Butts and Brisket for the first smoke

[Tommy3Putts]

Well I'm operating on my unwavering faith in Amazon and FedEx that my 6DBS and all the accessories will arrive tomorrow. So I bought two 8-9 lb. bone-in butts and one 8 lb. brisket today and have applied a mustard slather and a dry rub.  All three are now sitting in the fridge wrapped and getting happy for what hopes to be a smoke on Saturday evening or Sunday, weather permitting.  I'm just asking for a gut check from the forum experts on what I plan to do after seasoning the smoker.  

I'm going to pull the butts and the brisket out of the fridge and let them sit for at least an hour to get to room temp.  Ill pre-heat the smoker to 225-250 and then put in the meat.  The butts on the bottom two racks and the brisket above. I hope to keep the bradley at around 200 degrees throughout the smoke. I'll apply four-five hours of pecan and hickory.  My goal is to get all three meats to an IT of 190ish.   I'll put the meet in around 800 pm and replace the water right before bed (1100 or 1200).  I'll put the Maverick probe in the brisket first. I anticipate the brisket will take 12-16 hours and the pork will take 16-20 hours.  Is this correct?

I don't have any planned time for the meat to be ready. This is just my first go with the Bradley to get an idea on what it will take.  I plan on FTC for all three for at least a couple of hours.

Comments, thoughts and suggestions are appreciated. I hope the DBS gets here tomorrow! ;D

Thanks all

Tom

[smokin65]

Tommy,

I'm certainly no expert, having just started myself in January.  It sounds like you are on the right track, one thing that was mentioned time and time again is that the clock won't tell you when the meat is done, but the meat will.  My first brisket which was only 6lbs finished in 9 hours at 210, and 3 hours of smoke.  Good thing for FTC because the brisket was done about 2 hours sooner than I expected. I pulled the meat out of the fridge at 5am did the preheat and had it in the Bradley at about 6:15am.  It was my first smoke and it was amazing.  Good cooking and take and post some pictures.

[FLBentRider]

Sounds like a good plan Tommy.

[Tommy3Putts]

Thanks Gents for the help! 

T3Ps

[Pachanga]

Tommy,

It sounds like you have done your homework. 

A few comments.

Remember that the bottom rack can be a little harsh.  You will probably need to rotate the butts. I personally would start out with a foil shield on the first rack or a foil water bowl shield and adjust as necessary later in the smoke.

200 sounds a little low for the temperature.  I smoke at 220.  I believe FLBentRider runs at 205.  That may sound counter intuitive to my first point.  During the first hours of the smoke the heating element is going to be on full and glowing all of the time, thus the heat shield.  After the cabinet temperature hits 200, the element will cycle.  With that large a load of meat, the top rack will be at a much lower temperature than the lowest meat rack where the cabinet temperature should be monitored.  I would predict that the temperature will need to be kicked up later in the smoke but you can wait to make that decision when the heating element starts to cycle.

I would move the meat probe down to the bottom rack meat occasionally just to monitor the butts and get a full temperature profile of the meat.

I use a half foil shield on the heat deflector to even the heat out in the Bradley.  MPtubbs has some good photos of this or you can view it here.

http://forum.bradleysmoker.com/index.php?topic=12061.0

A common error is the vent not being open enough.  The vent should be open at least 5/8.

You are going to enjoy this.

Good luck and slow smoking,

Pachanga

[Wildcat]

I smoke at 200 to 205 and IMHO your smoke/cook will take longer than you are predicting if you go with a 200 temp. It takes me 20 to 24 hours for 2 butts at 205 (depending on the butts). Results will be well worth the wait though. If you are in a hurry, go with higher temps.

[RickWL63]

Let us know how it goes.  Post the results.

Rick

[Tommy3Putts]

Tommy,

It sounds like you have done your homework. 

A few comments.

Remember that the bottom rack can be a little harsh.  You will probably need to rotate the butts. I personally would start out with a foil shield on the first rack or a foil water bowl shield and adjust as necessary later in the smoke.

200 sounds a little low for the temperature.  I smoke at 220.  I believe FLBentRider runs at 205.  That may sound counter intuitive to my first point.  During the first hours of the smoke the heating element is going to be on full and glowing all of the time, thus the heat shield.  After the cabinet temperature hits 200, the element will cycle.  With that large a load of meat, the top rack will be at a much lower temperature than the lowest meat rack where the cabinet temperature should be monitored.  I would predict that the temperature will need to be kicked up later in the smoke but you can wait to make that decision when the heating element starts to cycle.

I would move the meat probe down to the bottom rack meat occasionally just to monitor the butts and get a full temperature profile of the meat.

I use a half foil shield on the heat deflector to even the heat out in the Bradley.  MPtubbs has some good photos of this or you can view it here.

http://forum.bradleysmoker.com/index.php?topic=12061.0

A common error is the vent not being open enough.  The vent should be open at least 5/8.

You are going to enjoy this.

Good luck and slow smoking,

Pachanga

Thank you all for the great advice.  This is very helpful.  All of your posts are priceless.

T3Ps