Are you smoking brisket with only a wood fire
or are you smoking brisket by shoveling coals
in your firebox? I am smoking brisket burning split logs but I think am getting an off flavor from the yellow flames even though the split is fully burning. I’ve heard some will burn wood in a wood pit and shovel the coals in the firebox.
Burning wood in a burn pit and shovel that you’ll be going through lots & lots of wood.
Which type of wood provides the best smoke flavor for brisket?
Pecan, Post Oak or Hickory?
Mesquite is left out of the question cause it’s too strong for a long cook. I haven’t used hickory yet but am seriously thinking about trying it.
I’ve burned Post Oak smoking brisket and my backyard smells like a BBQ is going on but then
have burned Post oak smoking brisket and the backyard smells like a campfire and not a BBQ fire. During both cooks the fire was the same burn rate. One smells good and the other doesn’t. It makes me wonder sometimes the box of post oak is not all oak wood and maybe pine is mixed in.
I use Pecan mostly, although I’ve enjoyed Red Oak. I add splits about once per hour and leave the firebox open until they start burning really well, then I shut it back up. I get white smoke for a few minutes, then it fades out. I’ve never had an off taste. Are your splits dry?
You should be able to tell the difference between oak and pine from either the bark or the wood itself. Check it out on the internet.
Scotch: Current favorite- The Arran (anything by them), Glenmorangie 12yr Lasanta, sherry cask finished. The Balvenie Double Wood, also like Oban 18yr, and The Glenlivet Nadurra (Oloroso sherry cask finished) among others. Neat please.
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I've used all of 22 or more kinds of wood. Man, they're all good. I've used hickory, apple, ash, different oaks, mulberry, pecan, lilac, pear, plum, orange, etc etc etc, they ALL make a great brisket. They really do. The wood doesn't matter as much as you might think. We're taught, from endless charts on the Internet, that wood matters a lot. I will swim upstream here and say it's largely nonsense, the opinion of whomever made that chart. Sure, different woods are different from each other, subtly, but none are bad for brisket or fish or chicken, etc.Use a good smoking wood (not pine or cedar or lumber obviously) and you'll be ok.
Don't overthink it. Keep a small, but HOT fire, small enough to keep your temps in range while being hot hot hot for its size, and enjoy the process.
Amen. In my personal experience the differences are only detectable when compared side by side and even then the differences are subtle. I guess it matters to a competition judge but for a backyard BBQ use what you have on hand.
I might stop smoking brisket all together cause am not satisfied with the smoke flavor. I am thinking the flavor could be called a punky flavor. I can heat brisket in the microwave and the smell isn’t a pleasant
smell. I’ll probably stop brisket until getting other recommendations on what’s happening.
What is the "off flavor" you mentioned anyway? Before speculating about wood variety and condition etc, what are we talking about here? What's the primary observation? Please be specific.
My brisket flavor is okay but nothing close to great. I have frozen a few bags of brisket and I’ll pop a bad in the microwave. Opening the bad after heating the brisket smells like a strong campfire. I am controlling a nice HOT fire.
Oak is what I run in my offset stickburner. My wood guy typically has white, but once in a while some red is mixed in…i try to save the red for my tri-tip cooks, but some occasionally sneaks in during other cooks.
When starting out I fill the firebox with a load of lump charcoal that’s well embered as a coal base, then add my first wood split. Once it’s going and temps are stable I add meat.
As long as new splits are added while there’s still plenty of heat from the previous log it always burns clean enough for me that no off flavors are produced.
I set my next few splits on top of the firebox to warm them. If a new split produces excessively dirty smoke when first added I’ll open the pit door to let some of that escape, and close the door once the fire is producing thin blue smoke again. A little heat loss is better than dirty smoke…at least in the early stages of the cook (IMHO).
I'll joint Huskee on the limb and say the wood type doesn't matter NEARLY as much as people make it out to do. Not in my experience.
I don't want to burn 'trash wood', and things like pine and such are definitely out of the question. But honestly, with my experiences with oak, pecan and hickory, I don't notice any difference. It's possible my palate is too unrefined, but I just don't see it. Even used some persimmon once, couldn't tell a difference myself.
My wood pile right now is full of large pecan splits and smaller hickory splits. I usually use a combination of these - I'll make a log cabin out of 4 or 6 smallish hickory splits to get the fire burning, I use my propane weed burner for 1-2 minutes to get it started. Then I use whatever of those two I feel fits the need when I throw it on, in terms of do I need a small one or a larger one or what's to hand.
I've been told hickory has a higher BTU-potential than some others, I think due to the density of the wood? Not sure there, but those are my experiences.
Oh, I do have some cherry, as well! Used that, too, don't think I noticed a difference there, either.
I have a stick burner and have been smoking use 100% wood for years now
The guy I use advertises that the wood is kiln dried- I do not measure /meter moisture content (maybe I should?)
1. Delivered wood is usually 1/4 cut logs and ~8 inches across (too big and too much bark)
2. Usually use the Kindling splitter to have sticks about 4 inches ( Many splits have zero bark)
3. I sometimes need to vent the fire box to clear some of the initial smoke and get the fire to burn clean; this might cause a dip or spike in chamber temp but not so bad that it hurts the cook
HOWEVER
I now have a Santa Maria and can use that to do the initial burn and transfer coal/embers to the off-set
Will try this "Transfer" method for the 1st time in September (thinking of Snow's BBQ as featured on Netflex "Chef's BBQ Table")
I have some odd ball pieces that are hangin' out in the freezer (2 bone- Beef dino ribs, 2 lb piece of pork belly, 1/2 slab of Pork ribs, etc) and will give the "transfer" method a try. Look forward to posting photos of that cook
Is there anyone in NM that can help out Mr Ghawtho? Stick burners are complicated, and when I read his posts I keep thinking there’s just some minor point he’s missing. Like DaveD mentioned, more details (videos?) might help, but surely as a group we can get him on the road to BBQ bliss, right?
This is my fire and it looks like this throughout a 6-1/2 hour smoke. I then switch to only lump and Kingford charcoal for a 10 hour cook. I think the off flavor is coming from the yellow flame you see in the picture. Meathead mentions in his book. Place the back of a spoon in the candle burning looking flame. Cool the spoon and taste the back of the spoon and it will taste bad.
My wife grooms dogs in our outside shop and several customers come through the house daily. I will be doing a test and heating smoked brisket in the microwave when a customer is scheduled to be at the house. I’ll ask the customer am heating something and can you tell me what you smell. I think there is a 90% chance they’re going to say. I smell something cooking but can’t tell you what the smell is. I am sure 100% a person should be able to say your heating BBQ and if not something is wrong.
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