# First time smoking. Ever. Whole Packer brisket and pork butt



## daniel13 (Jan 4, 2017)

Hey guys. This is my first post. Im from Los Angeles and hope to learn a lot from you guys.  On to my smoking experience. 

Just like the title says. This was my first time smoking ever. All my smoking knowledge came from YouTube university lol. 

I got a 18.5 weber smokey mountain for xmas from my wife and I was super excited. There was an mma fight on tv in the next few days so I told everyone to come over for a watch party at my house with BBQ, with the disclaimer " if it doesn't turn out good, I hope you like pizza" haha. 

A couple days before I wanted to start smoking, I lit up the wsm just cause I heard mixed reviews on seasoning brand spanking new smokers, so I figured it wouldn't hurt. 1st run was with a full ring of lit charcoal and the 2nd was with the minion method and a chunk of pork on the top grate. I tried to regulate the temps on the 2nd run and it was pretty easy. I didn't notice it running hot for me. Top damper fully open, and bottom 3 a little less than a #2 pencil. 

A day before the cook, I went to my local Costco. 3 different costcos actually because I was looking for the perfect sized brisket. 1st two Costcos had enormous briskets and yes, I know I could have bent it or used the grate handles to wedge the brisket under it or put a SS bowl under the thing; I just wanted to try it out straight forward without any tricks. 3rd Costco I found the perfect brisket. 2.99/lb 15 lb usda prime whole packer brisket with the perfect length to just barely fit into the smoker. I also bought some pork shoulder to throw onto the bottom grate. 

5:00am
The day has come. Woke up at 5am to get everything going. Doing the minion method so I poured the Kingsford original briquettes (blue bag) into the ring and removed enough to fill half a chimney from the center. I also filled the pan with water. And laid out some pecan and hickory wood chunks around the center  As that was going, I started to trim and season the meat. Did exactly what Franklin did, leaving 1/4" of fat on the top and use 1:1 salt & pepper seasoning. For the pork, I also used his rub, which was salt, pepper, gran. onion, gran. garlic, and paprika. Only noticed after I opened the pork, it was boneless :( so I had to tie it up with some twine. 













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6:00am 
The second I put the meat onto the smoker, it's started to rain and get windy..... in Los Angeles -__-  wasn't to pleased about that but whatever.   It passed after a couple hours. My goal was to maintain temp at 225f, but with the rain and wind, it was a little hard but the highest my temp got to was 240f. Once the rain stopped, it held at 225 like a champ. 


12:00
Here's what the brisket looked like 6 hours in. 
Sorry, no more pics of the pork. (Next time) 













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I am now spraying the pork every 30-45min with apple juice. 
Also, I did not wrap the brisket or the pork the entire cook. 

3:30 pm
9.5 hours in 
Started to worry a little... ok. A lot. Temps were dropping, and there were barely any charcoal left inside the ring. Adding charcoal trough the door wasn't working for me cause it started to give off really nasty smelling smoke so I had to make the executive decision and do the only thing I could think of at that moment and that was to take both the brisket and pork off the smoker, set it aside, and completely dump out all the ash and charcoal on the bottom of the smoker and start a new fire, using the minion method ( without wood though). Killed about 30 min of cooking time but got temps back up to 225 and held.  The cook went on. This is what the brisket looked like before it went back on the smoker. 













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7pm - 13 hours in
I think this is when the stall was happening. Internal temp was showing 165 on the brisket, and the pork was (160). 

8pm. 14 hours in
People have said the stall could take a while so I wasn't too worried about over cooking it at that point, but I still took a temp reading and it was at 185F! I was relieved i didn't miss that small window and now I was on my toes ready to grab it in 10 degrees. BUT, the pork was still sitting at 165. 

8:30 14.5 hours in

Went to spray the pork and took a reading of the brisket. Got it right at 194.5 and waited for it to hit 195. Haha. I was so excited to pull this thing off the smoker.  Wrapped it in heavy duty foil and wrapped that in a pretty thick towel and put that bundle of love into the oven to sit for an hour to rest. 

Let's not forget about the pork. It was a 6 lb pork by the way and that hit 195 at 11:00pm. 17 hour smoke. I don't know how or why it took that long but we didn't have pulled pork that night lol


9:30pm
Onto the brisket. The 1 hour timer went off just as the main event on tv ended. It's like it was meant to be. Open up the foil and everyone was excited to try some. Also. I have never been to any states that are known for their BBQ, so I can only compare it to what I have tried here in Los Angeles. This is hands down the best brisket I have ever had and also every one was in shock with how amazing this brisket turned out with some saying it's the best they've ever had. Maybe I got lucky with the cut of meat I got, or the way the charcoal burned or whatever, or maybe we just have really bad BBQ places in la to compare them to haha I don't know. But in the end, to me and my guests, I think it was a great success. 













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I learned ALOT during the whole bbq process and I'm glad I jumped right into brisket. It was very fun and in the end I was very happy and very tired lol but I don't think I'll be doing brisket often. Only for special occasions. Sorry for the very long post, but since it was my first time smoking, I thought I'd share. :)


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## mowin (Jan 4, 2017)

Me thinks you did good.Thumbs Up

Looks juicy and tender. Congrats on your first cook.

:points:


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## gmc2003 (Jan 4, 2017)

Congratulations on your first smoke. The brisket looks great. That's allot more then I dared to take on with my first smoke.

-chris


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## SmokinAl (Jan 5, 2017)

Wow!

That is one great first smoke!

Great thread too!

Well done my friend!

Point to you Sir!

Al


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## dirtsailor2003 (Jan 5, 2017)

Looks like a tasty first smoke ! 

Point!


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## hardcookin (Jan 5, 2017)

Brisket & pork butts can be long cooks and certainly tiring. Good job with your first smoke!  Thumbs Up


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## daniel13 (Jan 6, 2017)

Thanks everyone :) I'll be doing another brisket soon to find out if it was beginners luck or if I actually have something going here. Haha


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## smokin jay (Jan 6, 2017)

Nice first smoke,Daniel! Looks fantastic!


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## disco (Jan 7, 2017)

This is head and shoulders above my first cook and a great thread to boot! Points.

Disco


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## smokinit (Jan 8, 2017)

Not to shabby nice job.


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## cornman (Jan 8, 2017)

Looks tasty!  Nice job and welcome aboard.


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