Nothing but Butts

[CantRepeat]

BTW nice smoker. I was looking at one just like it at the Bass Pro Shop in AL.

[pmkkdx]

Originally Posted by snork

Now thats what I call a Smoker

yep ... I hand picked that one when I had my MC trailer in having an axle replaced by a local trailer manufacturer, Magnum, where they cut me a deal since I was spending a bunch already with trailer repairs. ~700 lbs worth but I have cooked up to 15 full packer style briskets at once on it with a bit more room to spare. I wanted the next size up that was trailer mounted but my wife poopoo'd that idea

[pmkkdx]

Originally Posted by CantRepeat

BTW nice smoker. I was looking at one just like it at the Bass Pro Shop in AL.

thanks! mine is a Lyfe Tyme brand made down in south TX that comes with a life time warranty ... http://www.lyfetyme.com/index.html

fire brick in the bottom of the barrels is a great idea (my dad used to do that).

[oxberger]

I have an old boss that built his smoker using the frame and parts from an old electric car. I need to try and find the pictures and post them. He trailered it to use for church cookouts and other things so it still had axles, tires, working headlights, tail lights, and turn signals. He would put 40 lbs of brisket, 50 lbs of pork but, and then chicken wherever room was left. For the brisket he didn't do anything special other than salt, pepper, granulated garlic, and onion powder, then he wood use mesquite only (he was a Texan, even had a longhorn mounted to the front of the smoker).

[CruisinGA]

I've used plenty of big trailer smokers, but for just a couple butts, it is impossible to beat a Big Green Egg.

Set it, and forget it.

If you want 17lb butts with nice thick fat caps, google Brasstown Beef (they do pork too). Their pigs are are natural, free range and beat the hell out of your average pork.

[gatorguy]

Originally Posted by pmkkdx

agree! I have photo documented several of my recipes over the past couple of years ... might give some of ya'll some ideas for future reference.

That would be nice to see. I am actually going to try smoking a brisket tomorrow after my morning ski set. Haven't ever done it before, and I'm trying to use my regular gas grill. Read a bunch of stuff on how to do it, but more info is always better.

I have 2 4lb brisket off of a beef we bought. I think it is a packer (both flat and point) but seems kind of small, although it was a small steer. I figured it should take 4-5hrs to cook. I was going to rub with oil, then with Rudy's rub tonight, then fire them up around noon tomorrow. I have a bunch of mesquite wood chips I was going to soak in water tonight, and then put in a tin foil pouch over the burner on one end of the grill for my smoke, and place the brisket on the other end fat up. I have an electric meat thermometer I planned to use to control heat with. I was also thinking after the first couple of hours I would cover with foil to help get through "The Stall" (per http://www.amazingribs.com/recipes/b...s_brisket.html )

Anyway, I'm excited to start learning this stuff, and plan to invest in a real smoker/grill like the one pictured earlier.

So any suggestions or major don'ts would be helpfull

[pmkkdx]

one of the most comprehensive on-line summations about brisket preparation & cooking is http://www.amazingribs.com/recipes/b...s_brisket.html ... with sub links that discuss other fine points that you will find over time like "the stall" http://www.amazingribs.com/tips_and_...the_stall.html ... which can be beat by the Texas Crutch which is wrapping the meat in aluminum foil along with sopping it down before sealing the foil wrapping (I double wrap with heavy duty foil)

one of the closest recipes to my family's old time recipe for cooking sop is from Cooper's Old Time Pit Bar-B-Que in Llano Texas http://www.amazingribs.com/recipes/B...mop-sauce.html ...but mine is a bit simplier as mine does not have any chili powder, bell pepper, ketchup, steak sauce, brown sugar or hot sauce ... but I do use 1-2 fresh limes and 1 fresh orange cut in half, squeezed and put rinds directly into the sauce pan and I bump the beef stock up to 4 cups. I also take some of the trimmed fat off the brisket, cut into smaller chunks and put a couple in the sop to cook down for flavor.

more than likely, the first few you try will be off either in flavor or toughness/chewy or overdone. each pit is different and it just takes time to fine tune cooking time & temperature to hit the perfect mark with plenty of smoke (smoke ring is the pink ring just inside the black outer layer), juicy but tender.

[pmkkdx]

the reason I found the above links is for several reasons ... I grew up cooking with my dad & his friends for large events around central Texas. Their brisket was top shelf compared to any I have ever had anywhere. As I became an adult and started doing on my own, I pretty much perfected the technique in a similar but considerably smaller smoker pit. When I purchased the one pictured earlier about 2 years ago, I could not get anywhere close with the tender & juicy part ... incredible smoke ring and flavor ... but either came out chewy & tough OR dried out or burned. My dad has passed away along with most of his friends I grew up cooking with, so I was very frustrated not having those I learned from around to ask questions, so I started researching. when I found the links above, I started to have a better understanding of some of the fine tuning that I had always taken for granted. I now take a full packer, 15-20 lb, brisket, trim to about 1/4-1/2 inch thick of fat, olive oil rub & dry rub the day before, refrigerate. start fire with mequite charcoal, use soaked live oak, mesquite & fruit wood with extremely heavy smoke for 8-10 hours up in vertical smoker holding pit temp to 225*F which brings meat up to the stall of 155*-160*F internal temp for most of that time letting the smoke deeply penetrate while sopping every hour or so (sop in smoker too). double up the alum. foil, set brisket in middle, heavy sopping, seal up foil and move to horizontal portion of the pit & kick the fire on up to 275*-300* ... when the internal temperature of the meat hits 190*, I slow the heat back down as the internal temp will continue to rise to 195*-200* and leave for 1 -1 1/2 more hours depending on the size of the brisket. I then double wrap the smoked foil chunk with an old beach towel and put in an empty ice chest for a few more hours which also helps to tenderize the meat ...

as I stated, you will have to play around with brisket a bit to get it to where it meets all three criteria of smokeyness, tender and juicy. Good luck and don't let the first attempt make you not try again!!!!

[CantRepeat]

Well all need to understand one thing here.

There is NO perfect way to BBQ/Smoke.

There's going to be too many this is how you do it end of story, when we all know there is more then one way to skin a cat. Sharing the fun of bbqing is what it's all about.

[pmkkdx]

totally agree and each person has their own particular tastes and preferences ... but with that said, I have had bad BBQ (actually they called it BBQ, not me).

Likewise there is quite a broad range of styles and techniques each with their own pros & cons associated along with their own uniqueness.

Here is a pic of the last brisket I took pictures of from a couple months back where I had separated the point from the flat and sliced. Shows the nice 3/4-1 inch pink smoke ring where the smoke penetrated pretty deep.

I prefer to skin cats from the tail end first