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BBQ GAF - Smokin' Your Meat, USA Style
- Thread starter POWERSPHERE
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n64coder
Member
I only have a gas grill and am looking to get my first charcoal grill. Should I go for the WSM? Or the regular charcoal grill? I still plan to use my gas grill during the week for cooking so this would be only used for brisket, ribs, and pulled pork.
brotherbean
Member
The kettle is Weber's One Touch and comes in various trims. One Touch Gold (now called Premium) is what most people seem to recommend, for its attached ash bucket and hinged cooking grate. The Weber Smokey Mountain is Weber's dedicated smoker. I've not used one but it seems to be one of the more common entry level smokers and I don't think I've read many complaints about them over the years.
If you only plan to use the charcoal for smoking I'd go with the WSM. I split time between the One Touch Gold and a Spirit E-210 but I use the OTG for a lot more than just slow cooking, otherwise I could see myself swapping it for a WSM at some point.
xxANTIMONITORxx
Member
It was right under my nose the whole time...
xxANTIMONITORxx
Member
Guys I love BBQ GAF! Thanks for everyone's advice. I'll post some pics from my next smoke
RapidCancel
Member
If you're only going to use it for smoking then go for the WSM. My 14" WSM can fit a 15 lb pork butt on both racks. Ribs will work if you cut them in half or if you just use a rack or something to hold it up sideways. If you do a brisket, you'll likely have to find a way to fold it until it shrinks a bit.
Shin Johnpv
Member
dskillzhtown
keep your strippers out of my American football
I echo this. If you are going to use the gas during the week, buying a dedicated smoker will get the job done. The Smokey Mountain is the best option, IMO. For me, the 14" model is adequate for my needs. I have the 14" and the 18.5" models. I might fire up the 18.5" model once or twice a year when I have big party at my house. The 14" does it for me. As Rapid said, brisket can be challenging in there because of it's length but everything else works fine.
The Lamonster
Member
If you really get into smoking and still have no interest in grilling, you're going to eventually want a BGE.
Save your money and start with the BGE ;p
Save your money and start with the BGE ;p
I've posted this many many times, but he's got great information. he talks about multiple methods of cooking brisket. I've used his rub and every time people love the rub.
http://playingwithfireandsmoke.blogspot.com/1996/03/brisket.html
The method I do is smoke the brisket for 4 or so hours then put it in foil/butcher paper and let it speed through the stall to 205 internal temp, then put it in the oven when the oven is at 200 and just turn the oven off and let it sit in there for several hours "resting."
I appreciate that some people want to cook their briset for 14, 16 or even more hours but I ain't got time for that.
Another great resource is Franklin from Franklin BBQ. From what I've seen of his, his briskets spend about 11 total hours on the pit even when wrapped.
The Lamonster
Member
Is there any reason to foil wrap ribs? I'm going to try AmazingRibs' "last meal" recipe which doesn't call for any wrapping, but I know the 321 method is pretty popular.
RapidCancel
Member
To add to this, I had a memorial day party last weekend with about 15 people and it the 14" had more than enough food for everybody.
Am I the only one who doesn't really want a BGE? I do want a horizontal offset smoker though... If only I had more money haha.
The Lamonster
Member
nah, I have no interest in it either. I'm obsessed with my Weber kettle lol
I enjoy the extra work required to turn it into a smoker. I'm a new dad and don't get to leave the house very often.
nah I don't want one either. they're great grills but the value isn't there.
As one of the BGE owners here, i'm obviously biased but I love it. I love its versatility, I've done everything you can imagine smoking on it, but also everything from burgers to pizza, pretty much the closest thing to an actual brick oven for pizza.
After learning everything I've learned on it, if I didn't have it for some reason and were to get something else for smoking, it would definitely be some sort of insulated smoker. For the simple fact they hold their temperature better and thus require less fuel to keep the fire going, which saves you money in the long run. I smoked a pork butt on my dad's old offset stick burner that had zero insulation, and the thing ate fuel, between briquettes, real wood and lump.
n64coder
Member
So how does the pizza come out?
I do mine in my gas grill on a pizza stone. I find that the bottom comes out nice but the top is not brown enough. So when it's ready, I just take it out and put it under the broiler for a couple of minutes and then it's perfect.
SlickShoesRUCrazy
Member
I want my own place so I can get a BGE.
Hopefully sooner than later.
Hopefully sooner than later.
its fantastic. I put my stone in the egg at about 400-500 degrees, get the pizza ready slide it on there from the pizza peel and let it cook for about 7 minutes or so. The top gets melted and the crust is crispy, without either being overdone. We usually do a bunch of pizzas when we do it on the egg, highly inefficient to fire up the egg just for one pizza lol.
