Charcoal briquettes or Pecan/Apple Wood


 
J

Johnny

New member
Hi,

I have had some great results with the minion briquette method. However, I spoke to Roger who owns Roger's Rib Shack in Northridge, CA. (Awesome food, best bbq in so cal I think) Anyways he was saying my fire at 235-260 is too hot. He thought that I need to be at 200 to 225 for brisket which was an upcoming project i wanted to tackle. His thought was to use wood chunks and stay away from briquettes...use them only to start my fire. I had a little trouble keeping my heat down in the smokey mountain. I had to close the top damper a little bit. I guess Im wondering if anyone has the same issue. I only had to add coals twice in the whole smoke.

Thanks for all the help. I posted some pics of my first smoke. Also I found out how to get a butt to hold most, 90% of the injection you put in it! Every bite of my shoulder had flavor!
 
He's incorrect on all counts. You can cook that low but unless you're cooking Prime grade or Wagyu I don't see the point. (I cook briskets at >300. I used to low/slow them at ~250 give or take 10, but it's been some time.) In many cases lower and slower is not better than low/slow. Often it's worse as too much (in the way of moisture/renderings) can be lost during the significantly longer cook.

WSMs are not designed for wood fuel. Using wood for fuel in one rarely works well. Draft dynamics are different in a vertical cooker.

I'll have to try his place when I'm next in the Valley.
 
<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Also I found out how to get a butt to hold most, 90% of the injection you put in it! Every bite of my shoulder had flavor! </div></BLOCKQUOTE>
You can also simply add flavor during pulling by use of a finishing sauce (not to be confused with a serving sauce, i.e., the sauce you'll serve on or with the pork) and forgo injecting entirely.
 
Btw, to clarify: It's not that you can't cook that low (again, I don't see the point), it's that you do not 'need' to do so.
 
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