6th Street

If you're going to use it at one location I'd say go for it. I'd be a bit concerned about the sturdiness and durability of it if you plan to haul it around a lot.

Decided to change the title of thread so that we could continue to post about our grilling adventures. Feel free to share secrets, or post pics of the results and the pits that you use to cook on. Gotta practice for the tailgates!! Hook'em

Yes Sir

rejected the link, too large. i'll try again.

Fat side up/fat side down. Hickory/Oak/Pecan/Mesquite. Wrap/Don't wrap. Rub early/Rub late. These are some of the biggest debates on proper cooking of a brisket.

I'm a proponent of putting the deckle between the heat and the meat. In other words, if your heat is coming down then you cook fat side up. If your heat is rising, cook fat side down. I've cooked both ways and had good success. But at the temps I like to cook at, that fat can be a powerful tool in helping protect the meat.

edit to add this pic. Brisket fat side down. This was my brisket from this weekend's cook.

I use Pecan for most everything. I love the flavor that it gives. I did two pork shoulders for the 4th and they turned out awesome. No problem with being overly smoky.

On the matter of smoke density, does anyone have a general guideline? I typically try to load my firebox with enough wood that I can close the damper most of the way. I'd say it's usually about 90% closed if not a little more. This typically yields the longest burn time for the wood and minimizes the amount of fire tending I have to do in my offset smoker.

I do end up wrapping most of the meat I cook though, as there is sometimes a danger of the meat getting too smokey. Would this be less likely to occur if I used a little less wood and left the damper open more? That would seem to allow me to hit the same temp and probably produce less smoke.

Thoughts?

The stack damper should always be wide open. Control air flow at the fire box

Here's the deal. The smoke coming out of your stack should be barely visible...just a light blueish-white color. If you have dense white smoke coming out then the combustion process wasn't completed and what you're doing is creating creosote within the cooking chamber. That "oversmoked" taste that most folks refer to is really the bitterness of the creosote.

You want to burn a clean fire. It's much easier to do that with less wood (rather than more) and good air flow at the intake damper. It helps to run a fan or something near the intake to get good airflow. You may have to tend your fire more often but sometimes that the price you pay for good product. OR...build yourself a charcoal basket and burn lump or briquette mixed with mini-splits or chunks. That way you can get long burn times and a really clean fire.

Cooked brisket and then the actual slices I turned in (soaking in a little juice bath before hitting the turn-in tray). This was an 11lb packer that cooked in 4.5 hours.

Damn, that's rockin on

Wrapping will turn your bark to mush. But if you cook to 160, wrap and cook to 190, unwrap and finish, you can restore a lot of firmness to your bark. My .02

Shit, the one I cooked on Saturday didn't get tender until 218 (according to guru and thermapen). I don't even start doing poke tests until 200.

But I agree...each brisket is one of a kind. I usually cook two briskets at comps and rarely have them "done" at the same time.