Attempting first brisket - help! :)

I think you'll find the 1 burner will work much better. I use a chargriller smoker/grill and use maybe 3-4 small chunks of wood/half-hour. This seems to keep the temp right at 220*.

I think after reading your post, I'm going to rotate the meat more often. Hopefully I can prevent the dried out sides...

J

I used mesqute. Actually this was my best smoling. in the fast my chips just burn up fast with little smoking. I used a foil pack and got long sustained smoke and kept the temp between 220-250.

Of course I had a drip pan. I shall shop for a slightly larger cut I will light the starter burn (left, and keep the middle and right burner dead, with the meat almost all the way to the right.

BTW: I used the rub in BBQ Bible, since it is a little les spicy than in how to grill, with the beer and vinegar mop, which I applied every 1/2 hour since the cut did not have too thick of fat.

I didn;t have time to make myown BBQ sauce so I bought Chris' n Pitts at the market. My wife said the sauce tasted very good, and by that she means the combo of the rub, the mop and the sauce.

P.S. I didn;t have a mop so I looped up a bunch of cooking twine and tied the end off and it worked perfect.

Took it off the Que at 5 hours 25 minutes with internal temp of 192.

Update for the day...

Fire is holding at 220*
Meat is at 140-145 for all 4 pieces (2 shoulders, 2 brisket)

Target finish is app 7:30pm - or 5 more hours. I hope they warm up enough in that time!

J

johnbrain666 - in a pinch you can also use a bottle brush like you'd get at the grocer store for a mop. I have in the past.

Ok - finished and some good and bad to report...

The pork came out amazing. The best was the boneless shoulder. I picked it up and it fell to pieces - absolutely amazing. The bone-in shoulder was good, but kind of dry at parts.

The brisket, although cooked 10 hours, still was a bit tough. It was fairly juicy, but not even close to tender.

All 4 pieces were brought to 165-170, then wrapped in foil for the last 100-120 minutes until temp hit 190-195. Any thoughts? The brisket was fairly lean, but I mopped every 30-45 minutes with a beer/cider vinegar mop.

Regards,

Jon

Depending on the size of your brisket - I normally cook a brisket for at least 14-15 hours at 200 degrees and it is very tender when I am through. If I take it off sooner it is still tough.

My first brisket came out tough even tho' I had brought it to 190 internal in a water smoker running at 220. The reason it was tough was due to my cutting it wrong, IE: with the grain instead of against it. The next day I sliced some going the other way and it was as tender as could be, even ice cold out of the fridge! Next time I'll make note of which way the grain is going before cooking as it becomes more diffcult for me to tell after cooking.

BTW I also have a Big Easy and the one burner method is the way to go if you want to do slow smoking on it. Don't forget to use the warming rack too, if you're doing a lot of meat at once.