Btw... Costco ftw

 

2:30 a.m. and waiting for the smoke to clean up just a little before dropping in the brisket.

I'm gonna be a mess this evening.

 

I'm no stranger to brisket.. its basically why I started smokin. I have some good bbq spots around my area but i never cared for their brisket. In the first year of smokin I did a whole packer just about every month until i got it to my liking. And what I have learned was dont overthink BBQ, and tha this will never be more than a hobby to feed family and friends.

So today im doing a packer texas style.. No secrets here its rubbbed with Louisiana hot sauce and salt and pepper. i have a pellet pooper but honestly the SnS does an amazing job.

 

I threw on a pork shoulder early this morning. And yes it's raining. And yes I stayed out drinking till 1am. And yes I'm exhausted

 

only have yourself to blame

 

Eh I'm a Canadian. It's what we do.


No regrets and nothing coffee won't fix

 

Get back on the sauce, and tend the smoker all day.