For me, I found brisket and achieving "the perfect brisket" to be a bit more challenging than, say, a pork shoulder or a chuckie.

My personal cooking methodology at the present time, and maybe it will change someday if I find a better way or discover an error in the science of the method, is for when you are going to foil, foil at about 168-170F. Never below 165F, as that's the point at which the proteins bind and the amount of smoke flavor absorbed after that is minimal, so you want to take advantage of it up to that point. Then raise the pit temp to around 300F-315F by stoking and adding more coals if necessary and then I would say done around 205F.

Two things to be aware of if you've never worked with foil: that meat temp tends to climb quickly once it has been foiled so, don't foil and then go decide to catch a movie at the local theater or something, and, more importantly, the meat can get too soft and disintegrate if it sits in the foil for a long time (ie: you let your fire temps fall) as the meat braises in it's own juices. I used to just leave the pit at the same temp after foiling and it was really cool to have a boston butt fall apart like that on it's own, but then I realized "Awh crap. This has the texture of something cooked in crockpot. It's mush... yuck."

Anyway, that's what works for me with my current pit.
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Thanks TG I appreciate the info. I thought 205 would be a bit overdone I would have pulled it off at around 195.
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BBQ is very subjective - there are some do's and don'ts, a few hard rules, but past that, it's personal preferences. Hence my final comment at the end of my previous post ("this is what works _for_me_")

195F is fine too, some cooks like to only take the briskets to 190F...

There are two major factors at play here: 1) It all depends on how tender or not you like the brisket. 2) How your pit runs - the way mine seems to run, 190-195 ends up being too tough - I don't see fork tender until 200-205 on my pit (unless my thermometers have drifted and are no longer accurate, and 205 is really 195...).

I'm also not known for being patient when it comes to hold times after cooking - this plays a minor factor in the higher "done" temp, since I typically don't let things sit for a hour or two, wrapped in a hot towel and resting a warmed ice chest - where they will continue to "cook" due to their own heat.

Here's a 10,000ft elevation overview on what makes a brisket tender:
http://www.virtualweberbullet.com/br....html#collagen
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ribs, big azz blade pot roast, and a roll of italian sausage

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Now I'm totally jealous...:-) Been visiting Klose' web site and doing all I can to control myself now...
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the chuck roast turned out great, the ribs got overdone. the sausage i ended up moving to the steak grill side over the charcoal and cooked them high and fast for lunch( they were eaten too quick for pics)

dam temp spiked on me, definitely alot more work tending to the Klose than it is for the drum smoker. think i may cheat and get a bbq guru in the future.

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Just means more practice my Brother!



Darn, that means eatin' mor 'que :-):-)


Looks great
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Looks great Wes.
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Looks great to me man. I'm jealous as he#$# as I've always wanted a Klose smoker. Still on my list, but the wife just wouldn't understand. Enjoyed the pics. Steve
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Question for the more experienced smokers:

I've only been smoking since this past summer, with an inexpensive Brinkman charcoal smoker (the El Cheapo Brinkman model, as its referred to on some meat-smoking boards).

I'm in Minnesota and want to try to continue smoking through the winter, but will I be able to in the cold weather with this cheap smoker? Or am I doomed to wait until spring?
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:-)How come wives never understand this stuff...:-)
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Hey Cricky, it's been a long time since I used the Brinkman, but that's what I started with. I now have a couple Weber Smoky Mountain smokers that I absolutely love. Try checking them out on the Virtualweberbullet dot com site. They recommend wrapping insulated "blankets" around them and it seems that wind is a greater deternent to good results more than temp. I still smoke in the winter, but it's not as cold here in Ky. Good information on that site even if you don't own a weber smoker.
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Cold temps aren't really a big factor here in NorCal so I don't have any personal experience with dealing with the situation you will face, but one person I know in Missouri swears by the "Silver Bullet" blanket from BBQ Guru.

Some more info on cold temp cooking here:
http://www.virtualweberbullet.com/coldtemp.html
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Thanks for the info.

I'd LOVE to get a WSM, but unfortunately it's not in the budget. I've been looking on Craig's list too for a used one, but haven't seen any posted.

I've modded my Brinkman quite a bit (it's the "gourmet" version, too, which is a little easier than the very basic one) and have made some really tasty stuff on it, although the ease of the WSM, and added size, would be really nice.
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Like Steve said above, try to pick up a moving style blanket (like the ones moving companys use). They make great insulators. You will probably go thru more coal, and I would look for somewhere as sheltered from the wind as possible, but like I've said before, it will still be better than you can by at a restaurant. Even my Lang uses more wood when it's cold and I have to stay on top of it more.
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Hey Keith (Big Ash), you ready to fire that smoker up yet?

I'm all set to light off my NBBD early tomorrow with a butt. I hope the Lang don't get too jelous, but I'm going to try a couple of new things that Brent showed us last weekend. I also picked up a "grill wok" on clearence at Home Depot; it fits in my fire box just about right and I'm going to try to use it as a charcoal basket al la Jim Minnion. I'm curious to see if I can get a little bit longer burn from the charcoal without having to tend it as often.
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Steve, I'd like to hear how the grill wok basket works out for you as a charcoal basket once you've run it a few times to form an opinion. Thanks.
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Chris, I cooked some great stuff on my Brinkman for several years; just takes a bit more "tending". The Virtual Weber site has some great information for wind breaks and temp control and they work for any type of smoker. I've found that site very helpful. Also, keep searching Craigslist as many have found great deals on used smokers. I would recommend the smoked chicken wings as they have been a great hit everytime I make them. Steve
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Well, I think this has been the first butt that I have cooked during daylight hours in probably 6 years or more.

With Thanksgiving coming up next week and the family gathering here, my wife declared today a cleanup the house day. After enjoying a 3 day Herf last weekend, I really couldn't complain. Besides, I have several bbq cooks coming up in the next 3 to 4 weeks so I needed to clean-up/re-season my trailer cooker anyway. So...

While serving as Brent's Pit B1tch last weekend (:-)) I kept my eyes and ears open for any tricks I could pick up from the Guru to make my butt better (somehow that doesn't really sound right...:-)). I picked up a small bone-in and tried things a little different this time. I also fired it up on my old NBBD that has been a hanger queen for several years. Man, after using my Lang, I had a heck of a time holding a steady temp today; the probe thermometer spun like Snkbyt's Herf countdown clock

On she goes
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As a fellow local once said "Bring all my mules out here and kick'em one time."
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The stable
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Even the mod-ed outECB got to see a little action today. This old gal was a wedding present from a friend 18 years ago!
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Almost ready to come off the grate
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Pulled and tasted
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Over all, I liked it. I think I need to adjust my rub a bit if I do Brent's Kkick it up a notch method again. I liked the bark and the flavor, but I need to cut back on some of the redundant flavorings a touch. I'm also not really sure that cooking in the daylight is for me; somehow it just doesn't feel right to actually go to bed after cooking insead of staying up 20 some hours straight!

Seriously, thanks for the tutoring Brent. I still have a couple of other mods to my method in mind to try out as well as a couple of hardware upgrades that I'm mulling over!

Smoke 'em up!
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