Smoking Fiesta!!!

Tommy3Putts · February 20, 2010, 10:29:04 AM

Finally!!! My first smoking day for the 6DBS has arrived. It's seasoned and now has two slabs of beef ribs going low and slow for about five hours. Later on tonight I'll stick the two butts and the brisket in that I bought last weekend. They seem to have survived the unexpected freeze unscathed.

No problems with the Bradley so far. Really impressed at the ease of use. This is exactly what I was looking for. Now if the meat will turn out the way I hope it does, I'll impress the wife and make her a believer to.

As soon as I figure how to post pictures from my mobileme account I'll try to post pictures of this weekend's smoking fiesta!

T3Ps

jwmills · February 20, 2010, 10:33:00 AM

good luck hope to see the pic.s

Tommy3Putts · February 22, 2010, 06:46:58 PM

Well all things considered the first smokes in the Bradley went as well as could be expected. The Beef Ribs went smoothly and were a huge hit with the wife. After the ribs were done I put in the two butts and the brisket on Saturday night. Cooked naked :o and mopped them during the day. The Butts turned out great but could have used more smoke in my mind, the Briskett was okay, awesome flavor but just a tad dry for my liking. The Briskett took 18 hours and the butts went about 21 hours. Here are my lessons learned from my first smoke.

1. I did five hours of smoke at night. Next time I'll do more; at least 7 hours.

2. I think part of the dryness for the briskett may have been due to the fact that I had to freeze it from the week before. Also it may not have been up to room temp (cold in the middle).

3. Also the temp probe may have been in the wrong spot on the brisket.

4. I could have set the oven temp a bit higher. I ran at 230 overnight and in the morning it was around 200. During the day I had it around 260 and it was running from 215-225.

5. For all the newbies out there, the guys here on this forum know what they are talking about. So trust them.

Tenpoint5 · February 22, 2010, 07:00:57 PM

Sounds like most everything turned out pretty good. As you have figured out there is a small learning curve. The best part about this is you get to eat everything and even our mistakes still taste pretty darn good.

Ka Honu · February 22, 2010, 07:45:28 PM

Quote from: Tommy3Putts on February 22, 2010, 06:46:58 PM...the Briskett was okay, awesome flavor but just a tad dry for my liking.

If your "naked" brisket came out a bit dry, next time you might want to watch the trim (leave fat on) and ensure a moist smoking/cooking environment (use a bigger or supplementary water pan). FTC also helps but may soften the bark more than you want it to. 200-225^o is a good box temp; I usually cook to an IT of 190-195^o. Same pretty much holds true for pork butts/shoulders (although I let them go to 200^o IT for pulling).

classicrockgriller · February 22, 2010, 08:26:00 PM

Tommy, congrats!

Sounds like you had some fun and a successful First BUNCH of smoke.

This smoking can become very addictive.

OU812 · February 23, 2010, 06:15:37 AM

Sounds like your first smoke turned out pretty good.

Now comes the fun part, learnin to cook the way YOU want it.

Caneyscud · February 23, 2010, 09:58:13 AM

T3Ps Man, that sounds like a very successful first (+) smoke. Great job. You held you nose and jumped right on in. I liked your first choice - not many tackle beef ribs for the first smoke. Not knowing what type of brisket you smoked I can't add anything to what KaHuna posted. Except sometimes, it is hard to decide where to stick your probe to monitor the brisket - in the flat and it gets done and to temp before the point - or in the point and by the time it gets done, the flat is a little overdone. I usually test the point and don't worry about the flat. Oftentimes all is fine, but the times the flat gets overdone - no prob. - I just make some Burnt Ends (Pachanga has a great tutorial on this) or chop it up and add it to things. Especially some refried beans and use the mixture for some killer burritos along with some avocado and jalapenos. Not bad in country white gravy to put over biscuits either.

Tommy3Putts · February 23, 2010, 05:11:14 PM

Thanks

I think you're right. The probe was in the point most of the time and the flat ended up being dry. The point wasn't too bad, but could have been a bit more moist in my mind. Not too disappointed though. One of my wife's friends is from Texas and he liked it. So not all bad.

T3Ps

SnellySmokesEm · February 24, 2010, 02:24:11 PM

Good First smoke t3p! Keep it up and take some photos. We all love photos!