First Packer Brisket using the Smokenator

[huntnetime]

10 or 11 pound packer brisket on the Weber with the Smokenator using Pecan Wood/Kingsford blue bag for about 11 hours at 200-225 degrees at the food grate.  Best brisket I've ever made(and I've made a lot).  Tender, juicy, great pull and smoke.  I trimmed some of the hard fat and shaved down the fat cap on the bottom side so it wasn't so thick.  Delish.

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[huntnetime]

Delish...

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[ncsmoker]

That looks great, my standard is it must be fork tender. LOL May have to get some of what I froze out of the freezer for dinner tonight. Agree with trimming off the fat the last one I did had over a pound of fat.. My favorite woods are a combination of oak and apple.

[rangerone]

That looks awesome. Is it normal for you to finish off an 11 pound brisket in 11 hours? It took me almost 7 hours to do a 4 lb. flat (including a 45 minute rest in foil before slicing). I foiled the flat (crutch) when the internal was about 155F until it came up to 198F then rested it in a cooler. Like you, I kept my grill temperature around 225F.
Could you go into some extra details about your cook for me? I would like to see how you did yours, step by step, and maybe I can use some of your techniques the next time I try one.

[huntnetime]

Oct 13, 2014 18:18:52 GMT -5 rangerone said:

That looks awesome. Is it normal for you to finish off an 11 pound brisket in 11 hours? It took me almost 7 hours to do a 4 lb. flat (including a 45 minute rest in foil before slicing). I foiled the flat (crutch) when the internal was about 155F until it came up to 198F then rested it in a cooler. Like you, I kept my grill temperature around 225F.
Could you go into some extra details about your cook for me? I would like to see how you did yours, step by step, and maybe I can use some of your techniques the next time I try one.

I trimmed off most of that one hard fat line that is between the horn and flat without actually separating the two parts.  Just kind of carved out the solid fat that I could get to easily. Then I shaved the fat cap down to about 1/4" thick on the bottom side of the flat.  I'll bet the brisket was pretty close to 11lbs. after carving that fat off. I then rubbed the brisket down with dry rub, wrapped in cling wrap placed in the fridge overnight.   Got it out of the fridge about 30-45 minutes before it went on the smoker.  Got the smoker up to about 210F using a digital thermometer and put it on.   Kept the grate level temp between 200-230F the entire 11 hours.  I didn't bother checking the temp on the meat throughout the cook as I've always just kind of "eyeballed" it over the years on the big smoker.   Wrapped brisket in foil for the last 1.5-2hours and closed the vents for the last hour. Temp slowly fell to about 140F on the grate then just took it off. Let it sit for about 20 minutes and started slicing. It had that nice "tug" or "pull" to it and was easily one of the most tender and juicy briskets I've ever made. I did check the temp after it rested for that 20 minutes and it was about 180F using the digital thermometer. I've cooked a bunch of briskets on the big smoker over the years and never had any complaints, but this one was GOOOOOOOD.  Hope this helps.

[huntnetime]

Oct 12, 2014 12:27:34 GMT -5 ncsmoker said:

That looks great, my standard is it must be fork tender. LOL May have to get some of what I froze out of the freezer for dinner tonight. Agree with trimming off the fat the last one I did had over a pound of fat.. My favorite woods are a combination of oak and apple.

It really was very tender even though I didn't cook it near as long as you did yours. I don't think I've ever cooked a brisket longer than about 13 hours(even bigger ones).  Might have something to do with living so close to sea level?  I grew up living in an area of old pecan groves and grew up eating pecan smoked bbq. Down here in South Texas where I live now, mesquite is the dominant grilling/smoking wood.  Seasoned mesquite burns pretty hot and fast, but I think gives a pretty good flavor to bbq. Some say it adds a bitter taste, but I don't think so.   I just wanted to get back to my roots and use good ol' pecan.  I look forward to seeing how everyone does their smoking though.  Especially from other parts of the country.  I remember an ol' black fellow where I used to deer hunt.  I think he might have been from Georgia, but he was known to do odd jobs and help farmers out in the county.  During deer season, he would cook whole hogs in brick lined ground pits covered with wet burlap.  He would use mostly oak as that was the predominant wood in the area.  He would sell to go boxes FULL of that shredded pork for like $5 with a small mason type jar full of his own homemade sauce.  I swear all it was made of was vinegar and cayenne.  But man...you'd pour some of that over the top of that pork, grab a loaf of white bread and GO TO TOWN.  That stuff was GOOOOOOD.  Good memory from my youth.

