!

[Dan H.]

Just bought a briskit for the weekend. Ticket/receipt says it weighs 16.60 lbs! Maybe i'm just a new guy but thats a "BBQ beast briskit" to me. Is this pretty usuall? Also since I basicly give back nothing on this site (lol) ill throw in that this time i'de really like to try lump as stated in diff. post. I must learn most on my own but can someone sort of give me a guarantee if i start it about 9 or 10 tonight that it will burn at least the 6 or so hours i'm asleep w/ my sidekick and only bbq pal (besides u all) mr. guru. also i'm thinkin just foiled pan, dry heat, although tempted to put some water in at first half cook. (comments please

) Back to giving back to some other new guys like me I guess i'll report back if you wish as in how the flavor may have changed for me using lump. This is primarily what i read and would like to see for myself. Of course I have to now make a guess as to how i feel about this

. and that is SHOW ME. I cant believe it yet but i love experiments. Being that this is one of the few things I don't tottaly destroy when cooked along w/ ribs, I think I will be able to tell hopefully. will be fun for me. All at the same time I will also do something new to me under the influence of all you nice folks. "touch test" for the first time. I will monitor temp. till 179 or so on this massive haus and then do the "prod through warm butter" thing w/ thermometer end. Yes I shall "dump" the thermometer as well. And yes i'm scarred. Have a nice weekend everybody! off to clean the cooker and will look for responses in about and hour or so. THANKS.. GOOD WEEKEND TO ALL! -Dan

 

[Dave K]

Hi Dan. I just did my first brisket today.(See my post). I use mostly lump for all my cooks. I lit the WSM at 6:00 am , and held a constant 250 until around 4:30 this afternoon when I addded a little more lump to finish the brisket, and to smoke some sausages when it was done. Took the door off for about 5 min, and the temp was right up to 250 again. I used a foiled pan with some old lava rock from my gasser in it. You should be able to go overnight with a ring full of lump, just have some ready to add in the morning when you get up.

 

[Jason Pedu]

If you put in a very full ring of lump. And I kind of place each piece of lump in one at a time to get them tight together. It will last a long time. Like Dave said have some ready to add the next morning if and when you need to add it. If you have a BBQ Guru you have nothing to worry about.

 

[Dan H.]

glad yours turned out for you Dave. Hope mine does also. I had cooked several w/ only one that wasn' t perfect but good. I'm kind of changing everything around this time. I read so many things and diff. ways to do it, thought i'de better see what this is all about. I think i'll skip foiling for this round, only because i never did before and and to my taste fairly impressive turnouts. But time will tell. Girlfriend just said we have to wake up and go to a yardsale in the morning so unfortanatly I have to wait till tomarrow. I try not to fight it to much..

thank both of you, i'll have lump out and ready that morning, good to know.

 

[Bryan S]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by Dan H.:
Just bought a briskit for the weekend. Ticket/receipt says it weighs 16.60 lbs! Maybe i'm just a new guy but thats a "BBQ beast briskit" to me. Is this pretty usuall? Also since I basicly give back nothing on this site (lol) ill throw in that this time i'de really like to try lump as stated in diff. post. I must learn most on my own but can someone sort of give me a guarantee if i start it about 9 or 10 tonight that it will burn at least the 6 or so hours i'm asleep w/ my sidekick and only bbq pal (besides u all) mr. guru. also i'm thinkin just foiled pan, dry heat, </div></BLOCKQUOTE>
Dan, I've seen them up over 18 Lbs. What brand lump are you using? That will help with the how long will it last. I'd say with all the different lumps I've used over the years prob Royal oak lasts the least amount of hrs. That said a fully packed and mounded ring of RO lump will last 16 hrs min. Go dry foil lined pan esp if using the Guru. No need whatsoever for water to be in the pan with the guru. Just leave the foil about 1.5-2" above the bottom of the pan. Plus that 16 lb beast is a good heat sink. Good luck with your cook.

 

[Dan H.]

just re-loaded smoker, w/ more lump. So far everything ok, except i'm thinking of posting in "auto temp. control devices" section regarding guru.... but anyway got almost exactly 12 hours burn time w/ well rounded ring of Royal Oak lump. Added what was left as it started to run out this morning just now (not much left).. thats a full bag worth, whatever size I had. I piled a diff. brand "Lazarri" on top of that equalling a half full ring again w/ lefover burning ones on bottom.. heated back up to 235 again in no time. All that stuff is fairly "smokier" and smelly. SMELL GOOD smelly. Again this is all new to me. Used NO water w/ fully foiled pan (thanks Brian). when re-filling w/ Lazzari discovered huge huge chunks, huge to me anyway. One being almost the size of a football. (really not joking) after seing many many big chunks beaneath it thought "oh well" threw them in, these are misquite... hopefully goes true that lump loses much impact of flavor after being charred, as this was all i had in garage. Looking forward to taste test, vs. briqs. hopefully as good as it smells. will post back later tonight, i'm putting this as if I was new would enjoy reading it. Never used no water w/ briskit or lump, or guru w/ lump etc. cant wait to taste.

 

[Dan H.]

