With it being below freezing outside.....

[Thumpinbass]

has anyone ever put their BDS in the garage to use?   I have volunteered to cook for 75-100 people at a church dinner and I will be doing brisket. Im in PA and right now temps are averaging 20-25 degrees.

Couple questions...

Any problems using the BDS in the garage?
Do you think 3 packer briskets averaging 16 lbs will be enough?
and my plan was to smoke them for 3-4 hrs and then finishing them in the oven the rest of the way.  Oven temp will be set to 250.   Any idea how much time I will save by doing them at 250, rather than 225?   Trying to figure out my best course of action for time.

Thank you for anyone that can help?

[Jim O]

I smoke in an unheated garage all the time. Just make sure you vent the unit out the garage door or an open window. I do this with a piece of aluminum dryer vent. As far as amount of brisket etc. I'll leave that to the experts to answer.

[beefmann]

Thump,

with an average of 16 lbs for 3 briskets that will pretty much fill  a  4 rack smoker,  so i think it  will be a  tight  fit to do the  smoking process, and i  do agree to move the briskets into your home oven as for cooking at  250 F over 225 f you  wont be  saving  much  time... a  few  minutes a  lb.  and yes you  can  smoke in a  garage,,,  just vent the  smoke  outside.

i would put each in a  separate tray and cook them that way which may  cut down the  time as it may be  considered one  or two  briskets and your  oven  will produce more  volume of heat then the  smoker keeping your  oven temp  more  even and not  having  tempo swings  so im thinking some where between  16 and 24 hours,,, i still  would watch the temps of the  meat to be  sure there done over guessing

good luck and have fun

beef

[tskeeter]

Thump, I think three 16 pound briskets will be enough for 100 people.  In raw weight, that's almost half a pound per person.  That's a good serving, even when you allow for losses to trimming and shrinkage.  If you are doing brisket sandwiches, about 1/4 pound makes a nice sandwich.

If your dinner will be set up so that someone is serving the brisket, that would allow you to control portion sizes and encourage folks to fill up their plates with side dishes.  Then you can ensure that some big eaters early in the dinner service don't cause you to run out of brisket before everyone has been served.  After all, seconds, after everyone has been fed, are just as good as firsts.   

[Thumpinbass]

Thanks guys for the advice.

I was thinking of smoking 2 briskets for 3-4 hours, and move them to the house oven as I said before, and then throw in the other brisket in the smoker and smoke for the 3 hours and just continue the brisket in the smoker the rest of the time while the other 2 are in the oven.    Not sure if I can fit 3 in the oven at 1 time, just like I wasnt sure if I could fit 3 briskets in the BDS at one time.  It will get very interesting if I have a lot of people signup and I have to make 4 briskets.  oy vey.

For the church dinner, the plates will be served with the brisket and all sides already on the plate, so it is a very controlled environment food wise.  We have these every wednesday.   The one I was at tonight, just for the meal, we had 107 people for lasagna rolls, so I can only guess at how many might show for brisket.

in case you might be wondering,  preparation of the briskets including rubbing them down with mustard, then Jans Rub, marinate in the fridge for 18-24 hrs, before sitting out for an hour or so while the BDS is preheating.  Just need to decide on what smoke I want to use this time around.  I think i did hickory last time, but no more of that.  Only thing I have left is Apple (that i got for my ribs) right now.   Any recommendations for brisket?

As much of a daunting task this will be for me, I am looking forward to it.   The satisfaction that I will have for smoking and cooking all those briskets myself and serving over 100 people for my church, volunteering my time is something that I will be able to be proud of.

Any other advice will be greatly appreciated.

[pd2718]

Smoking 13 lbs of pork shoulder.  Outside temp is 12 F.  Smoker temp set to 240F. Smoker having a hard time getting to 200.  I have wrapped the smoker in a thick blanket, have vent wide open, shielding the vent from the wind, keeping the door closed. Anything else I can do to get this pork cooked?   

[TedEbear]

Smoking 13 lbs of pork shoulder.  Outside temp is 12 F.  Smoker temp set to 240F. Smoker having a hard time getting to 200.  I have wrapped the smoker in a thick blanket, have vent wide open, shielding the vent from the wind, keeping the door closed. Anything else I can do to get this pork cooked?

Wrap a couple of bricks, heat them in your kitchen oven and then stick them in the bottom of your Bradley.  Use boiling hot water in the water bowl.  Keep the smoke generator on even after the smoking stage is finished.  The additional 125W heating element helps a bit.

If it still cannot get up to your desired temp you might transfer the shoulder to your house oven after the smoking stage is over and finish cooking it in there.  Use the same setpoint temp and don't be tempted to turn it up when it reaches the "stall" period and the IT doesn't seem to be going up.   ;)

[Thumpinbass]

So my church dinner is finally coming up next week.   Doing 4 briskets total.   Looks like it's going to be rainy weather during the smoke.   I already had thought of moving the smoker inside the garage to do it.   

Can someone tell me what I should get to vent the smoke outside through a window.   I can't figure out how to attach the venting to the smoke.    Just tape maybe?


Allen

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[dave01]

I just bought a 6" to 4" reducer and sit the 6" end over the vent and the 4" hooked to a dryer hose. It just sits on top, no tape, screws or anything. It works great

[Thumpinbass]

Thank you Dave.   Sounds like a plan to me.   


Allen

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[Thumpinbass]

Dave,   I did exactly what you suggested.   I will be using it in the next day or 2 but I have no doubts this won't work.   Thanks again for the suggestions.


Allen

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