[ncsmoker]

It may have something to do with where you are elevation wise as meat is mostly water and why the stall occurs. I am at 3500 ft. in the Smoky Mountains. I have been using a Weber to smoke with for 30 years and have used their baskets before getting the SN over a year ago. Have used the Weber with baskets in Cleveland, Boston, Charleston and now here and now the SN. I do think it takes longer here for my smokes with the SN. I unfortunately can't check back on my old notes as my house burned down and I lost all my earlier notes on my smokes.

Whole pork roasted and served with a vinegar sauce is well known in the eastern Carolina's and north Georgia. Sold by the lb. with bread and sauce on the tables of various heat. HEAVENLY!!!

[rangerone]

Oct 13, 2014 22:30:38 GMT -5 huntnetime said:

Oct 13, 2014 18:18:52 GMT -5 rangerone said:

That looks awesome. Is it normal for you to finish off an 11 pound brisket in 11 hours? It took me almost 7 hours to do a 4 lb. flat (including a 45 minute rest in foil before slicing). I foiled the flat (crutch) when the internal was about 155F until it came up to 198F then rested it in a cooler. Like you, I kept my grill temperature around 225F.
Could you go into some extra details about your cook for me? I would like to see how you did yours, step by step, and maybe I can use some of your techniques the next time I try one.

I trimmed off most of that one hard fat line that is between the horn and flat without actually separating the two parts.  Just kind of carved out the solid fat that I could get to easily. Then I shaved the fat cap down to about 1/4" thick on the bottom side of the flat.  I'll bet the brisket was pretty close to 11lbs. after carving that fat off. I then rubbed the brisket down with dry rub, wrapped in cling wrap placed in the fridge overnight.   Got it out of the fridge about 30-45 minutes before it went on the smoker.  Got the smoker up to about 210F using a digital thermometer and put it on.   Kept the grate level temp between 200-230F the entire 11 hours.  I didn't bother checking the temp on the meat throughout the cook as I've always just kind of "eyeballed" it over the years on the big smoker.   Wrapped brisket in foil for the last 1.5-2hours and closed the vents for the last hour. Temp slowly fell to about 140F on the grate then just took it off. Let it sit for about 20 minutes and started slicing. It had that nice "tug" or "pull" to it and was easily one of the most tender and juicy briskets I've ever made. I did check the temp after it rested for that 20 minutes and it was about 180F using the digital thermometer. I've cooked a bunch of briskets on the big smoker over the years and never had any complaints, but this one was GOOOOOOOD.  Hope this helps.

Thanks for the extra information. I wish I knew why yours cook so much faster then mine. Perhaps you did not take the temperature as high as I did? If I only went to about 180F, that would have knocked off 2 hours from my cook. I wonder how that would have turned out? All the information I could find tells me I should bring the internal temperature to be between 195F and 205F for the best results, but who knows? 

[ncsmoker]

I agree with Sonny. I always take my brisket off at 175, wrap in foil and put back on the grill with the vents closed. The latest one I left on for 2 hours after wrapping and then took it off to cool off for the next day. Wrap the foil as tight as possible around the brisket. Another method to use is put it in a cooler after wrapping or wrap and then wrap in a big towel and place in the oven. All three have worked for me. I have posted a couple of times that I believe that brisket is the toughest of the meats to learn to smoke properly. It is covered with a fat cap that needs to be trimmed and has internal fat that varies by the various grades of beef. You also need to trim some of this fat out if you are doing a packer, see Sonny's description.

Had some from my Labor Day smoke and it was as fork tender and good as it was then, YUM.

