Smoke In Miami

JF7FSU · July 18, 2009, 08:15:04 PM

Ok I smoked a 5.3 lb brisket with apple for 4.5 hours. I kept the tower at about 225 the whole time. I do not have my remote thermometer yet so I eyeballed it with the door thermometer. It was pretty stable. When I took out the brisket it looked pretty good and I used a digital meat thermometer and it showed the internal temp at the thickest point to be about 190. I imagined it would be a lot less. So is it done or do I boat it for a few more hours? I just threw it in a pan with some apple cider, hope I dont ruin it.

So what did I do wrong?? The brisket was the only thing in the smoker BTW.

UPDATE: I boated it for 1 hour and am FTC'ing now until morning. Should be a good lunch I hope!

Gizmo · July 19, 2009, 02:05:30 PM

That does sound aweful quick for that temp. I have only done whole packers and are twice the weight of the flat you did. At 4 hours, mine are usually around 140 to 150 IT. I also only go to 210. My first thought is the door thermometer would read lower than what the meat was seeing. What shelf position did you use? If it was a lower position, you could have been heating the meat at 230 to 240 deg. That would certainly push a higher temp sooner. The FTC sounds like a long time (overnight). So how did it turn out?

Habanero Smoker · July 19, 2009, 02:09:43 PM

Where did you place the brisket. If you placed in on the bottom rack, then the temperature could have been much higher at that location then the door thermometer was displaying.

JF7FSU · July 19, 2009, 03:30:52 PM

I used the lowest rack, so maybe it was a higher temp. I wound up boating it for an hour at 220 and then FTC until morning. I then transferred the whole thing to the fridge until dinner time. I just warmed it up in the oven at 220 and it was DELICIOUS! LOL, I thought I might have cooked it too fast to I figured I would compensate with a long FTC. It was very tender and soft. Here are a few pics of my first smoke job.. Next will be a turkey breast. Thanks for all the patience and help!

HawkeyeSmokes · July 19, 2009, 03:47:22 PM

Hey JF, That brisket looks pretty darned awesome. It would look better on my plate though!!! :D Glad to hear it came out so good for you. What's next on the smoking agenda?

JF7FSU · July 19, 2009, 03:57:46 PM

I'm gonna try a 5 lb turkey breast on the bone next weekend.

FLBentRider · July 19, 2009, 05:40:22 PM

That looks good!

KyNola · July 19, 2009, 07:19:16 PM

JF,
Congrats on your first smoke adventure. Looks really good. You are well on your way!

Turkey breasts are fun to do and you can really have fun ramping up the flavors. How are you going to do it? Brine it before smoking? Rub or no? The options are endless. Have fun with it.

One piece of information, poultry is a smoke sponge and it also has a ton of moisture so open your vent 100% open the whole time.

Let the rest of us know how you do the turkey breast.

KyNola

JF7FSU · July 19, 2009, 07:45:06 PM

Thanks Kynola for the open vent advice, I think I will do a rub. I'm on the fence about brining it, I've never done that. What do you suggest?

One question though. How does one fit a Packer in this thing? The 5 pounder fit nicely on the rack, I cant imagine fitting one twice the size on one rack? How does one do this, fold it in half?

Oh yeah, one other thing, I used Hebrew National Deli Mustard on my brisket and it was so good, I can't imagine using French's CYM. It's really tasty.