Taylor - Frog Smoker
New member
Hi everyone,
I'm in my mid-twenties and live in Fort Worth, TX. I've always loved good moist brisket, but I've also always found it extremely hard to find. Even some of my favorite places are frustratingly inconsistent. About 5 months or so ago, I stood in line for about 3 hours to try La BBQ in Austin. The brisket was great, but it was at that point I told myself that I was tired of standing in long lines for something I could learn to do myself.
After that point I started watching lots of videos online, especially the ones from Aaron Franklin's youtube series. I then got his book and finished it in about a week. I became obssessed with learning everything I could about smoking. After lots of research, I finally decided to buy a 22.5 inch WSM.
My weekends have been pretty busy with college football season, but I managed to try my first brisket a few weekends ago.
After all the research I did, I was holding myself to an extremely high standard, and was obviously disapointed when the brisket didn't come out the quality of Franklins.
Anyway, below is a step by step of my first cook. There are things I've self-identified as being a mistake, but I would love as much feedback as possible. I plan on doing brisket #2 this weekend. Thanks!
1. Got my packer cut brisket from Costco in Fort Worth. It was Prime grade and about 13.7 lbs. Spent a lot of time picking out the brisket. Went with the one that was the most flexible and had what appeared to have a good fat distribution.
2. I had watched a lot of videos on how to trim a brisket, so I was pretty confident going in, but it was a little trickier than I expected. I eventually got the hang of it, and feel like I did a pretty good job trimming off the bad fat that wouldnÂ’t render, and reducing the fat cap to ¼ inch thick.
3. I used Aaron Franklin’s method of seasoning using equal parts 16-mesh ground black pepper and kosher salt. Used a little bit of mustard to help hold on the rub. Really liked how it turned out.
4. Before smoking this brisket, I fired up the smoker a few times to “season” it and get familiar with temperature control. For this smoke, I used Kingsford Blue Charcoal that I got started with my charcoal chimney and then used the “Minon Method.” I then threw on a few chunks of Hickory that I got from Lowes. I ultimately want to start using oak chunks, but haven’t found any yet. I also filled up my water pan with hot water after wrapping it in foil.
5. As the smoker is still pretty new, it apparently tends to run a little hot. 245 degrees is about where the smoker settled into a consistent temp.
6. I started the fire immediately after trimming the meat. Once the fire got started, I then did the rub. All in, the brisket probably sat out for about an hour.
7. I put the brisket on around 11:30 pm along with a wireless probe thermometer I used to tract the temp of the meat and one that I attached right above the grate to track the smoker’s temp. I’d read that the manufacturer dome thermometers aren’t very dependable.
8. I stayed up all night making sure the smoker stayed at a consistent 245ish degrees. After the first 3 or 4 hours, I started spritzing the meat every hour with apple cider vinegar. This is also when the meat reached the stall. It stayed in the 160s for a long time and finally broke the 173 threshold around 9am (8 ½ hours) after putting the meat on.
9. This is when I took it off and put the meat in butcher paper. In hindsight, I should have done this much sooner. Some reason I had gotten confused and thought I should wrap after the stall, but in hindsight I think I should have wrapped as it hit the stall.
10. After wrapping in butcher paper, I put the meat back on the smoker. The meat stayed at 175 for about an hour, and then my smoker started to slowly drop in temperature, bc I was running low on fuel.
11. I was tired and decided to be lazy, so I took the wrapped brisket and put it in the oven at 275 around 10:30am. This is another mistake I may have made. Was the oven too hot, leading to the brisket getting to temp too soon?
12. I left it in the oven until the internal temperature reached 203 (the temperature aaron franklin referenced being the temp most his briskets are finished at), which was about two hours later at 12:30pm. This was definitely my biggest mistake. In hindsight, I should have depended a lot less on the thermometer I was using, and also should have started “probe testing” much sooner around 190 degrees. From what I understand now, the best indication of a brisket being ready is when the temperature probe slides into the thickest part of the flat like butter.
13. At an internal temp of 203, I pulled out the brisket, unwrapped it, and let it rest for a little over an hour.
14. Before cutting it, I could tell the meat didn’t feel as jiggly as I was expecting it to be, so I was worried it had over cooked. Slicing into it confirmed this, as the meat was pretty dry and not very tender. I’m pretty positive I over cooked the brisket, but I have read things that say that overcooked brisket, while dry, also falls apart into pieces, while undercooked brisket is dry and tough. I feel like my brisket was definitely more tough than it was falling apartÂ… but I just can’t fathom that my brisket was undercooked after reaching an internal temp of 203.
15. The point was okay. It had a few tasty slices that were moist with fat that had rendered well, but overall, I was pretty dang disappointed with how it turned out.
I naively hoped I could nail it on my first try. I was unfortunately wrong, but the potential is definitely there. Anything blatantly stand out that I did wrong? All advice is much appreciated!
