Ye Olde Smoker Thread

[GTI Jake]

Tired out a new butcher shop, smallest brisket they had was 15# so I figured why not. We’ve never had substantial brisket leftovers, and the ideas immediately started flooding in.

So last night I started getting nervous about getting it done at a reasonable time. I didn’t want to work all day in the shop just to panic & see this massive slab of meat hitting the stall at dinner time, so I tossed it in the oven overnight at 200F to start it off.

So here we are at 6am and it’s in the smoker, and hooked to my new Amazon special thermometer that’s Bluetooth. Hopefully that’ll make things a little less stressful, especially if I can pair the wife’s phone to it while I’m out in the shop.

 

[NoGodGetOverIt]

Tired out a new butcher shop, smallest brisket they had was 15# so I figured why not. We’ve never had substantial brisket leftovers, and the ideas immediately started flooding in.

So last night I started getting nervous about getting it done at a reasonable time. I didn’t want to work all day in the shop just to panic & see this massive slab of meat hitting the stall at dinner time, so I tossed it in the oven overnight at 200F to start it off.

So here we are at 6am and it’s in the smoker, and hooked to my new Amazon special thermometer that’s Bluetooth. Hopefully that’ll make things a little less stressful, especially if I can pair the wife’s phone to it while I’m out in the shop.

You smoke/grill regardless of weather...I totally respect that!

 

[CaptainRatty]

Tired out a new butcher shop, smallest brisket they had was 15# so I figured why not. We’ve never had substantial brisket leftovers, and the ideas immediately started flooding in.

So last night I started getting nervous about getting it done at a reasonable time. I didn’t want to work all day in the shop just to panic & see this massive slab of meat hitting the stall at dinner time, so I tossed it in the oven overnight at 200F to start it off.

So here we are at 6am and it’s in the smoker, and hooked to my new Amazon special thermometer that’s Bluetooth. Hopefully that’ll make things a little less stressful, especially if I can pair the wife’s phone to it while I’m out in the shop.

I have the same thermometer from Amazon. The alarm on the phone is loud as shit!

 

[GTI Jake]

I have the same thermometer from Amazon. The alarm on the phone is loud as shit!

Shit, just the alarm on the device shot me out of bed at 4am lol

 

[GTI Jake]

You smoke/grill regardless of weather...I totally respect that!

Rain, snow, wind I’ve smoked and deep fried in it all. Growing up in Ohio and working outdoors in aviation the last decade I don’t even hesitate lol

The end result far out weighs any inconvenience

 

[Charlotte.:R]

Rain, snow, wind I’ve smoked and deep fried in it all. Growing up in Ohio and working outdoors in aviation the last decade I don’t even hesitate lol

The end result far out weighs any inconvenience

I grew up in Ohio too. Kept a snow brush hanging off the side of my grill

 

[brat_burner]

Rain, snow, wind I’ve smoked and deep fried in it all. Growing up in Ohio and working outdoors in aviation the last decade I don’t even hesitate lol

The end result far out weighs any inconvenience

Do you leave it in the foil tray the entire time? When do you cover it? How's the smoke level if you up the temperature on that unit(since it uses chips)?

 

[GTI Jake]

Do you leave it in the foil tray the entire time? When do you cover it? How's the smoke level if you up the temperature on that unit(since it uses chips)?

Yeah I leave it in the tray the entire time, and slip a cookie sheet under it for safe transportation.

Fat cap up & covered over night, then flipped it before going in the smoker (no cover) till the stall at 160* internal temperature.

Then covered till 203 and let it rest in a warm oven 1.5 hours.

Theres a fine balance between damp and wet chips with my smoker, it’ll roll coal if you crank it up so that’s what I do each time I refill them. Then back to 205-225 to keep the low n slow theme going.

Im confident the cut of meat is 75% of the equation since this came out night and day better than previous smokes. I went to a wholesale distributor butcher shop and it was never frozen, right off the truck into my brine basically. Grocery store butcher shop meat I’ve bought after watching them cut it wasn’t anything like this from a tenderness standpoint, so I’m happy with my $75 experiments & if you’re debating trying this for the holidays do a ton of reading from guys who do this for a living (not me lol) and send it!

 

[brat_burner]

Yeah I leave it in the tray the entire time, and slip a cookie sheet under it for safe transportation.

