Staging Dilemma

whitetailfan · April 08, 2005, 04:36:37 PM

I'm going to try my first brisket this weekend. Based on all the stories, I am planning my first overnight smoke. I figure if I'm done way too early, I can FTC for several hours.

To complicate my plan, I decided to load up the smoker, so I also have a couple of beef blade roasts all rubbed up as well. I was going to throw them in the BS in the morning or about noon, as they will not take nearly as long as the brisket.

Herein lies my issue for discussion. Will I over smoke the meat if I do four hours over night, and then do another 3 to 4 for the roasts?
If I wait until morning to smoke all of it, will the brisket absorb any smoke?

How do you all cook/smoke in stages? All replies - thank you in advance.

whitetailfan
"Nice Rack"
Lethbridge, AB

bsolomon · April 08, 2005, 11:22:05 PM

All the cooking theories point to the fact that once the pores of the meat close, it will essentially stop absorbing smoke flavor into the meat. The pores typicaly close up around 140 degrees. So, when you add the blade roasts the next day, it should be possible to add more smoke and get them smoked, and if the brisket is already at or above 140 degrees, it shouldn't absorb any more smoke flavor into the meat. That being said, you will then be coating the exterior of the partially cooked brisket with additional smoke, and I would suspect that the results could range from no additional effect to some slight to moderate differences in flavor and texture of the finished brisket.

I think my worry about adding the blade roads later in the process would be that they will account for a large drop in temperature in the cabinet when they are added, and the additional volume of meat will mean a longer reheat cycle. If the brisket is already in the rendering plateau, it might stop rendering for a while and then start again later. Again, I don't know if this will cause problems or not.

My advice would be to simply throw everything in together at the start of the smoke. If you have two thermometers, test both types of meat. If not, they test the blade roasts which should get done first, and then pull them out and let the brisket complete whenever its ready. FTC should keep everything happy, and if not, a slow and gentle reheat shouldn't hurt anything.

BigSmoker · April 09, 2005, 01:03:10 AM

Sounds like good advice to me. You could always pull the brisket and finish in the oven if you wanted.. Is the brisket a packer or just a flat? What wood are you going to use?

Jeff

Some say BBQ is in your blood, if thats true my blood must be BBQ sauce.

whitetailfan · April 09, 2005, 04:01:14 AM

Jeff,
Regarding your question, I have no idea. I did not buy it, I cut it myself. I just started trimming until it looked good. I would suggest that I have trimmed it until it is just a flat, as it is pretty uniform in thickness. It's too late to go pre-rub as I did that last night, but I should be able to get some pictures for you pre-smoke, and maybe you can tell me.

I am going to be using hickory for the whole project.

whitetailfan
"Nice Rack"
Lethbridge, AB

whitetailfan · April 09, 2005, 05:59:34 AM

Here's the pics...

The following is the brisket

This is as narrow an angle as I could get, put up a roll of paper towel for a height reference.

This is everything that's going in the smoker in the next 24hrs

I'll be back with some taste comments and some more pics.
Keep the suggestions coming...it's only 11:00 MDT and I'm still watching the responses. Got a few cold ones and life is good.

whitetailfan
"Nice Rack"
Lethbridge, AB

whitetailfan · April 09, 2005, 09:50:22 PM

Well, I'm not sure if it was a good idea or not, but here's what I did anyway...
Prep wood, water bowl, briquettes in place 11:00pm. All thats needed is the meat.
Set alarm for 5:00am. (hit snooze twice - why the heck was the alarm set for 5:00 again?)
Get up, put meat on racks and into smoker, wheel the smoker outside the garage and plug in.
Go back to bed.

I was pretty frazzled about when to get things going to I'm not done at breakfast, but that it should not be done at 10:00pm tonight.

Stupid cold and wind, its been a struggle to get up to temp in the cabinet. I sure hope it works out. I got one roast pulled off, little guy was up to 160, so I FTC'd him, hoping the plateau breaks soon on the brisket.

whitetailfan
"Nice Rack"
Lethbridge, AB

nsxbill · April 09, 2005, 10:11:13 PM

Looks great! Raining Bacon? I always add that touch. Makes it taste so good, and keeps things moist.

Sure glad I read this long ago. I do it on most things I smoke. What the heck, I don't want anything on the top shelf anyway!

Bill

There is room on earth for all God's creatures....on my plate next to the mashed potatoes.

whitetailfan · April 10, 2005, 12:30:14 AM

Oh Baby, Oh Baby, Oh Baby!
Brisket is easy 190. My digi remote thermo crapped out today, so I was just watching the masters and praying for the brisket. Checked it with a dial meat thermo and POW it's good to go. FTC for half an hour before we eat.
Gotta go, company's here...[:D]

whitetailfan
"Nice Rack"
Lethbridge, AB

BigSmoker · April 10, 2005, 12:36:21 AM

WTF,
Sorry haven't had a chance to log on before now[:(]. Your brisket looks to be a whole one. I'm sure it's to late but you should be able to see the 2 different parts as they will tend to kinda seperate a little during the cook. The main thing to look for is to cut across the grain. The problem, the grain runs one way on the point and the other on the flat[;)]. You should be able to seperate the two after the FTC with no problem. I hope it all worked out. The hickory sounds good[8D].

Jeff

Some say BBQ is in your blood, if thats true my blood must be BBQ sauce.

jaeger · April 10, 2005, 04:29:56 AM

WTF,
Looks like a great weekend project. It seems like the remote thermometers always tend to crap out at about the worst possible time.
I haven't tried smoking brisket yet but will have to give it a try.

Post pics of the finished product!

Doug

jaeger · April 14, 2005, 04:03:44 AM

Whitetail,
How did the brisket and roast turn out. Any recommendations?

Doug

whitetailfan · April 15, 2005, 06:07:57 PM

jaeger,
Sorry I missed this earlier. Unfortunately...I did not snap any after smoke pics[:(]
Food was fantastic. The roasts took a lot longer than I anticipated, but then there was a lot of meat in the smoker. The big ones got FTC'd for a bit over an hour, but they did take most of the day to get up to temp.

The brisket got to 190 and sliced pretty nice. I used the Kansas City rib rub on it per someones suggestion and it was excellent! I did not use either of the brisket recipes in S&S.

Of all the meat you see in the pics, 11 adults and 8 kids (all under three) ate all but 3 little sandwich size baggies! The grazing went on for a couple of hours after supper[:)]

whitetailfan
"Nice Rack"
Lethbridge, AB

jaeger · April 16, 2005, 11:00:55 PM

Whitetail,
That had to be a smoker full of meat. I'm sure nobody went home hungry and if they did it was their fault! [:D]

Doug