I'm in my mid-twenties and live in Fort Worth, TX. I've always loved good moist brisket, but I've also always found it extremely hard to find. Even some of my favorite places are frustratingly inconsistent. About 5 months or so ago, I stood in line for about 3 hours to try La BBQ in Austin. The brisket was great, but it was at that point I told myself that I was tired of standing in long lines for something I could learn to do myself.
After that point I started watching lots of videos online, especially the ones from Aaron Franklin's youtube series. I then got his book and finished it in about a week. I became obssessed with learning everything I could about smoking. After lots of research, I finally decided to buy a 22.5 inch WSM.
My weekends have been pretty busy with college football season, but I managed to try my first brisket a few weekends ago.
After all the research I did, I was holding myself to an extremely high standard, and was obviously disapointed when the brisket didn't come out the quality of Franklins.
Anyway, below is a step by step of my first cook. There are things I've self-identified as being a mistake, but I would love as much feedback as possible. I plan on doing brisket #2 this weekend. Thanks!
1. Got my packer cut brisket from Costco in Fort Worth. It was Prime grade and about 13.7 lbs. Spent a lot of time picking out the brisket. Went with the one that was the most flexible and had what appeared to have a good fat distribution.
2. I had watched a lot of videos on how to trim a brisket, so I was pretty confident going in, but it was a little trickier than I expected. I eventually got the hang of it, and feel like I did a pretty good job trimming off the bad fat that wouldnÂ’t render, and reducing the fat cap to ¼ inch thick.
3. I used Aaron Franklin’s method of seasoning using equal parts 16-mesh ground black pepper and kosher salt. Used a little bit of mustard to help hold on the rub. Really liked how it turned out.
4. Before smoking this brisket, I fired up the smoker a few times to “season” it and get familiar with temperature control. For this smoke, I used Kingsford Blue Charcoal that I got started with my charcoal chimney and then used the “Minon Method.” I then threw on a few chunks of Hickory that I got from Lowes. I ultimately want to start using oak chunks, but haven’t found any yet. I also filled up my water pan with hot water after wrapping it in foil.
5. As the smoker is still pretty new, it apparently tends to run a little hot. 245 degrees is about where the smoker settled into a consistent temp.
6. I started the fire immediately after trimming the meat. Once the fire got started, I then did the rub. All in, the brisket probably sat out for about an hour.
7. I put the brisket on around 11:30 pm along with a wireless probe thermometer I used to tract the temp of the meat and one that I attached right above the grate to track the smoker’s temp. I’d read that the manufacturer dome thermometers aren’t very dependable.
8. I stayed up all night making sure the smoker stayed at a consistent 245ish degrees. After the first 3 or 4 hours, I started spritzing the meat every hour with apple cider vinegar. This is also when the meat reached the stall. It stayed in the 160s for a long time and finally broke the 173 threshold around 9am (8 ½ hours) after putting the meat on.
9. This is when I took it off and put the meat in butcher paper. In hindsight, I should have done this much sooner. Some reason I had gotten confused and thought I should wrap after the stall, but in hindsight I think I should have wrapped as it hit the stall.
10. After wrapping in butcher paper, I put the meat back on the smoker. The meat stayed at 175 for about an hour, and then my smoker started to slowly drop in temperature, bc I was running low on fuel.
11. I was tired and decided to be lazy, so I took the wrapped brisket and put it in the oven at 275 around 10:30am. This is another mistake I may have made. Was the oven too hot, leading to the brisket getting to temp too soon?
12. I left it in the oven until the internal temperature reached 203 (the temperature aaron franklin referenced being the temp most his briskets are finished at), which was about two hours later at 12:30pm. This was definitely my biggest mistake. In hindsight, I should have depended a lot less on the thermometer I was using, and also should have started “probe testing” much sooner around 190 degrees. From what I understand now, the best indication of a brisket being ready is when the temperature probe slides into the thickest part of the flat like butter.
13. At an internal temp of 203, I pulled out the brisket, unwrapped it, and let it rest for a little over an hour.
14. Before cutting it, I could tell the meat didn’t feel as jiggly as I was expecting it to be, so I was worried it had over cooked. Slicing into it confirmed this, as the meat was pretty dry and not very tender. I’m pretty positive I over cooked the brisket, but I have read things that say that overcooked brisket, while dry, also falls apart into pieces, while undercooked brisket is dry and tough. I feel like my brisket was definitely more tough than it was falling apartÂ… but I just can’t fathom that my brisket was undercooked after reaching an internal temp of 203.
15. The point was okay. It had a few tasty slices that were moist with fat that had rendered well, but overall, I was pretty dang disappointed with how it turned out.
I naively hoped I could nail it on my first try. I was unfortunately wrong, but the potential is definitely there. Anything blatantly stand out that I did wrong? All advice is much appreciated!
