as the meat come to a certain temp the protean no longer absorb the smoke they say the first 2 hours is the time the smoke gets absorbed after that its just surface flavor thus the smoke ring in the meat
Tips for first time brisket
- Thread starter mwemaxxowner
- Start date
to wrap or not to wrap its all up to the person wrapping helps keep moisture in and help get the meat saturated with the temp or we say push it past the stall I have done both ways with a butt and a brisket it takes longer not to wrap but the out come is the same in most cases
In my experience, its not about time, its about temperature. Once meat hits about 140, it acts as you describe. If you keep your temp very low, the meat will continue to absorb smoke flavor.
On a related note - yes, you can get too much smoke. We ran some tests and you can make milder foods (like poultry) inedible if you smoke for too long. For us, Chicken parts (wings and breasts) can't take more than about 2-3 hours at low temp (wood type matters - mesquite overpowers faster). We weren't able to get beef far enough to be inedible (I think because it is generally larger cuts, so it can take a LOT of smoke). I am not talking about food getting a bitter creosote flavor (that is usually caused by the smoke not venting properly), just too much smoke. We did blind taste tests to confirm, and results were pretty consistent.
mwemaxxowner
Active member
For me, just no reason to tie up my wife's oven. (And the oven seems to heat up the house too)
I like the slow controllable heat of my pellet grill regardless of smoke too. My old gas grill had bad hot and cold spots, and was very hard to regulate the overall temp on.
I agree that a Gas grill is OK for searing, but not for roasting.
When we are smoking in large volumes(most of the time), I couldn't fit enough in my wife's ovens to make a difference. Also, I don't like to roast a lot in the house. Smell lingers for days (not as nice as you might think).
However, if I am smoking a brisket or turkey at home, I often use a kitchen oven, but that is why I put in a double oven when I built it. Anyway, if your system works for you, you should stick with it.
Sometimes when we are doing an event that is remote and we have meat to roast (or we just have too much to fit in the regular ovens), we will smoke meats (brisket, turkey, ribs, etc.) then roast them in turkey roasters (the $25 dollar electric roasters from walmart or similar). Surprisingly good, easy to take along, fairly easy to clean. Challenge is that you can only fit one brisket/turkey per oven, so we have a bunch.
We made insulated top covers (like "cozies") for them (fabric, lined with heat reflector lining - like used for hot pads) that just cover the metal lids. the lids that come with the units are uninsulated, so they do better with some insulation (heat is more even).
mwemaxxowner
Active member
Is there an email address for pit boss that I can message about my failed temp probes and broken smoke stack? I'd like to compose an email with pictures and videos of the issues.
mwemaxxowner
Active member
I will probably just do a chuck roast from now on if I'm doing something from the local grocery store. However, I've read a little bit about injecting tallow or butter into a brisket lately. I think it would be redundant and of no benefit on a good cut of brisket with more fat content, but I am wondering if it might be beneficial on a lesser cut and a flat. Sort of introduce the fats into it that it's missing compared to better briskets.
Just wondering, and thinking out loud. I'd appreciate some thoughts on trying this. It might be worth trying to smoke two one day, and do that with only one. That way if it turned out greasy or something maybe there would still be one good one to eat.
Just wondering, and thinking out loud. I'd appreciate some thoughts on trying this. It might be worth trying to smoke two one day, and do that with only one. That way if it turned out greasy or something maybe there would still be one good one to eat.
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My personal favorite is chuck (over brisket), although we smoke way more brisket to meet other people's preference. When I used to work in Texas, all of the tiny wonderful BBQ places offered both chuck and brisket.
We usually buy a whole chuck roll subprimal and after cutting and trimming, roast a big chuck roast and roast some of the smaller parts for french dip sandwiches (for french dip, we smoke, they roast until it is falling apart). Marvelous with smoked beef on garlic-bread roll and a dip made with crockpot carmelized onions. Literally - fill a crockpot with super-thinly sliced onions and a couple of tablespoons of butter, stir a couple of times in the first few hours, then let them cook overnight and salt at the end. (foolproof - and we have the fools to prove it). But, I digress...