Last year we went to our friends house, he also has an egg, and we made literally ten pizzas or more. We ate way too much. Good times.
Here's some sample shots.
here's the egg setup with rack system and two pizza stones, excuse the crap looking pizza's we had a little bit of a problem getting the pizzas off the counter.
a sopapilla cheesecake pizza
some margarita pizza.
n64coder
Member
Looks good. I'll try to take some photos the next time I make pizzas. I use a screen so it's easy to get it on the stone and off.
Wow great link. Will be sure to read that a few times over to get Lal the info. When using your method, how long is from start to table does the brisket take you? Including time on the smoker and time in the oven is this a 12 hour or so deal with a 12 pound brisket? I am trying to get a God range on the time but I am seeing such varying amounts.
The Lamonster
Member
I've seen people recommend using large binder clips to close up leaks under the lid of a kettle grill, but mine just seem to slip off...
dskillzhtown
keep your strippers out of my American football
It's hard to say because the meat itself if so different. "The Stall" lasts different times, I have gotten meat up to 200 and didn't feel it was tender enough, so let it keep going a bit longer. I hate to bust out a cliche, but it's done when it's done. I have tried to plan other events around the time of a brisket getting done and I have had it go too fast, and too slow. Hell, weather even plays a part. So many different factors go into it, that is why you see such varying times.
I totally understand what you are saying. I just know that with a piece of meat this big and wanting to eat at around 6pm, giving it time to rest I am going to have to put this thing on frigging early in the morning. I was hoping if I put it in around 5am we can eat by 6 or so but I am thinking that might not be possible.
Irobot82
Member
I put a brick on top of mine.
From fridge to table, about 1-2 hours resting out of the fridge while the pit warms up. ~4 hours of smoke, ~2 hours wrapped, minimum 1 hour in the oven resting, so a minimum of 8 hours.
Also what dskillzhtown said, the main thing that's going to slow you down is the stall. If you don't wrap the brisket at all, its going to take a lot longer. If you wrap it there will be no stall.
Wow that's it huh!? How well does a brisket take heat. I know of on my pork shoulder I can cook around 250 and it does well, does brisket need to be cooked in the lower 200s to stay tender or is it one of those things where lower is better but slightly higher Temps won't harm it much? Based on the article it looks Iike mid 200s should be fine.
first smoke of the season! did a brisket flat. turned out pretty well. I actually did it like I did my pastrami a while back. smoked it to about 175 F, then let it rest at room temperature, then I refrigerated overnight, then I steamed it up to 198 F, then I let it rest again to get up to 203 F. then I sliced it and served. turned out pretty well.
rubbed
~5 hours in
off the smoker at 175 F
after being refrigerated all night
done and sliced. pardon this picture, I had already served most of it before realizing I should probably take a picture haha
so I smoked it with a mix of pecan and mesquite wood. dry brined it with kosher salt then added black pepper and coriander seeds and just a bit of coffee grounds. when I steamed it I did it with a stout beer and some water. also I used the smoke-n-sear for the first time and it worked really well. I had the temperature between 210 and 220 for the entire cook with essentially no fiddling after getting it to temp. really excited to keep using this, I feel like I can do overnight cooks now it worked so well.
edit: also there was a little bit of the point left on there and it was delicious as well
rubbed
~5 hours in
off the smoker at 175 F
after being refrigerated all night
done and sliced. pardon this picture, I had already served most of it before realizing I should probably take a picture haha
so I smoked it with a mix of pecan and mesquite wood. dry brined it with kosher salt then added black pepper and coriander seeds and just a bit of coffee grounds. when I steamed it I did it with a stout beer and some water. also I used the smoke-n-sear for the first time and it worked really well. I had the temperature between 210 and 220 for the entire cook with essentially no fiddling after getting it to temp. really excited to keep using this, I feel like I can do overnight cooks now it worked so well.
edit: also there was a little bit of the point left on there and it was delicious as well
dskillzhtown
keep your strippers out of my American football
Wait. You put it in the smoker, took it off, put it in the fridge, then back on the smoker? I am the first to say that there are about 10,000 ways to smoke/grill anything, but I have never heard of that. Glad it came out great.
SlickShoesRUCrazy
Member
hoping to smoke something this weekend. Been way too long.
my brother does this. He's one of those "a brisket needs 12+ hours of smoke" kind of guys. But he doesnt have the time to do it all at once, so he smokes it, then wraps it and puts in a cooler(without ice) and finishes the next day.
dskillzhtown
keep your strippers out of my American football
I just have never considered doing my smoking in two parts. I have done overnight smokes many times. I power through it all night, or I go to sleep and pray that there are now temp swings while I slumber.
