I put some Paul Prudhomme BBQ rub on last night and then pressed in some coarse black pepper and sea salt. I'm hickory smoking it (fat side up) and the smoker temp has leveled off at about 213...about how often should I worry about stoking it? I started the fire w/ charcoal and added a bag of hickory chunks I bought at HmDep. Resisting the urge to open...it already smells and sounds great....I'll update later....
I'm not sure what kind of smoker you're using, but I have an offset, and I usually have to worry about adding more charcoal after about 4 hours. That will take the temp down a few degrees, but don't worry, once the new charcoal lights back up you'll be good to go. And a half hour or so at ~180 is not going to hurt your brisket.
Take my advice with a grain of salt, because I just finished my first brisket ever. I put it on around 8 last night and the only time I added more coals was around 1 AM right before I went to bed. I woke up at 6:30 and the temp was pretty low. I put it in the oven to finish it off and went back to sleep. It was ready in time for lunch today. Behold the amazing cutting job by my wife. She said I had to give her credit if I posted the picture.
Agreed on needing to know the type of smoker; posting a pic of the unit would work, too. I go by what my temp guage is telling me - if I see it running a bit too low, I'll either adjust the wood in the firebox or add more. Sidebar, I made two whole chickens on Friday & they were allsome. Took about 3 hours & it was fab-u-lous! Yesh, I know chicken isn't considered Q but it was an easy "fire it & forget it".
Sorry...off-set smoker. i've kept it btw 210 and 225 all day...I'll pull it out to wrap it in foil around 3:30....smells great...still haven't opened the lid.
NCAA, how did you smoke your turkey? I'm going to do a beer-can chicken in a couple of hours which I don't really think is smoking....
OK...just took in out to wrap it in foil...also decided to finish it up on the smoker. When I opened the smoker lid...my wife laughed...it looked like a big bricket. Did I put it too close to the firebox? However, when I grabbed it w/ the tongs to put in on the foil, it was bursting w/ juice...room for hope? I never let the smoker get above 225 for seven hours...it mostly hung around 210 and then 175-200 the last hour or so. It's back on...wish me luck P.S. I took a picture but can't find my damn USB cable...looking now.
Briskets are supposed to look black. Here's a before and after picture of a brisket I smoked last year that people said was "the best they'd ever had": Before: After ~8 hours:
Mine's blacker but I'm still hoping for the best...I think it might have been too close to the firebox...rookie mistake?
Well I usually put it as far away from the firebox as possible, so maybe. But I messed up a brisket once (I used lump charcoal and it got waaaay too hot), and there was still about half of it that was pretty edible. Not the best ever, but better than a lot of stuff you pay for. So even if it did get a bit too close to the fire, you should still get quite a bit of meat that is good to eat.
Yep, hornian..that appears to be the case (it was black and crispy on the outside)....still won't know for sure for a couple of hours. I put the brisket on the grill closest to the firebox...but the probe (in a potato) was right next to it and never got that hot...oh well...burn & learn I'll let you know how the final product is.
Well rookie mistakes aside, it turned out fantastic. Two things: I think I did put the brisket too close to the firebox and I had the heat probe INSIDE the potato and not exposed to the smoker However, in spite of that it was phenominal...very "burnt tips" on the ends but the meat (w/ one small burnt exception) was juicy and fall-apart-to-the-touch tender. I do have a couple of pics but still haven't found our USB cable. To all who helped...gracias!