Fat cap up & covered over night, then flipped it before going in the smoker (no cover) till the stall at 160* internal temperature.

Then covered till 203 and let it rest in a warm oven 1.5 hours.

View attachment 229228View attachment 229229View attachment 229230
Theres a fine balance between damp and wet chips with my smoker, it’ll roll coal if you crank it up so that’s what I do each time I refill them. Then back to 205-225 to keep the low n slow theme going.

Im confident the cut of meat is 75% of the equation since this came out night and day better than previous smokes. I went to a wholesale distributor butcher shop and it was never frozen, right off the truck into my brine basically. Grocery store butcher shop meat I’ve bought after watching them cut it wasn’t anything like this from a tenderness standpoint, so I’m happy with my $75 experiments & if you’re debating trying this for the holidays do a ton of reading from guys who do this for a living (not me lol) and send it!

I never used gas/chips/pellets so I was curious. It was difficult for me to get the temperature that low. Absolutely the quality of meat makes a huge difference, you know the grades and can just look at the graining in it. If you have a high quality brisket I don't think you need to brine it or keep liquid in there. They sell "wagyu" here but it's "american style" which is a huge difference lol. I switched to wrapping in the butcher paper(wrap time based on bark development.) I did see some YT vids recently where the dudes were doing really long resting periods(wrapped in a towel inside a cooler.)

In other news this bbq place about 15 minutes from me was voted #1 in the state recently. I haven't even attempted to go yet... not trying to wait in line for 2 hours.

 

[GTI Jake]

I never used gas/chips/pellets so I was curious. It was difficult for me to get the temperature that low. Absolutely the quality of meat makes a huge difference, you know the grades and can just look at the graining in it. If you have a high quality brisket I don't think you need to brine it or keep liquid in there. They sell "wagyu" here but it's "american style" which is a huge difference lol. I switched to wrapping in the butcher paper(wrap time based on bark development.) I did see some YT vids recently where the dudes were doing really long resting periods(wrapped in a towel inside a cooler.)

In other news this bbq place about 15 minutes from me was voted #1 in the state recently. I haven't even attempted to go yet... not trying to wait in line for 2 hours.

Yeah charcoal is above my skill set, even just grilling on it I have trouble keeping temps down to a reasonable level.

A seafood/butcher shop in town selling Wagyu at $20 an ounce lol, my buddy called for pricing and they said they don’t list it per # because “it’s offensively expensive”.

 

[brat_burner]

Yeah charcoal is above my skill set, even just grilling on it I have trouble keeping temps down to a reasonable level.

A seafood/butcher shop in town selling Wagyu at $20 an ounce lol, my buddy called for pricing and they said they don’t list it per # because “it’s offensively expensive”.

I liked doing beef ribs A LOT. They're delicious and relatively low cook time compared to a big brisket.

 

[GTI Jake]

Anyone have a thermometer recommendation?

It would be nice to have:

-3 or 4 probes that are reasonably accurate (none of my current thermometers are within even 10*F of each other)

-long range or a app (would be nice to be 100 yards away in the shop with good signal)

This thing is pricey, but I’m sick of wasting money on cheaper ones that have more cons than pros

https://www.thermoworks.com/smokex4/

 

[brat_burner]

Anyone have a thermometer recommendation?

It would be nice to have:

-3 or 4 probes that are reasonably accurate (none of my current thermometers are within even 10*F of each other)

-long range or a app (would be nice to be 100 yards away in the shop with good signal)

This thing is pricey, but I’m sick of wasting money on cheaper ones that have more cons than pros

https://www.thermoworks.com/smokex4/

If you got one of those colors on sale $149 isn't bad. I still just have a cheap one

 

[Daks]

I have a cheap one and the one the traeger came with.

 

[Charlotte.:R]

Anyone have a thermometer recommendation?

It would be nice to have:

-3 or 4 probes that are reasonably accurate (none of my current thermometers are within even 10*F of each other)

-long range or a app (would be nice to be 100 yards away in the shop with good signal)

This thing is pricey, but I’m sick of wasting money on cheaper ones that have more cons than pros

https://www.thermoworks.com/smokex4/

I have the 2 probe version—it’s awesome. The remote sensor should easily read that far. I’ve walked the dog further than that and didn’t lose signal.