You want to do your fat-cap brisket at 230-270F, and I believe at those temps, a rough guideline for cooking time is 75min per pound. Start with the fat side down for the first couple hours, then flip the fat side up for the rest of the smoke.

You can avoid over or under-cooking by checking the meat temp in different parts. Generally you want to get to 165F-170F. Make sure you're sampling temp in the meat, not in the fat. (Also, I've seen at least one website that list an internal temp guideline of 185F. Don't listen to such horse****!) Do remember that every time you open the smoker you lose trapped heat though, so don't check the temp every 20 minutes.

Make sure you keep your cooking temp well regulated. Checking the thermostat every 30 minutes for a wood smoker is a pretty good guideline. If you end up above 300F for any extended period of time, you're going to cook the outside too quickly. If you end up going too low (e.g., 200F) it shouldn't be that terrible, but it will take you that much longer to cook.

First what kind of cooker are you using and second are you using a whole packer brisket or just the flat? What size brisket are you using?

Ideally you start with a packer brisker (IMPS #120) that's 12 pounds or bigger. The little 6-7 pound ones at the supermarket are going to be bricks every time. Season it liberally with your favorite beef rub or just salt and pepper, (try to avoid rubs with a lot of sugar, they're better on pork. A good easy beef rub is Montreal Steak seasoning cut 15% with turbando sugar then whizzed together for a few seconds in a food processor.

You can cook your brisket anywhere between 200 and 325 degrees but you want to use the temperature range that's easiest to maintain in your particular cooker. If you got to the high side of that range remember that sugar burns at 277 degrees so the higher the temp the less sugar in your rub.

Wrap the rubbed brisket tightly in plastic and refrigerate for several hours.

Put you brisket in your cooker as it's coming up to temp either fat cap up or down depending on the type of cooker - it doesn't make a whole lot of difference. Most people cooking dry cook fat cap up and water cookers tend to favor fat cap down, it also depends on whether you're going to foil your Brisket.

Cook it until the internal temp in the flat hits around 190-195, and a probe going into the center of the flat has a slight resistance, like really cold butter or soft cheese. Pull your brisket, wrap it tightly in foil and put it in a small cooler lined with a bunch of old towels for at least an hour. Take it out, trim, slice and enjoy.

Lol just came in to talk about the 16 kg pulled pork I will be making tomorrow, I got owned...

This. I did a 16 lb brisket in a Weber gas grill for Memorial Day. Rubbed with salt and pepper only. I put 2 small foil pans of wood chips (1 soaked, 1 with water) directly on the lit burner and a large pan with water under the meat. I set it overnight and it was at 225-250 when I went to sleep. In the morning, the grill had heated up to 325 (water evaporated from pan) and the meat was at 205. I took it off and wrapped in foil and held in a warm (<200) oven until the afternoon. The bottom got a little crispy and the rest of the meat was falling apart. It was tender and delicious. It would have been better if the grill stayed cooler or I got the meat off sooner. The moral of the story is that a packer cut brisket is nearly indestructible. Those flat things in the supermarket are much trickier.

Thanks for the replies neuro, slam, and dylan's.

I think you nailed the problem, starting with a flat instead of the whole packer brisket.

This is our smoker. My husband made it. The top is a recycled cafeteria milk refrigerator.



We've had different configurations for heat. Currently it has what we're calling a "winter burner". Propane, wood box on the right. It keeps pretty consistent temps. (We tried wood alone at first and that was almost impossible to maintain constant temps.)



This should give you an idea of the inside of the box. That's a small brisket, the first we ever smoked.



Right now we have water pans both in the stove and the box.

I tried Sam's a couple weeks ago...

Sam was a little distracted about a drug deal that had just gone down around 5:00 PM on Saturday night in the joint just before me and the family showed up. I don't think I will be able to get my wife to go back.

Doing my first pork shoulder for a family dinner tomorrow. Put it in the smoker at 8 this morning:



Since I had the smoker going, I decided to throw in some ribs too.



I'll update when things are done.

god bless this thread

I brought the shoulder in to finish in the oven, but the ribs are done:





I had to take the plate outside to get a better pic. A little dark inside:

Can't believe I just found this thread. BBQ is my favorite hobby, both eating and smoking.

I live in KC too and my opinion on the local places goes:

Ribs: jack stack
Pulled pork: Arthur Bryants
Brisket: Oklahoma Joes

I think my best homemade has beaten all of these but I don't have the consistency I'd like yet. I like to experiment.

Went to Memphis a couple weekends back and I gotta say that rendezvous place was total garbage...sorry. I though "dry ribs" was supposed to refer to the rub/lack of sauce not a leathery/jerky end product. Also wtf at them leaving the membrane on the ribs? Terrible.

Great thread! Would love to hear more from those doing competitions. I definitely want to do one of those sometime!

hahaha that picture in the spoiler is ****ing great. Food looks good too.

Me and 2 friends have been walking over to some condos with propance grills nearby with steaks and chicken. It's nice because we dont have to do dishes and it tastes soo much better than cooking a steak in a pan lol. But is it wrong? we had one persyon ask us if we lived there we said yes lol.

bubonicplay, I think you may be confused. This is the BBQ Thread, not the 'Ask Me about Being a Fat Illiterate Homeless Person Thread'.

i live in paradise on the island of Maui and i am not homeless, we just dont have a BBQ grill at my condo complex. Chill ****er.

