Why no smoke ring?


 

Ted N

TVWBB Member
Hey everyone. Smoked a nice 8.47lb brisket on Sunday. I cannot seem to get a nice smoke ring on every cook. Sometimes its there other times, barely existent. The brisket is nice and smokey, and I use a fair amount (5-6 fist size chunks) of Oak with the odd lump of cherry. I'll tell you what I do, maybe someone can correct an obvious mistake. Get up make fire in chimney starter. Take brisket out of fridge and make rub, applying it fairly heavily (not a crust of rub, but a fair amount). Add unlit charcoal to WSM with wood chunks (some buried, some not) followed by the lit charcoal.Add water bowl and brisket. I never have an issue with temperature as I have the WSM dialed in. It was very damp out at 6am (100% humidity); 4 degree Celsius. Weather improved to cloudy with a high of 8. Put brisket on at 6:20 and took off at 5:27. Any advice would be appreciated.

Ted
 
Try spritzing the brisket with water or 50% water/50% Worcestershire sauce using a spray bottle once the crust sets on the surface of the meat (you don't want the spray to wash the rub off the meat). This is probably starting 4-5 hours into the cook. Repeat every 30 minutes, if you can, or at least hourly. This keeps the surface moist and cool and should promote smoke ring formation.

Good luck!
 
I struggle with smoke rings. I find my best briskets often don't have them. One trick that I saw in a Harry Soo video is using a rub with celery seed. Celery seed has nitrites in it. Using water in the pan seems to help a little. Spritzing certainly helps. Good luck, but I wouldn't sweat it that much.
 
The pre cook temp of your brisket may have an effect...

Yes!

1) Trim and rub the brisket, and return it to the fridge so it gets cold again. You can even refrigerate overnight. Prepare the fire and move the brisket directly from the fridge into the cooker.

or

2) Trim the brisket, return it to the fridge. While the fire is lighting, rub the brisket and move it directly into the cooker.

Either way, the brisket goes into the cooker cold from the fridge.
 
Lynn, both good reads- thanks. I get good color with pulled pork and even whole chicken. I think I'm too concerned with that look. Chris, trim the brisket? I leave the fat on (up to 1/2" thick). Should I be cutting most of that off? This was the 9th brisket that I've done in my WSM since I started to document my cooks. I'm pretty happy with how they turn out, but I look forward to the day that I'm in Texas to see how my brisket compares.
 
Excellent and informative discussion. Lynn's second link "myth busting the smoke ring" had a link to wood and smoke that stated that the soil where the wood grew is, perhaps, more important the species in terms of flavor. Wish I knew how to do hot links.
 
I don't think the smoke ring is a myth....
But smoke doesn't make the smoke Ring...
NOx combustion gases do .
by coincidence the outermost portion of the meat also taste the smokiest, and that's where the nice red ring is.

This is my theory
Which I really haven't seen anybody else talk about
But it's simply common sense

Fluids drip downward out of meat while you're cooking it
This outflow of liquid helps prevent things from migrating into the bottom of the meat
So you tend to have less of a pink coloration on the bottom of your meat

;
So if you cook with your fat on top which prevents it there also...
you're likely not going to have much of a smoke ring.

But if you cook with your fat on the bottom
That expose meat on the top side should have a very nice smoke ring.

IMG_20190202_072340680_BURST001_1.jpg


Even smoke ring on pork loin
Notice nothing on bottom.....

IMG_20190126_113139184.jpg


Now, to each his own.
but even for a 15 + pound brisket I only use three little pieces of wood.

For a couple of racks of ribs I only use one-two, and for chicken only one.

I don't want the smoke to overpower everything. Been there done that. Less is truly more.;

And the only rub a brisket needs, is salt and pepper. Imo.

Cooked a 15 lb , choice brisket for wife and i last friday.
6 days later there's exactly enough left for 3 more sandwiches.
Dang it goes fast. The point was more than half of this brisket, it made great chopped brisket sandwiches.
 
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Excellent and informative discussion. Lynn's second link "myth busting the smoke ring" had a link to wood and smoke that stated that the soil where the wood grew is, perhaps, more important the species in terms of flavor. Wish I knew how to do hot links.

By hot links I assume linking to another forum/post and not spicy sausages ;)

Just do a copy of the url (in the address bar) of the page you want to link to then in your post here just do a paste.

Is that what you mean?

Like this:
https://tvwbb.com/showthread.php?76550-Why-no-smoke-ring
 

 

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