I am a smoker, the BBQ type.

[ponyo]

Maintaining a stable temperature takes some time. You need to build up an ash pile, then learn to choke/feed the coals to regulate. It takes about 2-3 hours to get a stable ash pile set. Remember to open the top vent to increase temp, close it to reduce, and close the bottom if you're burning fuel too fast.

All of this really depends on your grill being nice and sealed too. Air leaks wreck havoc on temperature control. 225F is a guideline- if you get up to 250, it won't hurt much (275 will though- the sugars in your rub will burn). 225F is the Goldilocks zone though and what you should shoot for.

I can run my cookers at any temperature I want now. I just choose to cook at 275 and higher. Just personal preference I developed.

 

[ponyo]

Lean cuts of meat such as chicken, pork loin, etc do well at higher temps with less cooking time. Chicken seems to do best around 325F for 2 or so hours (if whole). I've never seen a single pro do a brisket at 325F...the flat will overcook before the point gets done, resulting in an uneven mess.

http://www.bbq-brethren.com/forum/showthread.php?t=248917
This guy is a pro and he cooked the packer brisket at 350 F.

http://www.texasmonthly.com/bbq-snob/john-mueller-black-box-barbecue/
John Mueller claims to cook his brisket at 400 F. But I don't fully believe that. He might for a part of the cook but I doubt for the entire cook.

I think you need to start questioning and start experimenting.

 

[ponyo]

I just remember watching a show where Myron Mixon claimed he cooked brisket hot @325. But maybe that name drop is cliche.

BTW - Next time ponyo does short ribs I'm driving to his house!

You're welcome anytime! Just drive on over. It's a short drive. I have couple hundred pounds of different meats in the freezers we can cook up on your arrival.

 

[Jeeebus]

Made my new favorite beef (picanha) on the Big Joe rotisserie. Delicious. Roughly 45 minutes on the rotisserie @ 350 - 400 degrees. Only problem is I have no idea where my Thermapen disappeared to so had to eyeball meat temperature toward the end. Turned out how I wanted it.

 

[ponyo]

Jeeebus, that looks mighty tasty! How is the cleanup on the rotisserie? Is it easy to clean and store?

No smoking or BBQ for me this week since I'm on vacation. But I have a brisket and rib tips cook planned for when I return.

 

[Jeeebus]

Jeeebus, that looks mighty tasty! How is the cleanup on the rotisserie? Is it easy to clean and store?

Very easy clean up. It's just a metal pole and a couple 'claws' (if you use them). From what I've seen thus far, they stay very clean themselves so it's just a little dish soap and barely any effort to get any residual grease/food off them. The big ring that fits onto the Big Joe - I just drape that over my WSM. With the cover on the WSM, it fits perfect.

 

[ponyo]

Some Walmart locations are clearing out the Akorn Kamado Jr. for $74. That's great price on 14" grill/smoker. You still have to buy the heat deflector to smoke but even with that, you're looking at little over $100 for little kamado. You can check your local store price and stock using this.
https://brickseek.com/walmart-inventory-checker?sku=52497353

 

[ponyo]

I smoked another prime brisket. This one was 14.74 pounds before the trim. I wet aged this one for about a month. I placed the brisket fat side up in the Big Joe at 11 am this morning when the smoker temperature was around 180 F and climbing. It settled at 250 F after about 30-40 minutes. And it cooked at 250-275 F the rest of the way until completion. I didn't wrap the brisket and the entire cook took only 5 hours and 15 minutes. The brisket internal temperature hit 203 F on my wireless Maverick at 5 hours 15 minutes mark and when I doubled checked with my Thermapen, it confirmed the temp and brisket was probe tender pretty much everywhere and the probe was sliding in like butter. And when I slapped the brisket and picked it up, it jiggled like jello telling me it was done. So I removed it from the smoker and brought into the house. I wrapped it in foil and towels and placed it in the empty ice cooler where it's currently resting.