I found this thread because I'm going to KC to see the Red Sox in a couple weeks and wondered what the local favorites are. From this thread it sounds like LC's is pretty good. I'm from New England so my BBQ standards are low, the best I've had is probably Hill Top BBQ inn Manhattan.

Is there anyway I can go wrong with any of the KC BBQ joints? I don't want to end up at some unauthentic chain like Chili's.

Any of the places mentioned would be good. LC's is my favorite and is relatively close to the stadium. Depending on where you're staying you should have something good close by.

See my post #210

Most of the established places are good bets in general (aurthur Bryants, gates, Oklahoma joes, jack stack) but there are some gems off the beaten path like RJ's and apparently LC's but I haven't eaten there myself.

I didn't have time to pull the shoulder apart last night, so I did it this morning.





It probably would have been easier last night when it was still warm. The meat is very tender and has a good smoky flavor.

Close ups:



Smoke ring

It definitely would have been easier when it was warm. Let it sit for 30 minutes and then pull it. I use these: http://www.barbecue-store.com/Bear-P...lers_p_63.html. Can do a butt in 10 minutes or less.

I just stumbled on this awesome thread. I bought myself a 22" WSM last Christmas and I've been doing a couple of cooks a week. Some random thoughts...In addition to the sites already mentioned (http://tvwbb.com/eve/forums, http://www.smokingmeatforums.com/) I love this site: http://amazingribs.com/index.html. The 'table of contents' has a plethora of information. Sauces, rubs, how to etc.

Last week I did a 21# chuck roll and 13#'s of beef back ribs (3 racks). I cut the chuck roll in half and gave it a nice rub. Used the same rub on the ribs.
Rub recipe:
3 tablespoon ground black pepper
2 tablespoons kosher salt
1 tablespoon granulated white sugar
2 teaspoons mustard powder
2 teaspoons garlic powder
2 teaspoons chili powder
1 teaspoon cayenne powder

I used hickory and cherry chunks. I'm a big proponent of high heat and foil. The quality seems just as good and it takes half the time. I like to get my smoker as close to 350 degrees as I can without going higher. I smoked the ribs for 2 hours before foiling them for an hour. I let the chuck rolls go for 3 hours before foiling them for 2 hours. After letting them cool for 30 minutes I pulled them just like I would pork butt. Makes great sandwiches. I put it on a Philly roll with some pepper jack cheese and homemade BBQ sauce.

Here is a pic of the first brisket I did back in the winter:



It came out great for a first try. Did it on high heat and foil. Was done in about 5 hours.

Mojo and Jim - very nice!!

I have a couple of pork butts on the smoker right now. Rubbed them last night at about 1 AM when I got home from work.

Rub:

3/4 cup firmly packed dark brown sugar
3/4 cup white sugar
1/2 cup paprika
1/4 cup kosher salt
1/4 cup garlic powder
2 tablespoons ground black pepper
2 tablespoons ground ginger powder
2 tablespoons onion powder
2 teaspoons rosemary

I left the butts out after rubbing them to let them come up to room temp. I put them on this morning right before 8:30 AM. I used a chunk of apple wood for smoke. My first reading on my thermometer was 247 on the smoker and 63 internal on the larger of the 2 pork butts. They are 20# total but one of them is probably 12#. I might have to leave that one in foil a little longer than the other. They should be ready for foil at 11:30. I'm going to finish them in the oven since my smoker temp dropped a lot in the last 15 minutes. I was between 300 and 333 for the whole cook until my last reading dropped to 288.

Following up on yesterdays pork butts: at 11:30 the larger of the two butts was at 134 internal which is a bit lower than I like before foiling. The smaller one was at 152 which is ideal. I decided to foil them both (I use an aluminum pan and foil) and put them in the oven at 350. After 1 3/4 hours I checked the smaller one. It was done. I use a metal skewer to test for tenderness and then check the bone. If the bone slides right out I know its done (I only do bone-in butts). I left the bigger butt in for another 30 minutes before checking it. It was done also. I let them sit for about 30 minutes and then pulled them. After pulling I doused the meat with some pork juice that I saved from the pans (I used a fat separator) and I sprinkled some rub on. I'll be making sandwiches and sliders and serving with a 'Lexington' sauce.

Sauce recipe:

1 cup distilled vinegar (do not use cider vinegar)
1/4 cup ketchup
1/4 cup apple juice
1 teaspoon hot sauce (I use Sriracha sauce)
3 tablespoons light brown sugar
1/2 tablespoon salt
1 teaspoon crushed red pepper
1 teaspoon finely ground black pepper

Good eats. I've done butts low & slow for 15 hours but after doing them this way I'll never go back.

u guys ever had chicken or ribs that was soaked in vinegar before being grilled?

I've never have but it is a fairly common technique. Are you thinking of using just vinegar or a vinegar based marinade? I would think a cider vinegar with pork would be good. I might have to try that the next time I do ribs.

A pure vinegar marinade sounds like a pretty bad idea. It's going to have the same type of effect as the citric acid from lime/lemon juice in ceviche- denaturing the proteins and "cooking" the meat, or just turning it into mush.

A marinade or basting sauce that includes part vinegar or other acids is pretty common.