What he said, didn't see your question until now. I have a WSM. I don't typically leave it for such long periods of time, but I was really tired that night and didn't feel like waking up as often as I normally would. My preference is to start stuff early in the morning and check on it every hour or so, but I really think this pork turned out the best I've ever had. I don't think it was because I wasn't checking it, but it could have been anecdotal evidence or it could have been the specific hunk of meat I got. Either way, the smoker held temp great and the end result was great.
I was making BBQ, so it was low and slow. That said, low and slow involves smoke. I use apple wood for pork, and of course the charcoal gives off a lot of smoke as well.
smoker -> 175 F -> rest -> fridge -> steam -> 198 F -> rest
I basically followed the half-smoke recipe here except my brisket wasn't corned and I let it get past the stall before pulling it off the smoker
http://amazingribs.com/recipes/beef/close_to_katzs_home_made_pastrami.html
SlickShoesRUCrazy
Member
Happy Saturday BBQ gaf!
http://1drv.ms/1Pd0haL
Edit: what's the best app for embedding photos on gaf?
http://1drv.ms/1Pd0haL
Edit: what's the best app for embedding photos on gaf?
Using Neogaf's image tags.
Code:
[IMG]Web address[/IMG]
[IMG]*https://c2.staticflickr.com/4/3709/19676352194_3fa2259295_b.jpg*[/IMG] without the stars
I have a flickr account and upload my photos through there. If not using that I like the image hosting site http://abload.de/ It's in Germam but it's really simple and once you figure it out the first time it's a snap every time after.
Just make sure that the address you copy ends in ,jpg or .png or any other image extension.
SlickShoesRUCrazy
Member
Using Neogaf's image tags.
It gets you this.Code:[IMG]Web address[/IMG] [IMG]*https://c2.staticflickr.com/4/3709/19676352194_3fa2259295_b.jpg*[/IMG] without the stars
I have a flickr account and upload my photos through there. If not using that I like the image hosting site http://abload.de/ It's in Germam but it's really simple and once you figure it out the first time it's a snap every time after.
Just make sure that the address you copy ends in ,jpg or .png or any other image extension.
Thanks! how do you make the flickr address end in .jpg?
Edit. Nm, figured it out. Thank you for the help!
The Lamonster
Member
Smoking ribs on the kettle today, using the Slow 'n Sear. Pics later!
xxANTIMONITORxx
Member
I just got asked to provide a smoked brisket for a party Thursday night, which because of work means I have to get started now.
I think this might be the perfect opportunity to give the Texas Crutch a try, but I can't really find instructions for dummies style steps. Even Meathead's seem a little confusing.
Anyone got a simple step by step technique they can recommend?
Also any tips on freezing it after I cook?
I think this might be the perfect opportunity to give the Texas Crutch a try, but I can't really find instructions for dummies style steps. Even Meathead's seem a little confusing.
Anyone got a simple step by step technique they can recommend?
Also any tips on freezing it after I cook?
ErnieMcCracken
Member
Too many unknown variables here. What time is it needed? How much does it weigh? What are you smoking it on?
The Lamonster
Member
The Slow 'n Sear rocks. It was easy keeping my temp around 225 all day. The 'wall of water' idea is so perfect.
2 hours (ignore the sun shining through the lid vents)
4 hours
ready at 6 hours
just scroll up, there's lots of information on briskets from myself and others.
Freezing is like any other meat, let it cool off, wrap it in something to protect it and put it in the freezer.
RapidCancel
Member
That's my usual method mainly to cut down my prep time in the morning. I've tried seasoning it the night before and tried seasoning it before starting the fire and I haven't noticed any dramatic difference in taste.
SlickShoesRUCrazy
Member
That's what I do.
Rub it the night before, inject the morning of, and add more rub on the fat side to render down.
AbsolutBro
Member
9.5lbs of pork shoulder sitting in brine, getting up at 0400 tomorrow to start the coals, soak the wood and smoke that sumbitch. Gives me an excuse to get up from my desk every hour. Going to smoke it 9ish hours and then finish it in the oven. I want to just smoke through until dinner time, but I'm not sure it would be done (or that I have enough wood!)
Don't you have a local butcher?
Of course. The problem being that the cut of meat I want is most often sold as corned beef. Most butchers will sell it already cured and don't sell just a regular brisket cut. As someone else on another forum found out:
However I think I may have found one butcher in the city who sells it.....there may yet be hope.
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