5 hours and 15 minutes is pretty fast cook time for brisket when my smoking temp was only 250-275 F. And I didn't wrap the brisket. So when I read about other people smoking brisket for 10-14 hours even after wrapping, I'm wondering what I'm doing differently. These people are smoking at around 225-250 F. Does 25 degrees F make that big of a difference in cooking time?

 

[ponyo]

I also picked up two new 14" Weber Smokey Joe grills for $15 each at my local Walmart on clearance. I'm going to use it for Korean BBQ when I have guests. Two guests per each Smokey Joe should work great. So check Brickseek website for Walmart clearance. My local Walmart also had 17" Blackstone griddle on clearance for $49. I passed because I have Weber Genesis S-330 with side burner that I use my cast iron pan on and don't need a portable unit. But it would be great for tailgating and trips.

 

[ponyo]

Brisket was good. But I'm getting tired of eating brisket. I think I can now smoke decent brisket so I'm going to experiment with other cuts and also with injecting.

 

[jtworldwide3]

Finally got around to getting my grill control working on the cloud bases system this weekend. Now i can control my grill from work!
Need to get back to costco and do some more babyback ribs.. The pellet smoke really excels at them!

 

[HomerJS]

I smoked another prime brisket. This one was 14.74 pounds before the trim. I wet aged this one for about a month. I placed the brisket fat side up in the Big Joe at 11 am this morning when the smoker temperature was around 180 F and climbing. It settled at 250 F after about 30-40 minutes. And it cooked at 250-275 F the rest of the way until completion. I didn't wrap the brisket and the entire cook took only 5 hours and 15 minutes. The brisket internal temperature hit 203 F on my wireless Maverick at 5 hours 15 minutes mark and when I doubled checked with my Thermapen, it confirmed the temp and brisket was probe tender pretty much everywhere and the probe was sliding in like butter. And when I slapped the brisket and picked it up, it jiggled like jello telling me it was done. So I removed it from the smoker and brought into the house. I wrapped it in foil and towels and placed it in the empty ice cooler where it's currently resting.

5 hours and 15 minutes is pretty fast cook time for brisket when my smoking temp was only 250-275 F. And I didn't wrap the brisket. So when I read about other people smoking brisket for 10-14 hours even after wrapping, I'm wondering what I'm doing differently. These people are smoking at around 225-250 F. Does 25 degrees F make that big of a difference in cooking time?

Don't know if its combination of aging and prime cut. I've never been able to get that kind of time. My average is 1hr/lb @250-270. BTW - Where do you find those kind of prices/cuts @Costco. Choice only and much higher prices. Can't find anything close in the Philadelphia/Maryland area. I remember you once mentioned a different kind of Costco but isn't a business license required?

 

[NetWareHead]

Great looking brisket. Nice smoke ring and the moisture in the meat is plenty visible.

 

[NetWareHead]

Don't know if its combination of aging and prime cut. I've never been able to get that kind of time. My average is 1hr/lb @250-270. BTW - Where do you find those kind of prices/cuts @Costco. Choice only and much higher prices. Can't find anything close in the Philadelphia/Maryland area. I remember you once mentioned a different kind of Costco but isn't a business license required?

Restaurant depot? You need to have a restaurant or food preparation business to shop there. Find a restaurant owner and piggy back off of him.

 

[echo4747]

Anyone here know what"Beef -Peeled Knuckles" are? Rest Depot has them for $2.59/lb . I never heard of "peeled knuckles" Do they have another name? Appears to look like some form of roast

 

[NetWareHead]

Anyone here know what"Beef -Peeled Knuckles" are? Rest Depot has them for $2.59/lb . I never heard of "peeled knuckles" Do they have another name? Appears to look like some form of roast

https://www.leaf.tv/articles/what-cut-of-beef-is-the-peeled-knuckle/

 

[ponyo]

Don't know if its combination of aging and prime cut. I've never been able to get that kind of time. My average is 1hr/lb @250-270. BTW - Where do you find those kind of prices/cuts @Costco. Choice only and much higher prices. Can't find anything close in the Philadelphia/Maryland area. I remember you once mentioned a different kind of Costco but isn't a business license required?

