First Brisket cook on UDS in progress

[rocky2298]

Good morning all.

Lets see if I can figure this out... first time starting a thread and adding pics..cruddy cell phone pics.

Starting with a (noob) trimmed brisket, only my second one cooked.. First was on my 26" weber a month or so ago with a slow-n-sear and it turned out pretty darn good.. It was just a small 10lb one before trimming.

I smoked 3 SLC racks yesterday to try and get a feel for temp control on a UDS i purchased off CL.. It's a little leaky around the weber cover but other than that it seems like a well built drum. Ribs came out excellent and only took 3 hrs and they were all ready fall off the bone almost. Normally ribs are taking me 5+ hrs cooking 275+ Shrugs.

Anyways closed her down after the ribs to save the load of charcoal for todays Brisket cook. Opened it this AM to prep UDS for the brisket and it was still smoldering away.. Just winged it and topped it off with lump and started 15 KBB to get temp up in smoker to around 300.. The unused lump i topped was already crackling away underneath when I added the chimney coals.. O well Just going to roll with it.

Don't have a lot of time as I have a million calls to make this AM and the Directv insall is coming anytime now to..

Here is a pic of the brisket just on the UDS.. I think temp was right around 300 give or take.. Just rubbed with Montreal Steak and a sprinkling of Granulated Garlic.

Went on around 8:20 and I'm going to try and follow bludawgs KISS.. Not sure if I;ll wrap in Craft paper from hobby lobby or just wrap it in a foiled pan.. Or I could let it go naked the whole cook...hmmm

Thanks for looking and hopefully the Cell phone pic shows up. Ouch it shows up allright.. Need a drive in movie screen to view it all.. I'll try and shrink it down lol. Ahh, much better size now

 

[PatAttack]

Looking good so far!!

 

[rocky2298]

Thanks Pat!

Just checked temp.. 275 at dome and 260 close to grate measured with just one of those 12" turkey thermos stuck all the way in.. little lower temp than I was hoping for (300'ish) but no biggie.. I opened the two intakes up fully and we'll check back in a little later to see where its settled in.

 

[Stingerhook]

How come my Monday's never start as good as yours?

 

[rocky2298]

Opening up intake has brought them both close to 300 so I closed the intakes to 3/4 shut and we'll see if it settles in..

Looks smokey but it is a blue smoke and not the bitter white..like it was yesterday to start.. ribs turned out fantastic though.. This time I left the lid off and let it get clean after dumping the lit coals in middle.. temp went up to 325 pretty quick (20 mins) and still had some white so I just let it with lid on now and vents open and it dropped back down.

 

[rocky2298]

How come my Monday's never start as good as yours?

Right! I felt a little guilty starting a Monday AM thread but hopefully it will get some of you through the day along with my cook! Hopefully next Monday will be the one for you and everybody else - enjoy your July 4th weekend and thanks for looking!

 

[rocky2298]

Well just went to see what closing the vents down to 3/4 did to my 300 temp and its back down to 260.. Opened it back up all the way to get it back up in temp and burning clean.. seems like closing it down chocked it off and my smoke is more white.. maybe its the fat dripping but I don't think so.

 

[Big-Joe]

I'm interested to see how this turns out...built a uds last month and have cooked a butt 3 chickens and several racks of ribs that have all turned out good. Never done a brisket and wanting to give it a go. Keep us updated, looks good so far

 

[aawa]

If the meat is dripping onto the coals, you won't get thin blue smoke, you will get a white smoke. The meat will taste fine.

You will find that once you wrap the brisket, after about 20mins (when the rest of the dripped fat burns off) you will get thin blue to clean heat(no smoke) coming out of the drum.

 

[flyinpig14]

Looks good. I did one a few weeks ago on my UDS and it turned out great. I did mine lower and slower but been wanting to try a little hotter and faster.

 

[rocky2298]

Thanks for the confidence, aawa. I'm just so used to never even seeing any colored smoke when using the WSM and Kettle that it had me a little nervous about seeing so much smoke.

