New Guy here

[Tenpoint5]

I have not tried apple or alder, I will however.
When we purchased the unit we picked up pucks in hickory, mesquite and the Jim Beam oak pucks.
The first smoke was on a pork loin with hickory for 5 hours, I found out that 5 hours of hickory was too much (for our tastes any way).
The 2nd smoke was chicken (legs & wings), I ran 3 pucks of Jim Beam through it and it was in my opinion very good.
The 3rd smoke I used 5 hours of mesquite on pork loin and chicken breasts, again that was to much smoke for my wife and border line for me, my Father and Sons loved it however.
The flavor I am looking for is more of a mellow flavor rather than a bold one, having said that I will fire her up in the morning and give brisket #1 3 pucks of the Jim Beam and see what happens.
I may try some sandwiches with the left over, a little bourbon bbq sauce on the brisket topped with slaw on some big buns.
Thanks for the tip on the apple and alder, I may run and pick some up tomorrow once the smoker is dialed in.

DD Welcome Aboard!!! From what you stated here your killing everything with smoke. Most folks tend to stay in the 1 1/2 - 2 hour range with smoke give or take some. I think that if you drop down to that time frame you should be able to get back in good graces with Momma, and your food wont just taste like smoke.

[dieseldude]

Hear is an update on the brisket.
I fixed 2 over the weekend, Saturdays was not very good. I used butt rub on a bad (in my opinion) piece of meat. I also had an issue with the thermometer I bought, the brand escapes me at the moment but it is not a Maverick, it is the type that reads meat temp and chamber temp with the same probe. I do not believe it works very well and will be returning it tonight. Another note on the thermometer, I purchased another single reading and used both on Sundays brisket.

Sundays brisket was very good. The meat was purchased from a different location from the first and proved to be much better. I used Big Bad Beef Rub on this one. I fed 10 people with it and everyone thought it was great. The 2 thermometers were both inserted into the meat side by side about 2 inches apart, there was as much as a 20 degree difference in their readings to as little difference as 5 degrees. I am going to take both back and get a Maverick.
Sundays brisket was smoked for 8 1/2 hours at around 225 to 240 degrees. I used 3 Jim Beam pucks and 2 hickory. I removed it at 178 degrees internal temp, I was shooting for 190 but time was an issue, I wrapped it in foil and let it rest for 30min. It turned out to be pretty tender and very juicy.

Some folks used sauce and some did not, I had 5 sauces out and the most popular was the sweet and sour from the Bradley book and the bourbon sauce. I will post the bourbon recipe tonight when I get home.

Thanks for the warm welcomes and advice. The local grocery store has whole chickens on sale this week so that is the menu for next weekend. If this post is a little unorganized forgive me I am busy here at work and trying to get all this in while eating lunch. DD

[FLBentRider]

It sounds like Sunday was the day to be @ your place!

[OU812]

Bet you learned allot from the sat smoke to make the sun smoke a hit  :D

I also serve the sauce on the side, most of the time we have mashed taters and gravy with the brisket. I make the gravy out of the drippings. Just put a foil roasting pan on the rack below the brisket and save the drippings for what ever you like, like some dipping sauce or save it to put on the meat be for you serve or next time you warm it up.

Glad everything worked out for you, keep the smoke rollin

[KyNola]

Congrats Double D!

Sounds like you're well on your way to being addicted like the rest of us.

KyNola

[classicrockgriller]

Great job Double D. After the adventure of learning to smoke, the addiction set in.
Sure is fun!

[Hopefull Romantic]

Great job Double D. After the adventure of learning to smoke, the addiction set in.
Sure is fun!

Ditto

HR

[Caneyscud]

Congratulations Dieseldude on wading up to your armpits and smoking 2 briskets in a weekend!  I'll give ya a well deserved pat on the back!

The prime brisket was a find - not many around.  Choice is the vast majority of what you can buy.  Bought and cooked a select or two - and really did not notice much if any difference.  Most primes are so much more expensive and generally used by competition cookers for a leg up on the competition, but supposedly, the choice wins much more often than prime. I don't smoke them either - mainly for cost and not finding them only but very rarely.  The main, if only difference between that and a choice is the amount of fat marbling - not likely to be much more tender, but a brisket has so much fat, anyway, I don't usually opt for the prime.  It's all going to be cooked low and slow to tenderness anyway.