Prime Time (2 prime briskets underway)


 

Clint

TVWBB Olympian
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Franklin's simple rub - 2:1 pepper to salt, or vice versa. I did minimal trimming, it seemed to be 1/4" thick - while cooking I felt a couple sections but I figured I'd let them render

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neighbor checking them out
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Lotsa Apple & Cherry
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I've discovered that I'm a huge fan of nothing but salt & coarse ground black pepper, and not just on brisket either.

I do highly recommend Franklin's _Meat Smoking Manifesto_. If nothing else, it's a great coffee table book. He opens up about everything he does, and it's just plain a good read.

Having said that, that does look pretty darned good. If you're lookin', you ain't cookin'. May I politely suggest at least a remote read thermoprobe?
 
May I politely suggest at least a remote read thermoprobe?

I have a few options including a heatermeater I put together with the help of the heatermeter section of this forum. I'd have liked the graphs & more certainty on the temps, that's for sure.
 
Went to sleep @ midnight & this is what I woke up to at my 5:00am alarm:

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I was going to wrap in butcher paper and put them back on but these felt so jiggly and felt like they were going to break apart so I just wrapped & rested on the counter. It's hard not taking a nice big slice out of these :)

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These barely shoe-horned into the vac bags - now they're sitting out in the snow to finish cooling, then into the fridge, & then they'll be eaten tomorrow @ 6pm.

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My notes:

Brisket on @ 11:48am, bottom vents all @ 50%
1:20pm - started another chimney and added several more chunks of apple & cherry wood. Didn't reassemble until 2:27 when bad smoke subsided.
4:51pm: flipped meat upside down, left on same grate.
6:30pm: top @ 146f, bottom @ 158f - switched top & bottom. Re-filled ring w/ unlit kbb.
7:27: reassembled cooker when flames & smoke subsided
9:47pm: both about 164f
10:40pm: 1 @ 164-175, the other @ 176-182f. Added 3 more chunks, refilled ring, this time with stubbs all natural hardwood briquettes, left cooker unassembled, placed both briskets on top rack.
11:17pm: reassembled cooker - drained fat from waterpan - must have been nearly a gallon of drippings in it.
11:36pm: Both @ 165f, cooker was @ 275, closed vents to 30% open, watched it until midnight, set alarm for 5:00am.
5:00am: both briskets between 198-202F, wrapped in paper, rested 3 hours & then vac bagged for wedding reception tomorrow @ 6:00pm
 
Clint, those look great. I haven't made a brisket since the holidays.
Good reminder for me to do one soon.
 
Those look great Clint. We do one brisket a year and that's on smoke day and we eat off of it for months. This year I made some great chili in October with the point. Also made some great sammies with the leftover flat in December. .
 
I have a few options including a heatermeater I put together with the help of the heatermeter section of this forum. I'd have liked the graphs & more certainty on the temps, that's for sure.

<chuckle> I did the opposite, I built a smoker to go with my HeaterMeter......
 
Those look great Clint. We do one brisket a year and that's on smoke day and we eat off of it for months. This year I made some great chili in October with the point. Also made some great sammies with the leftover flat in December. .

I'll be doing a couple more of these before the end of the month..... I wonder how long one will last me? One will be for a friend's birthday, and one for me and my freezer....


<chuckle> I did the opposite, I built a smoker to go with my HeaterMeter......

Which smoker did you build? I don't recall......


They look great! Man, that was a lot of wood!

That's not the half of it. I laid it on HEAVY - I expected more of a smoke ring. My cousin's husband used Mesquite on the spares he cooked so I figured I'd better not be too weak with the apple & cherry :)

I'm afraid I oversmoked the third batch of ribs I did, that's why in my notes you'll see I waited for the nasty smoke to subside. The oversmoked ribs I made will be sauced......heavily.
 
A monster gravity fed charcoal smoker. 5 trays, 25"x28" each, capable of 10 full packer briskets and fully insulated. Runs just dandy at -6 F.

Nice! I could definitely see myself getting something bigger. I'll try to see yours in action if you post it.
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Looks awesome, Clint. How do you plan to reheat?

I measured the temp of water out of my faucet, it's ~148F, I have a tall brew kettle that barely fits on my stove, and then I just got a sous vide heater.

so I plan on getting it up to temp with my water heater doing most of the work, then work with the stove & or sous vide. I'll probably do most of that at home, then take to the church's kitchen in a cooler (dry), still in vac bags. I had all of the ribs individually vac bagged, some in my freezer, and half in my neighbor's deep freeze. I just moved them to the fridge a couple hours ago.

I also plan on sealing a bunch of long bags on only one end, putting stuff in there with the ends out, so everything will be double-bagged. Everything cooked to >190F, I figure it could sit at 165-180f indefinitely...........this is all new to me so it'll be interesting...and I'm definitely open to ideas.
 
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Clint, you did an outstanding job and man they look delicious. Come on smoke day, need to do a brisket for sure.
 
http://chixjeff.dnsalias.net/smoker4 for a few shots from last summer. Unfortunately, what's not in that album is a full view shot of the smoker itself.

Building a trailer cradle for it to tow behind my g/f's Subie. It'll closer to load limits than most people realize.....

I'd like to see a pic of it as-is, if you don't mind! Looks good so far.


Clint, you did an outstanding job and man they look delicious. Come on smoke day, need to do a brisket for sure.


Thanks Barb, I'm looking forward to doing my own but there's a corned beef soon to be Pastrami in my fridge that's first in line. I'll try to post a pic or 2 when I get to slicing.
 
I'd like to see a pic of it as-is, if you don't mind! Looks good so far.

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That was after lighting it off at -6 F in January. Burned 12 or so lbs. of charcoal over 8 hours while I smoked some pork tenderloins, and didn't radiate enough heat out the bottom to melt the snow underneath.

I've been meaning to set up a couple of other shots.
 

 

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