I am smoking a 12 lbs. brisket this weekend on a Jim Bowie Green Mountain Grill pellet smoker. I have cooked brisket on a Oklahoma Joe stick burner and came out great. Just a little worried on using a pellet smoker because I heard it doesn't produce a good bark. I did buy a smoker tube... hopefully this helps. Does anyone have any suggestions? Anyone have experience with this smoker and cooking a brisket? I do not like the recipe in the Green Mountain owners manual for brisket. They cook it at a very low temp ... 165 i believe at first. On my stick burning, I kept it at 250 for 12 hours for 12 lbs brisket.
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Cook it just like your stick burner. 250 is a fine temp. Smoke tube should give you plenty smoke (maybe more than you expect!). -
I don't have a pellet smoker, but from reading a lot of posts here, I would recommend using your own thermometer to monitor the pit temperature at the same grate level that you have the brisket at, just a couple of inches away from the meat. Seems a lot of people report that the set temperature on their pellet smoker varies from what the actual temperature is on the main cooking grate, due to placement of the built in temp sensor on an upper rack for example.
GMG is probably trying to up the amount of smoke by cooking below 200 for the first part of the cook, as most pellet smokers don't put out much smoke at 250 and above. The smoke tube should take care of that.
CandySueQ is our resident BBQ queen and competition champion, and is THE person to listen to on stuff like this!Comment
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jfmorris I agree with jfmorris. The lower temp they call for you to use is to get more smoke. The smoke is dirtier at that temp. If you like smoke flavor I’d use the smoke tube and cook at 250. I emphatically agree with jfmorris that you need a separate temp probe. I have a Jim Bowie and it has a wider temp variation than does my Yoder and is more prone to getting cooler depending on the elements. Having a grate level probe will allow you to alter the temp on your pit’s controller to get the temp and maintain the temp on the pit through your cook. Good luck!Comment
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Set it and forget it.250 should work. Wrap with Pink Butcher Paper at 160 internal temp. You will love the results. I stopped worrying about some of the temperature swings etc... with my JimBowie and have had really good results. I just did a Small Brisket 7lbs I think, I put it on at 11:45 Pm wrapped at 05:00am into a cooler to rest at12pm served at 15:30.Comment
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I have the Daniel Boone. When I want some smoke, 180. When I want some bark, 275. A smoke tube helps if I want to run hotter and still get the smoke.Comment
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I’ve cooked on stick, pellet and charcoal cookers a variety of the same meats, including brisket. If you observe closely, bark will form differently on each. Since bark involves the polymerization of the outer crust of the meat through the Malliard Reaction along with the cooking of the spice slurry, varying types of smoke produce differing types of bark. That rich, deep licorice looking bark is achieved through a stick burner or with charcoal and wood chunks, while a more mahogany bark is formed in a pellet due to the lighter effect of the pellet smoke and combustion gases. Each has ther own flavor profiles, some prefer one over the other.
Bottom line, trying to force more smoke, at least in my experience, into a pellet smoker isn’t going to necessarily produce the results of a stick burner. I’ve found both tubes and trays tend to get snuffed out probably due to the rushing combustion gases sucking available oxygen. Whatever the reason I’ve never noticed any major difference between using one or not in a pellet cooker.
If if you want or are expecting dark, rich bark get a stick burner or a charcoal/wood cooker. Pellets are great convection ovens and are sure easy to cook on but they lack the flavor profiles achieved using other cookers. That’s not necessarily a bad thing, it’s just a very real different result.Comment
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I agree with Troutman mostly. I disagree with his last paragraph though. There are big differences in how different pellet grills perform. I can get a bark on a pork butt whether it's cooked on a charcoal, wood or pellet fired heat. Main difference is charcoal in my opinion. There's a taste over a direct charcoal fire that can't be duplicated. -
And I guess I should have prefaced that by saying I've only cooked on one pellet cooker and that's my Pitts and Spits. It's also my experience and opinion, other cookers may experience something completely different. Regardless I stand by the statement that bark in a pellet is different from that of a more direct fire cooker. Not good or bad, just is.
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