# Brisket n Butts - Heavy Q view



## biged92 (Oct 16, 2013)

I received my new Assassin28 gravity feed smoker a couple of weeks ago, and this last weekend I was able to cook a brisket and a couple of butts on it for the first time.  Here are some pics from the cook.

Smoker fired up at 5 AM













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Brisket and butts went on at 6:30 AM.













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The meat at the 5 hour mark













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The color cherry wood gives meat is awesome.













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Butts are ready to be wrapped.













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The brisket also had amazing color.













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Brisket was pulled at 198*, and vented for about 10 min., wrapped back up, and into a Cambro to rest for 2 to 3 hours.













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Not a dry slice of brisket in the house.













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One of the butts ready to be pulled.













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I basically break the butt apart in big chunks and remove as much of the connective tissue and fat that didn't render away.













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Enjoying a few sliders on Hawaiian rolls, and some BBQ Sauce.













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The majority of the pulled pork was vac packed into roughly 1 lb packages and taken to work for our co-workers to enjoy.













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I ended keeping the brisket for myself. Going to use it to for chili later this week.  I really love this new smoker.  It turns out some really good food.  Thanks for looking.


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## gringodave (Oct 16, 2013)

That looks awesome!!!


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## kathrynn (Oct 16, 2013)

Love all of it.  The new smoker rocks!  Thanks for sharing that great looking smoke with us!

Kat


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## ravenclan (Oct 16, 2013)

Assassin28 gravity feed smoker

I know i have never seen one . where did you get that smoker from ? from the pic it looks like it is electric ?


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## bamafan (Oct 16, 2013)

Nice looking rig and great looking food. I'm sure you will use the heck out of that baby!


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## dirtsailor2003 (Oct 16, 2013)

Great looking grub! Love Hawaiian rolls and bread! Nice touch! Nice rig too!


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## biged92 (Oct 17, 2013)

RavenClan said:


> Assassin28 gravity feed smoker
> 
> I know i have never seen one . where did you get that smoker from ? from the pic it looks like it is electric ?


The smoker was built by C & C Manufacturing Inc. out of Macon, Georgia.  They build smokers for several other companies, but the Assassin Line is their own brand.  Here's a link to their website, http://www.assassin-smokers.com.

The smoker is not electric.  The wires, display, and power cord you see are for a DigiQ DX2 that controls the air flow into the cooker.  The fuel for this smoker is either charcoal briquettes or lump.

Here's how it works.  On the back side of the smoker there is a chute that holds all of the charcoal.  













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At the bottom of the chute there is a fire box that holds a ash pan, and has a steel grate just above it.  The basic concept is to pour lit coal into the chute, then pour unlit charcoal on top of that until the chute is full.  At the top of the chute is a lid that seals off the top, and doesn't allow the fire to shoot up through the chute.  Another way of starting up the smoker, is to fill the chute with unlit charcoal, and light it from the bottom.  In the pic below, I show my preferred method.  A brick and a couple of lighter cubes.













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At the bottom of the chute on the outside of the fire box is a 1 ½” ball valve that controls the flow of air to the fire.  With the top of the chute closed off, this allow the fire to only burn where air is provided, at the bottom of the grate.  The smoke is provided by wood chunks that are placed in the ash pan.  As the charcoal burns, it drops burning embers on top of the wood chunks, slowly igniting them and providing smoke as the smolder.













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On the side opposite the fire box door, and level to the grate, there is a tube that extends into the cooking chamber.  The heat from the burning coals, and the smoke from the smoldering wood chunks, enters into the cooking chamber.  As the heat and smoke enters through the bottom of the cooker, it slowly rises past the food on the grates, and exits through a chimney at the top of the cooking chamber.  In the build pic below, you can see a tube coming in from the fire box at the bottom of the chamber.













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The cooker is completely insulated with 1 ½” to 2” high temp insulation.  With the cooker insulated and sealed off, it makes them very efficient when burning fuel.  Add a UDS style adapter to the air valve along with a DigiQ or a Stoker, and this thing becomes a total fuel miser. 













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At 225 to 250 degrees, this smoker will burn roughly a pound of charcoal an hour.  That’s about 20 hours of cook time on a 20lb bag of KB.  Lump burns hotter and faster, but you’ll get close to 17 hours out of a bag of RO lump. 

Sorry for the long dissertation, but it was the best way I could explain it.  Let me know if you have any other questions.


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## freiesleben (Dec 10, 2015)

Hi Biged92,

I know this is an old thread, just wanted to say that I wil tomorrow also be a part of the "Assassin" family :). Like your guide/description of your nice smoker above and I will make you of some of the pointers you have made above. 

This is my Assassin 24 all most fully assembled. 













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## biged92 (Dec 21, 2015)

Congrats on the new smoker.  You are going to love it.


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## vwaldoguy (Dec 21, 2015)

Very nice!


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## rrpitmaster (Feb 28, 2016)

just bought a used 28, probably 4 years old, first time I used it and did not use a fan, Took an hour and a half to get to 250 and all was fine, I added 3 racks of ribs and opened up the airflow and filled the pan with water And added a chunk of wood to the ash pan, I left and came back an hour later to a massive amount of choo choo smoke billowing out and 425 degree temp.  I opened the door to a massive grease fire and 3 ruined racks.  I shut everything down and am at a little bit of a loss,  whats the best way to clean this thing up and prevent this from ever happening again.  Any help greatly appreciated.


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