First Drum Brisket

[smokingscooby]

Looks Great!! It's 2 hrs till lunch, Now I'm getting very hungry

 

[ddave]

Seems to be doing fine. I shook the drum (gently

) a couple of times and it seems to be burning steady. Don't know what the ash situation looks like but it has bee going since about 11:30 last night with no problems. Got a lot of charcoal left we'll see what happens as it burns down.

Dave

 

[bigbaldbbq]

Good to hear!

 

[ddave]

Drum is chugging along and brisket is at 172°.

I'm doing a few appetizer snacks on the SnP.

Here are the fixings for ABTs, Armadillo Eggs, and MOINK balls.



Doing a little twist on Tip's "Pigs in a Canoe" and giving them a salame and cheese life jacket.

Here's all of them prepped on the tray and ready to go . . .



and a shot on the smoker.



Got both of them going today which is kind of fun.



Dave

 

[irishteabear]

Looks good.

Thanks for the update.

 

[suprfast]

looks real good dave. on a side note, do you frequent any car forums? there is another dave i know in about the same location, wondering if you two were the same or if im mistaken
kris

 

[rickw]

What kind of temps is the drum holding at?

 

[ddave]

Nope, don't visit any car forums. Must be someone else.

Well . . . right now it's about 236°. It's been wandering a bit and I was having to fiddle with the valve a bit. Using the 1 cap off and valve 1/2 open bench mark that equated to about 260° last night so I had both caps on and the valve at about 3/4. But I bet that's because the charcoal pile was so high -- put the top of the charcoal a good 4" to 5" inches closer to the grate than a "normal" load.

Now it is holding pretty steady between 220s and 245ish and I am trying not to mess with the valve too much. Just give the can a shake once in awhile.

Dave

 

[ddave]

Brisket is at 185°. Temps are starting to drop so I may have to start opening more intakes.

The appetizers are done though.

Here they are about an hour in.



And here they are ready to come off.



Hey, there's a couple missing.

(I got hungry.)

And on the plate with Armo Eggs sliced.



More brisket updates to come.

Dave

 

[bigbaldbbq]

Man I'm getting hungry!!

 

[ddave]

Well, it hit 195° about 1 o'clock. That's about 12 and 1/2 hours.. Probably would have been faster except temp dropped last night and I slept through the ET-73's alarm for awhile.

By the time I woke up the drum was at 178°. It recovered pretty quickly though once I shook it.

Anyway, here it is.



(Man, I hate that glare off of the aluminum foil.)

It's sitting in the cooler now. Not enough time to separate the flat from the point and get started on the burnt ends before I have to pick the kist up from school. It will be in the cooler about 1-1/2 hours by the time we get back which should be about perfect.

I have throttled the drum back to 2 caps on and valve about 1/2 open to preserve charcoal for the burnt ends making. It is running at 248° now. Boy, take away the mass inside the drum and it really doesn't take much to keep the temp up. It has been going at smoking temps for over 12 hours now with fuel to spare. It will be interesting to see what temp range I can get out of it with the remaining charcoal.

More later.

Dave

 

[that one guy]

Dave, man that's a mighty fine lookin' brisket. If ya don't mind me asking, what were your outside temps, hi/low, and what was the wind situation? Thanks

 

[rickw]

That's a great looking brisket Dave. I'll use your times as a benchmark for one I'm throwing in tonight.

 

[ddave]

It was probably in the low 40s last night, no wind to speak of. I've started the drum on 30° mornings. The low temps (at least in the 30s) don't bother the drum much and neither does the wind.

Don't know if I can take that kind of pressure.

It probably would have cooked faster if I hadn't slept through the ET-73's low temp alarm for probably 45 minutes. By the time I discovered it the temp was down to 178°.

The brisket's all done. Here it is after resting and after I separated the flat from the point.



At least that's what I thought I did.

If someone could take a look and confirm if that's what I did or if I just tore the brisket apart.

I think I was following the fat seam but it was kind of hard to tell.

The point was really tender and was starting to fall apart so the burnt ends part had to be somewhat modified.



Not a whole lot of cubed pieces but the shredded stuff will work I guess. I put a little rub on it and put it back on the smoker. Mixed in some sauce and stirred it once in awhile. Sorta like burnt ends I guess or maybe just shredded BBQ beef.



Here is the flat sliced.



Not quite as tender and juicy as the other one I did when I foiled but pretty darn tasty all the same.

As far as the charcoal test goes, when I put the foil pan with the point back on I had a hard time getting up to 300°. So I took the grate off and the charcoal basket out and there was a ton of ash mixed throughout the briquettes. I shook the heck out of it to get riid of the ash and put everything back in the drum with the intakes all open. Within a half hour, the ET-73 was reading 380° at just a little off center grate. I think they only go to 400° so I got the probe out of there. The Teltru was reading about 325°.



I shut the valve and with it running on just two open intakes, it is still there. So after maintaining smoking temps for over 16 hours, there is still enough charcoal left to cook chickens or tri tips or whatever These drums are CRAZY versatile. It will be interesting to see how long the fuel holds out at this temp.

Thanks for looking.

Dave

 

[darrin]

for a great smoke!

 

[l r harner]

nice due to wind mine ended up running 16 and a bit hours (13Lb brisket)
was good eats tonight tho and thats what counts

maybe next time i can try putting on a few treats

 

[rickw]

So, Dave, do you prefer to foil a brisket or naked?

 

[ddave]

Well, . . . I've only done two . . . one on my propane fired SnP and the other on the drum. I foiled the one on the SnP but not the one on the drum. I liked the foiled one better. It was juicier but then the temps were running a little high on the drum at times.

So . . .don't take this as absolute advice

just my experience with the two briskets.

Either way they were pretty tasty.

Have fun.

Dave

 

[rickw]

Thanks, I decided to foil the one I have on now and was just wondering.

 

[fired up]

Good looking chow!