Cooking Multiple Items

[Mike DiMaggio]

Hello,
I plan on cooking a pork shoulder and brisket this weekend for a cookout. I will start the pork shoulder tonight and let it go through the night. I will add the brisket in the morning as it will not take as long (4-5 lbs). My question is how do I handle adding the brisket to the smoker while the shoulder is still cooking. If I add more wood when I add the brisket will it affect anything. Thoughts anyone.

 

[Russ Sylvester]

I would go just a tad light on the smoke wood when you put the shoulder in tonight. That way when you add the brisket and smoke wood in the morning, you hopefully won't oversmoke the shoulder.

Russ

 

[Greg Powers]

If your butt is in the 160° range when you're ready to put the brisket on you could foil it. That way additional smoke should not affect it any.

 

[Paul K]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">how do I handle adding the brisket to the smoker while the shoulder is still cooking </div></BLOCKQUOTE>
Start your shoulder on the bottom rack and then adding the brisket will be easy to place on the top rack.
Adding wood should be fine. It really depends on how much wood and what type you've started with on the shoulder. Both the shoulder and brisket can handle a fair amount of smoke. Check both cuts of meat for tenderness to determine when to pull. What type of wood are you using? Many prefer hickory for pork and oak for beef; but that's a personal preference.

Paul

 

[Mike DiMaggio]

Thanks for all the info. I am using hickory. Its an 8 lb shoulder and 5 lb brisket. Im gonna start the shoulder in about 2 hours 10 pm est.

 

[Mike DiMaggio]

Started the shoulder on schedule (10 pm). Woke up at 7 am and WSM temp was still a solid 225 +/-. Meat temp was 158. Love it. Will add the brisket by 8. Should I wrap the shoulder in foil now or what?

 

[Mike DiMaggio]

also, what is the correct way to add charcoal to the ring?

 

[Vincent Carrocci]

Mike, a good rule of thumb is to wrap your shoulder when the internal temperature is in the 160°F - 165°F range so you're right on schedule.

As for adding fuel to a Minion set up, I would scrape all of the existing lit fuel into the center of the grate as best you can and then add a ring of unlit around the outside of that. However, if you have only been running the cooker since 10pm, I would be surprised if you really need to add any right now. You might want to wait a few more hours until more of your initial load has burned down. That is assuming you started off with a full load and you're cooking on an 18. If it is a 22, then you might need to add right now.

 

[Mike DiMaggio]

Thanks guys. I just pulled the brisket off because the temp read 200. Thermometer is dead on but the meat still seemed a little tough. Fork would push in with resistance. Should I cook more?

 

[Vincent Carrocci]

I know this post is almost 5 hours past your question but I would have encouraged you to cautiously continue cooking until you had a better feel in the meat.

What did you decide to do?

 

[Mike DiMaggio]

Let it cook for another hour then pulled it. Let it rest for 2 hours. Very dry and crumbly. The shoulder on the other hand was out of sight. Cooked until it hit 160, wrapped in foil and continued until 205. Rested for 2 hours. Awesome. Total cook time for shoulder was 15 hours + 2 resting. Still have to work on brisket.

 

[Paul Vogler]

FWIW, My brisket has turned out great as far as tender and moist. My problem has been with the hickory taste. I think I am getting somewhere with the hickory flavor and Chicken.

for the brisket, I cook at about 225 at the grill. And when the meat is at about 165, I pull it off of the grill. wrap it in foil and add about 1/4 cup of apple juice then seal the foil and put back on grill with the thermo in it. At about 195 I start probing every 15 or 20 min. By probing I mean I use a ice pick. When it slips in like the foil only has air in it. Its time to pull off of the grill. Someone once said that the carnigine (sp?) has to break down to make the meat tender. I realize that some say that this is pulling temperature and slicing is cooler. but only the first few slices crumble. But after that I get good slices.
YMMV