First smoke: St. Patrick's

[smokingbear]

I am cristening my BTDS76P smoker, and myself, for a St. Patrick's Day corned beef.  Being as I have no idea what i'm doing, I read the manual thrice and did my due diligence reading posts.  However, I do have some simple questions.

1) Should I try to dry or separate the juices from the corned beef before putting in the smoker?  It is your typical mass market bagged corned beef with juice and spice packet.

2) What should I do with the spice packet? Toss it, pour on fat side, pour on other side, both?

3) No trimming, right?

4) Fat side up, right?

5) Should I use the racks or a pan or both?

6) Don't open at least 4 hours before checking temperature, right?

My "plan" and please advise me otherwise, is 250F for 6 hours, 4 hours smoke- though "a professional"  suggested 8-12 hours at 250 smoke the whole time.  Advice and comments welcome and requested.

Thanks
Geoff

MOD: Please move this to the appropriate sub forum. Thank you.

[beefmann]

welcome aboard.

1) yes remove the  juices prior to  smoking and  reserve till after the  smoking process

2) if it is spices only add it to the fat  side if there is  plenty to the  whole corned beef

3) depends on hoe much fat there is 3/8 of fat cap is good

4) yes fat  side up,,, it helps keep the  meat full of  juices

5) during the smoke rack only,  after the  smoke to help  to help keep the meat juicy place in pan and  add back in the  reserved juices

6) dont open the door while the smoking process is going on

with the  bradley bisquetts it is a  cleaner smoke, in my  opining is no more then 4 hours of smoke total  at a  box temp of 225 -  250 F

one issue is you  did not say is how big is the corned beef  so depending on  size and exactly what you  want to  do with it  is how long it will take,,, if you  want to  slice it  I would take the  meat to 145-  165 internal temp depending on your  tastes, however with briskets it is my  personal taste that there tough at that  low of a  temp and need to be taken to a higher temp in the area of 195 - 200 internal temp which is getting close to and  including for  pulled meats.

on another  note keep the  top vent open..  keep the  top  vent open

also a  heads up for you  with  the bradleys  most around  here  cook by internal  temps rather then by  time...

good luck with your corned been and hop this helps

[smokingbear]

Thank you for the extensive reply.  The corned beef has been for 3 hours so far.  It's 4 lbs, maybe 2" thick, relatively flat and even.  Thanks for reminding me about the top vent. 

Regarding taste, I have always preferred simmering on the stove for 4-6 hours until it begins to fall apart.  I suppose that means I'm for the 190-200 internal temp range?  Does everyone just use an instant thermometer or is there some accessory or modification for a temp probe or external guage?

Thank for the help

Geoff

[piratey]

Hi Geoff,

Most of us use something like this.  This one is a dual probe, using one probe to measure cabinet temperature and the second to measure the inside of the meat.

http://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B00FM8DJHQ/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o03_s01?ie=UTF8&psc=1

[beefmann]

some use an instant read thermometer  others  use a  remote one like the  et 732 or 733... depends on your liking

[smokingbear]

The remote sensor sounds interesting.  How do you attached it ? Do you feed it through the top vent or drill a hole or ?

[piratey]

You can feed through the top, or you can just pass it through the door and close the door on the wire.  Works fine for me, and I do both sometimes.  I'll pass through the door and put that probe into the meat and then drop one through the top to measure the cabinet temperature.  Other times, I'll pass the meat and cabinet temperature probes both through the door.

The Maverick comes with a clip, at least my dual probe did, and the clip can be attached to the bottom of a tray, and then the probe goes through the clip, so it hangs parallel to the ground, attached to the bottom of the tray.