I haven't tried injecting fats into brisket. We did experiments with basting them with butter on the smoker, laying bacon across them in the smoker, and with putting butter on them when we wrap, but we found that good brisket just doesn't need it (remember to cook fat side up so the fat renders down through the meat). If you are using a lesser quality of a lesser cut (just the flat, or similar), I would suggest buttering them just before you wrap (assuming you wrap). we often do that with ribs just to put some fat back in after a long smoke.
In any case, I would encourage you to do your experiment. I suspect you that even if one is better, the other won't be inedible. That is part of the fun of smoking - figuring out what works best for you. Please, post your results back to us.
Mike From R.I.
Well-known member
I have good luck smoking bottom round roasts to 140 degrees, my granddaughter loves it along with the rest of the family.
Montreal steak seasoning at 250 deg. We like that it's a medium and not dried out like brisket, and has a good beef flavor.
Montreal steak seasoning at 250 deg. We like that it's a medium and not dried out like brisket, and has a good beef flavor.
We do ball tip that way too - then we do a fast sear to crisp it up. wonderful. Ball tip is often a cheaper and more consistent substitute for tri-tip.
Just a note - if your brisket is dried out, maybe you are not doing something right?
Our process is simple:
-salt at least a day in advance (we usually do 2 days). We usually rub at the same time.
-put it on the smoker fat side up so rendering fat flows down through meat
-long smoke at the lowest smoke setting your rig can do (140 or so) for 8-12 hours
-take it off the smoker and roast in oven at about 325 until internal temp is about 205 (varies a bit with altitude),
-Let it rest for a LONG time before slicing - often an hour or more (if you slice too soon, all the juice ends up on the cutting board instead of in the meat).
-Also, we separate the two halves of the brisket before slicing so we can get more of the fat trimmed and because the grain of the two halves do not run parallel (you can't slice both halves cross-grain if you cut them together).
Start with a good grade of meat. The more marbling in the meat, the more tender and moist it will end up. Costco usually has Prime briskets, H‑E‑B sells Choice, and Walmart has Select. Prime is the most expensive but more forgiving during your cook because of all the fat. A simple trim would involve reducing the fat cap to about 1/4-inch thick, remove the Mohawk and trim the thinnest part of the flat so it a uniform thickness along the end. These parts are just going to burn and dry out during the cook.I am new to smoking and have never been much good on a grill really. So far I'm having great luck with my KC Combo. The more even cooking temps, lower temps, and built in wifi monitoring have helped me work around the grilling issues I've had in the past because of who I am as a person ().
My daughter has requested a brisket. When I try to research how I want to do it it almost leaves my head swimming. I have gathered that there are many ways to skin this cat, though.
I have worked out in my head howni think I want to tackle it, but I'd love any and all advice y'all might want to give me for a good and simple first brisket cook. I'm not dead set on whether to wrap or not, any specific temp yet, etc. I have time to devote to the cook so I'm not asking for a hot and fast method (although if anybody wants to share a successful hot and fast process I'll gladly take it and jot down for later).
I like a simple SPG rub (Texas style).
The loose connection might beinternal to the probes, like a broken wire or bad solder joint. Try new probes. I only use those probes to tell when it’s close to wrap temp or nearly done. I rely on my digital thermometer and probe different areas for accuracy.
That’s exactly what I do with Select brisket! I melt some tallow and inject it in the lean flat to help keep it from drying out. It mostly sweats out, but it helps.
Honestly, the only time I buy Select is when it’s on sale for $2/lb. I mostly grind the lean flat for hamburger (80/20 blend using some of the fat trimmings) and smoke the fatty point. TIP- Use 20% raw bacon in your grind instead of fat for some AWESOME tasting burgers!
mwemaxxowner
Active member
Both probes at the same time?