Briskit was finished tottaly earlier then I thought. I've never cooked anything... and not learned something thus far. Bad news is... I checked to late. Apperantly lump, burning in a dry no water cooker makes for a faster cook. even on 16 lbs.ers. good news is, some came out ok and to my surprise, my opinion, lump is very good and I may not buy briqs for a long while now.. really didn't think it would matter but it really is just different, liked it. anyone who cares should try it, i'm 90% sure that dry heat leaves no mercy for overcooking, i was done extremely sooner then i ever thought. when i did check it was 197*... I guessed 160. Apperantly to late on this particular piece of meat. check earlier and every 15 min or so and dont forget. Stand over your cooker, like a vulture stands over something waiting to die... I dont want to talk about it anymore..

can we have a moment of silence...

 

[Bryan S]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by Dan H.:
Briskit was finished tottaly earlier then I thought. I've never cooked anything... and not learned something thus far. Bad news is... I checked to late. Apperantly lump, burning in a dry no water cooker makes for a faster cook. even on 16 lbs.ers. </div></BLOCKQUOTE>
Dan, What was your total cook time? Brisket times can varry between 1 hr to 1.5 hrs per lb. Sorry to hear it didn't turn out for you, but lump and no water in the pan IMO wasn't the culprit. Can you give some details on your brisket cook. Mainly temps, and where they were taken, (grate or lid) and the time the beast was on the WSM.

 

[LarryR]

Dan, so other than the brisked finishing early it was to your satisfaction?

 

[Dan H.]

Bryan on this one total cook time was real close to 14 1/2 hours tottal, first hour or hour and a half @ 225-226, The rest of the time at my "target, 234-237. All of which taken at grate level. w/ guru and wireless therm strapped together w/ foil, as I always have done so far. Ribs I measure at lid as i'm ussually hanging out in the yard, and ussually weekends etc. I, too have heard 1hr-11/2 per pound, i have always w/ several past briskits always calculated 1 hr. and 15 min, a pound just to give me a close idea of when to check, although I have always done everything by the thermometer, never by feel as I wanted to try this time. so mine was 16.60 but pry lost some w/ trim... maybe a pound or so.. so lets say 15 lbs. so 18 hrs 45min, was planned in my head sort of. This always was close before for me anyway. This particular time I went out for first checkup and removed lid and thought. "darker then normal" thought it may be effect of lump, dont know. Come to find out I check for "warm butter feel" thing w/ therm. end, and to my surprise i pushed in and it went "sqeeeek" and no juice AT ALL came out. Previouse experiences I would have had a "plllbbbsss" and juice everywhere LOL. (you like that) so i though ****!! waited a second while therm was in there and it registered 196 thickest flat section. So ya it was pretty severe burn, no biggie as I learned a lesson. But more curious at you not thinking that no water, dry heat would speed cooking process. My simple mind just figured "water in pan is more forgiving for overcooking per se, so maybe water slows the entire process as well" ... if that makes any sense. Larry the briskit was eatible, but girlfriend laughed a bit to much at hasn't touched the rest... cats didn't like it either, you catch what i'm saying....

enough in on section of point survived the beating surprisingly well, enough that I could taste the lump difference imo. Its almost gone in fridge and i'll choke down the rest tonight i spose, (and chase every bite w/ water or apple juice, lol) have a good one and thanks. would like more info on effects of no water.. sure seems like it sped things up for that cook anyway... dan

 

[Bryan S]

Dan, I was really curious as the amount of time for your cook and the temps just because it seemed that maybe the temps where higher than what was showing on the Guru. I never cook by time, just use it as a guide to figure the length of the cook. That's very fast for a 16lb packer to cook? I think my Guru might need calibrated. Seems it's showing 25 degrees less than my lid thermo which is right above grate level. Maybe something to look in to.

 

[Dan H.]

I may have read ur post wrong, but I also never cook by time, that to me seems like a bad idea.. but u may not have meant that I did at all. The guru as far as temps.. is just a pitminder, really it shows me nothing, exept the dial.. my wired thermometer is strapped onto my guru's sensing therm by tin foil, I just do that I guess... I totally agree thats a very short time for a 16 lber. I only calculate time to know when to start checking.. if my post confused you sorry, but if you'll notice I figured (guessed) 18 hours was gonna be close (i thought, and ussually i get within an hour and a half of being right in several prev. cooks) but this was nuts.. 14 1/2! thats why i thought water in pan slowed things down. thanks

 

[Bryan S]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by Dan H.:
I may have read ur post wrong, but I also never cook by time, that to me seems like a bad idea.. but u may not have meant that I did at all. The guru as far as temps.. is just a pitminder, really it shows me nothing, exept the dial.. my wired thermometer is strapped onto my guru's sensing therm by tin foil, I just do that I guess... I totally agree thats a very short time for a 16 lber. I only calculate time to know when to start checking.. if my post confused you sorry, but if you'll notice I figured (guessed) 18 hours was gonna be close (i thought, and ussually i get within an hour and a half of being right in several prev. cooks) but this was nuts.. 14 1/2! thats why i thought water in pan slowed things down. thanks </div></BLOCKQUOTE>
Dan, sorry for the confusion.

I wanted the time and temps just for a idea on what might have happened and to just say that I use them as a guide. So many times I see people rely on times too much and just wanted to make sure that you weren't doing that. And because I see you are new here but wasn't sure if you been cooking for awhile or not.

Alot of people just starting out don't realize that every piece of meat is different as well as each cook. Just because X pork butt for me cooked in X amount of time at X temp doesn't mean it's going to cook that way for John Doe in Timbuktwo.