[huntnetime]

I'll be honest, I think this is the first time I've ever bothered checking the temp of the brisket with a digital thermometer after taking if off of the smoker. Like NC above, I wrapped it, closed the vents and took it off when the food grate temp dropped to around 140ish. I checked the temp and it was around 175 or so. So, it's possible it had gotten to that 190 degree temp before the grill started cooling off. Either way, I just kind of eye ball it. I think as long as you don't let the temperature in the grill get too high(275-300F) at the cooking grate and keep it in that 200-250F range, the amount of time can probably be anywhere from 1 hour/lb. to 1.5 hours/lb. The whole thing with cooking it low and slow is that you not only give it good smoke, but you break down the collagen in the meat SLOWLY without drying out the brisket through liquid evaporation. Breaking down that collagen is what makes it tender. Seasoning and smoke give it the great flavor. Not letting the temperature get out of control keeps it moist and juicy. I think those are the key points of cooking a brisket.

[ncsmoker]

I have posted this before, the only step I don't use is the injection step, other wise it is almost exactly what I do. Main points remove excess fat, rub and refrig overnight, smoke low 225-250, remove and wrap at 175, close vents and put back on grill for up to 2 hours. The hot coals and carry over cooking will take the brisket up to 190 or so in the 1st hour and then it will cool back down in the 2nd hour. So you could actually take it off after the 1st hour. It comes out fork tender and I can slice it about 1/4 inch thick or less.

bbq.about.com/od/brisket/ss/aa092708a.htm

As Sonny pointed out it is the collagen that needs to be broken down by the low and slow cooking. This is true of all beef and pork products. Chicken, turkey and fish products do not have the collagen that needs to be broken down but depending on size should be smoked at various temps to obtain a smoked flavor. There is also a limit to how long you can smoke something before your meat starts to acquire a bitter taste. This also depends on temperature.

I smoke salmon at 200 for 1.5 hrs. You can smoke it lower. To do this start only 4 coals open the bottom vent 1/16 and the top vent 1/8. This will put the temp at the grill at about 160. But if you do this you need to brine the salmon in a preservative brine. Salt, pink salt and any flavoring you might like.

Pork is pretty straight forward. I smoke chops at 200 for an hour or two. Spare ribs and butts and picnic at 225-250. I always put smoke on them the whole time they are smoking. Take off the water the lsst hour. Where it gets difficult is if you want to make your own bacon or hams. Then you need to prepare a bring with salt, pink salt flavoring(I use Maple) time and very slow cooking(160 degrees)

Beef as per brisket only depend on weight, 225-250 take to 260-275. Many of you have done this. Take it off at your liking.

Chicken I don't like to do breasts as they are dry unless I brine them. Legs with thighs and whole chicken work well. Legs can take over 2 hours over a slow fire and a whole chicken 3+ hours.

My favorite poultry is turkey. As NC is one of the top 2 producers it is fairly cheap here. An 8lb. breast will be done in 2-3 hours or so. A whole 14lb. turkey for Thanksgiving or any other time takes about 4 hours. I cook them at 300 to 350 just as I would in the oven. Keep plenty of moisture in the pan. I mop them with a butter herb sauce.

Now to the limit of how long you can apply smoke before it imparts a bitter flavor. I am going to use my standard 1x3x3 wood chunks which smoke an hour, you will have to adjust your smoking times to my experience. I smoke my large meats(pork butts, packer briskets) up to 12 hours with no problems. On my St. Louis ribs I smoke them the entire time they are on the grill, about 6 hours. All other meats I smoke the entire time I cook them. Depending on what woods you are using this is only a generality, strong hot burning woods like mesquite, hickory, oak will require less time, fruit woods will follow my general rule. I often mix woods. Oak and apple for brisket, hickory, maple and apple for pork, cherry and apple or all cherry for poultry. Don't be afraid to try pecan if you can get it, it is a milder cousin of hickory. Don't be afraid to try different woods there is alder for fish, orange, lemon, and many others.

Well take care and hopes this helps our forum members