I buy most of my meats from Costco Business Center. It's basically Costco for small retail business owners. You don't need business license to shop there. Just regular Costco membership card just like any other Costco locations. There are only handful Costco Business Center locations in the entire country. We have one in south Atlanta. The prices there are cheaper than regular Costco for the same meats but they only sell in primal cryovac. Right now, they don't have any prime brisket packers but they do have choice brisket packers for $2.49 /lb. You can also find USDA Select at the Business Costco. Regular Costco locations do not carry any USDA Select beef, only choice and prime. The business Costco location also carry cuts of meat not available at regular Costco like cow cheek meat, beef ball tip, beef tongue, beef shoulder clod, chuck rolls, beef tip knuckle, whole suckling pig, whole lamb carcass, etc.

 

[ponyo]

Anyone here know what"Beef -Peeled Knuckles" are? Rest Depot has them for $2.59/lb . I never heard of "peeled knuckles" Do they have another name? Appears to look like some form of roast

http://www.beeffoodservice.com/recipecut.aspx?id=268

I have choice knuckle sitting in my garage fridge. I bought it from Costco business center last month to make beef jerky for my puppy. I've been busy with vacation and work so I haven't had the time to do anything with it. It's lean cut of meat and you can cut some steaks like London Broil from it. I think I paid like $3.19 /lb last month.

 

[lupi]

Going to have some good sandwiches tomorrow.

 

[ponyo]

I fired up the Weber original kettle 22" premium and grilled thin slices of marinated pork loin. It's been so long since I last used the kettle I forgot how great it was for grilling. I love the Weber kettle. I think I had this one for about 18 years. Always stored outside on the deck uncovered. I've replaced the grates couple of times but other than that zero maintenance.

 

[lupi]

Put it wrapped in a cooler a bit after taking it out till time to eat. Guess it was tender enough as it fell apart just by moving it

Then a little shredding before it hit the plates.

 

[ponyo]

^^Looks tasty! Pulled pork is the best tasting bang for buck BBQ meat IMO.

I saw on Costco Business website that they had pork butt bone-in for $1.29 /lb and choice beef brisket packer for $2.39 /lb so I drove down to take a look. They didn't have any brisket packer on display but when I checked the walk in fridge, they had two cases of choice Angus beef brisket packers. I don't have the freezer space for the case at the moment so I passed on the brisket even though I was really tempted to buy the case. They also had some nice 20 /lb + choice chuck rolls for $3.49 /lb which tempted me. But I fought the urge and only picked up the pork butt bone-in and choice NY strip steaks. The whole NY top loin was $5.99 /lb which I thought was decent.

 

[ponyo]

It's like Christmas in August! Walmart is clearing out bunch of grills and smokers. Use Brickseek.com to see if your Walmart is participating and have any in stock. I bought:

Weber Smokey Joe (2x): $15 each
Weber Original Kettle 22" (2x): $25 each
Blackstone Tabletop Griddle 17": $25

Blackstone griddle and Weber original kettle MSRP is $100. Weber Smokey Joe MSRP is $40. I also had the chance to buy Oklahoma Joe Bandera smoker for $89 which retails for $379 but passed since the box weighed like 200 pounds and I didn't have anyone to help me load.

 

[Kaido]

It's like Christmas in August! Walmart is clearing out bunch of grills and smokers. Use Brickseek.com to see if your Walmart is participating and have any in stock. I bought:

Weber Smokey Joe (2x): $15 each
Weber Original Kettle 22" (2x): $25 each
Blackstone Tabletop Griddle 17": $25

Blackstone griddle and Weber original kettle MSRP is $100. Weber Smokey Joe MSRP is $40. I also had the chance to buy Oklahoma Joe Bandera smoker for $89 which retails for $379 but passed since the box weighed like 200 pounds and I didn't have anyone to help me load.

Ahhhhhh sold out here! I've had my eye on that 17" Blackstone for awhile!

 

[ponyo]

Ahhhhhh sold out here! I've had my eye on that 17" Blackstone for awhile!

They had two at my local Walmart last night. I only bought one. It looks like someone bought the other one today.