Seems to be dialed in pretty good (even with the nice breeze) temp wise.. just hanging around 300 give or take.. Same as yesterdays cook once it was settled in it just planted there kinda like the WSM

Going on three hrs now.. I'll check it in one hr and see what kind of bark we have and take a temp. If its around 160 ( or whats a good temp to wrap at) what's your all opinions on wrapping or not... I have Kraft paper.. foil.. foil roaster pan.. or naked the whole cook.. I almost think you have to go all naked for your first UDS brisket to get the full effect lol... I used a pan last time after 4 hrs and it cam out great with a lot of natural juice left over.. I did throw it back on to finish up and tighten up.. it was just easier to temp then to.

Thanks all!

 

[rocky2298]

Looks good. I did one a few weeks ago on my UDS and it turned out great. I did mine lower and slower but been wanting to try a little hotter and faster.

Glad it worked out you! I've only had brisket once in life and that was on my kettle with the slow and sear and it was amazing. I did pan it for a few hrs and then finished out of pan the last hr or so while i probed it.

Did you wrap yours? if so what method did you use.

Thanks!

 

[rocky2298]

I need some good thermometers. I've hooked my dad up with a nice collection but have been to cheap to splurge on myself lol. With the WSM and probing for doneness I just haven't thought the need enough was high enough yet.. Quick temp pen one would be nice though for brisket and one to leave in it to monitor temps I think could come in handy for nothing else than to provide piece of mind.

 

[aawa]

I need some good thermometers. I've hooked my dad up with a nice collection but have been to cheap to splurge on myself lol. With the WSM and probing for doneness I just haven't thought the need enough was high enough yet.. Quick temp pen one would be nice though for brisket and one to leave in it to monitor temps I think could come in handy for nothing else than to provide piece of mind.

A good quick temp pen is the Thermoworks Thermopop. It is accurate and fast. If you want to get spendy the Thermoworks Thermapen is the best. It is very durable, accurate and fast.

For temperature probes for big cuts of meat, I don't use them unless I'm doing a standing rib roast. Anything that is cooked to probe tender, I don't bother sticking a temperature probe in them at all. I go by color of bark to determine whether to wrap, and then probe test on briskets/bone wiggle test on butts to determine doneness. I don't ever know the finishing internal temperature temperature on briskets and butts.

 

[rocky2298]

Thanks, aawa. Just confirms my thoughts on not really needing them if you follow what you've stated is your system and pretty much what i've been doing for butts.

Can't beat the price on a thermapop though. I just keep forgetting to order one and i was all set to on the fathers day sale.. but of course didn't

To wrap this brisket or not.. hmmm.. I'll open the lid at 12:30 and snap a pic.. maybe even temp it with my instant read that takes 30 seconds lol.

 

[ichbin73]

Used to never wrap. Have started wrapping brisket in peach paper because I like nice dark brown bark but not black... never temp a brisket go just by look for wrapping and feel for doneness. I'm a cheapskate for myself too, I have used all brands and kinds of instant reads in my commercial kitchen, including Thermoworks. Have settled (for now) on the Lavatools Javelin (from Amazon) for $24.99 its the best quality and instant read I've found. I have at least 5 of them with no trouble so far. The Thermopop is good, but for $25 I'd much rather have the Javelin... IMO

 

[rocky2298]

Thanks for the tips, 73! I purchased a javelin for my father.. I haven't got a chance to try it out yet but the reviews were darn good. Only thing that might have been a downside to it was the probe length was shorter than the thermoworks products? I figured I would see for myself and if I didn't like the length I'd go for the thermapop. I'm not in a spot at the moment to spend on the top of the line by thermoworks.

Alomost 4 hrs in.. I'll give it a bit longer as my temps were a little lower to start than i was shooting for -300.

I thought i remember reading though that the UDS cooks a little faster than say a wsm? Sure showed on my ribs yesterday.. I hardly ever peek before 4 hrs on SLC ribs.. Yesterday i cheecked at 3 hrs and they were pulled back and probing tender.

 

[Meat Burner]

Nice looking smoker rocky. I bet that brisket will come out perfect!

 

[cowgirl]

Looking good. I bet it smells fantastic too!

 

[Meat Burner]

Hey neighbor! I havn't been active here for awhile. Hope all is well with you.