Got a hot date on Friday night. This bad boy is going on the SnS kettle with B&B coals and hickory chunks at 250ishF/120ishC by around 9pm, and then into the Pit Boss vertical pellet smoker in the morning for the rest of the way. Tomorrow I'll trim it up and salt it down, and I think I will keep it simple and go with just coarse black pepper and granulated garlic before putting it on.
Y'all come kibbitz and offer pearls of wisdom as I go...
John "JR"
Minnesota/ United States of America
******************************************** Grills/Smokers/Fryers Big Green Egg (Large) X3
Blackstone 36" Outdoor Griddle 4-Burner
Burch Barrel V-1 Karubeque C-60 Kamado Joe Jr. (Black) Lodge L410 Hibachi Pit Barrel Cooker Pit Barrel Cooker 2.0
Pit Barrel PBX
R&V Works FF2-R-ST 4-Gallon Fryer *******************************************. Thermometers
FireBoard (Base Package)
Thermoworks ThermaPen (Red)
Thermoworks MK4 (Orange)
********************************* Accessories Big Green Egg Plate Setter
Benzomatic TS800 High Temp Torch X 2 Bayou Classic 44 qt Stainless Stock Pot
Bayou Classic 35K BTU Burner Eggspander Kit X2 Finex Cat Iron Line FireBoard Drive Lots and Lots of Griswold Cast Iron Grill Grates Joule Water Circulator
KBQ Fire Grate Kick Ash Basket (KAB) X4 Lots of Lodge Cast Iron Husky 6 Drawer BBQ Equipment Cabinet Large Vortex Marlin 1894 .44 Magnum Marquette Castings No. 13 (First Run) Smithey No. 12 Smokeware Chimney Cap X 3 Stargazer No.10, 12 ******************************** Fuel FOGO Priemium Lump Charcoal Kingsford Blue and White B&B Charcoal Apple, Cherry & Oak Log splits for the C-60 ************************************************* Cutlery Buck 119 Special
Cuda 7' Fillet Knife Dexter 12" Brisket Sword Global Shun Wusthof ********** Next Major Purchase Lone Star Grillz 24 X 48 Offset
Trimmed up the brisket this afternoon, removing 3.5lb/1.6kg from the original 12.85lb/5.8kg. One edge of the flat is very thin, so I'll have to keep an eye on it... But it's a pretty fine lookin hunka meat, I must say.
Very generous fat cap on this puppy...
After:
Other side, before:
After:
(I saved that hunk that got removed from the point)
Salted it up to go back in the fridge.
Kettle is ready to go for tomorrow night. See ya then.
Very nice trimming job. Mine always look a little hacked up when I’m done, but the finished product still looks great, so I’ve stopped worrying about it.
There is a front on the way from the south, and will arrive here sometime overnight Saturday. As a consequence, we are enjoying splendid conditions ahead of its arrival, with a blob of warmer, moister air moving north. Just some wispy high clouds and temps just under 60F/15C - I'll absolutely take that entering the second week of December!
Mixed up some coarse ground pepper, granulated garlic, and onion powder in roughly 3:3:1 proportions, and will liberally douse the brisket with that before go time about six hours from now. Meanwhile, it's a glorious Friday afternoon so I booked the rest of the day as leave, cracked open a Sierra Nevada Celebration Ale, and commenced my weekend The stage is set:
Aww man, totally random, but I've forgotten about the Celebration Ale. That's delicious stuff. Wonder if I can still get my hands on some before it's gone for the season?
Our gorgeous day became a splendid afternoon, and now a calm, mild evening, perfect for smoking this brisket in a couple of hours. Got it all seasoned up with my POG blend. Got the probes inserted, so we are at guidance internal, all systems Go.
And we're off! Got the kettle fired up about 8pm, and by 9pm was pretty stable around 230F/110C. Riding the vents for the next little while to keep it at or below 225F/107C, and expecting similar behavior to last time I did this, when it drifted down to a little under 200F/93C by morning.
Recently picked up a gooseneck LED light with a couple of strong magnets in the base. I use it both in my little basement workshop and it works great for nighttime BBQ ops!
On she goes. I'll post another update before bedtime
Whoops, forgot that bedtime update... here's how it looked after about 90 minutes:
And here we are at 7:30am this morning, looking mighty fine. The kettle temp drifted down to around 200F/95C, and the meat has definitely stalled, and even cooled down some according to the temperature data. Got the coals heating up again and am firing up the Pit Boss to take over once it's up to temp.
A gorgeous morning, still and calm and a crisp 34F/1C. Perfect conditions!
Well, darned if this baby isn't teetering on the verge of a second stall... I spritzed just now and that may have pushed it over the edge.
Well you know what they say...
Looking mighty fine with the point in the low 180sF/low 80sC and the flat around 170F/77C. Starting to see some significant juices pooling in the boat.
The analysis tool in the Fireboard app estimates several hours to go, but these inflections in the temp curves yield very uncertain estimates. I'm in great shape timewise I reckon - my plan is to rest the piece in the pellet rig after it probes tender, just dial the temp down to 150-175F/65-80C and cover it in the boat with more foil. Easy peasy.
We're nearly there. Over the past 90 minutes, things have started to probe very tender in most places. Still some areas on the flat that aren't quite there yet - point is right on at 202F/94C but the flat is still in the mid-180sF/mid-80sC. I reckon another 30-45 min oughta do it...
The stage is set:
Comment