# Big Smoke - multiple meats with Q-view



## leadssled (Aug 14, 2012)

I watch and learn from this forum with some regularity, but have rarely posted. But I thought that I would share last weekend's smoke. I posted in the "General" section because multiple meats were cooked, so it doesn't really fit in the "Beef" or "Pork" section.

This was the first "big" cook with my new self-built (with help from several friends) smoker. Everything was a success and we put a lot of meals in the freezer - vacuum sealed packing. Well, here are the details.













MeatStash.jpg



__ leadssled
__ Aug 14, 2012






Here is the bulk of the meat prior to preparing it for the smoker. It included 5 Boston Butts ranging from 8 to 9-1/2 lbs. each, an 11-1/2 lb. beef brisket, a 6 lb. pork tenderloin, and a 3-1/2 lb. corned beef brisket. This was over 66 lbs. of meat before cooking.Also not shown in this photo are a 3 lb. meat loaf (pork and beef mix) and a garlic bologna butt.













PreppedMeat.jpg



__ leadssled
__ Aug 14, 2012






All of the meat (except for meat loaf and bologna) was prepped in exactly the same way the evening before the smoke. I used a modified verson of Jeff's rib rub recipe and yellow mustard to help the rub stick to the meat. It was covered with plastic wrap and put into the fridge until the smoker was loaded - about 7 hours or so. I got up a 2:30AM, added all of the thermometer probes,, loaded the smoker, and fired it up. everything was put on the smoker at this time except for the smaller pieces - the corned beef brisket, pork loin, meat loaf, and bologna would go on later. The smoker was closed and the smoke was rolling by 3:15AM. The internal meat temperature was about 55 degrees at that time. I kept an eye on it until 4:00AM to be sure that everything was working OK and then went back to bed until about 7:30 AM. When I went to bed, the cooking chamber was up to 160 degrees (using an iQue 110 controller/fan and maverick wireless thermoters to monitor meat and cooker temps).













SmokerfiredUp.jpg



__ leadssled
__ Aug 14, 2012






This is about 8:00AM on Sunday. I am using Kroger brand lump charcoal for fuel and peach wood chunks from Frutawoods for smoke. Everything was working nicely. Cooking temperature was maintained at 225 degrees.  At 8:30AM I added the pork tenderloin and corned beef brisket to the smoker. From this point forward, I misted the meat with a 50/50 mix of apple juice and Captain Morgan's Spiced rum. At around 9:00, the meat loaf and garlic bologna butt went in the smoker. The first peice of meat came off at about 12:30.













MeatLoaf.jpg



__ leadssled
__ Aug 14, 2012






The meat loaf came off after 3 hours at a temperature of 165 degrees.













Bologna.jpg



__ leadssled
__ Aug 14, 2012






The garlic bologna butt came off after 3-1/2 hours. Not that it matters, because it was precooked, but the internal temperature was 145 degrees. Fried smoked bologna sammiches are the bomb! 
	

	
	
		
		



		
			


















Brisket1.jpg



__ leadssled
__ Aug 14, 2012






The brisket came off after 9 hours. It was then wrapped in foil, then wrapped in a towel, and put in a cooler for an hour to rest before slicing.













Brisket2.jpg



__ leadssled
__ Aug 14, 2012






After an hour, the brisket was sliced. It looked and tasted great. It was not tough or hard to chew at all, but it could have been more tender. I should have left it in the cooker until 195 degrees to let the connective tissues break down a little more. This was my first brisket ever, so this was a learning point.













PorkTenderloin.jpg



__ leadssled
__ Aug 14, 2012






The pork tenderloin was removed from the smoker at 160 degrees after 6 hours on the smoker. It also was wrapped in foil, then a towel, and placed into a cooler to rest prior to slicing. The pork loin turned out perfect! This will make some great meals.













Cornedbeef.jpg



__ leadssled
__ Aug 14, 2012






The next to come off was the corned beef brisket. Since the regular brisket wasn't quite as tender as I like when removed at 185 degrres, I pulled this out of the smoker at 195 degrees. It also was wrapped in foil, then a towel, and placed in a cooler to rest before slicing. This turned out awesome! What flavor! I guess this smoked corned beef is pretty close to pastrami, and it has amazing flavor. It looks like for my taste, 195 degrees is the magic tempearature for brisket.

One note: I was amazed that it took this relatively small 3-1/2 lb. piece of meat 9-1/2 hours to reach 195 degrees. The brining process to make corned beef must increase the density of the meat from regular beef brisket.













PulledPork.jpg



__ leadssled
__ Aug 14, 2012






The pork butts were smoked to a temperature of 165 degrees and after they had come out of the temperature "plateau". At that point they were wrapped in foil and I poured about 1/4 cup of apple juice into the foil before closing. then the foil-wrapped butts went back into the smoker to finish. The last to come out of the smoker were the pork butts. They were all removed at temps between 195 and 200 degrees, They also were wrapped in a towel (they were already foiled) and placed in a cooler for at least an hour before pulling the meat. These butts took a long time - 14 hours for the first 8 pounder to reach temerature and 19-1/2 hours for the biggest 9-1/2 pounder to get there. But the final product of pulled pork was perfect. The peach wood gave great, sweet flavor and the tenderness was also perfect. We put about 35 lbs. of pulled pork in the freezer for future microwave meals.

This was a long day. By the time the final butt was pulled, I had cleaned up, and got a shower, it was 12:30 before I got to bed. The 5:30AM alarm clock was not welecome Monday morning and my butt dragged all day yesterday. But it was worth the effort. It is nice to be able to get so much smoked meat at a time for your efforts with these big smokers. It beats the heack out of only being able to do 2 pork butts in 16 hours with my old Brinkman water Smoker. It was a good smoke.

Lessons learned:

1) For me, 195 degrees is the right temperature to pull a beef brisket from the smoker to get the correct degree of tenderness.

2) While 9-1/2 lb. pork butts look impressive, the 8 lb ones smoke a lot faster. From now on I will buy 7-8 lb. pork butts and just get more of them. I have plenty of room in the smoker and this should cut hours off of my smoking time.

So there you have it. I hope that you enjoyed the pics.


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## daveomak (Aug 14, 2012)

LSS, evening....  nice job you and your friends did on the smoker.... we need pics and descriptions of the build......  The meat looks fantastic... Good Job.. 
	

	
	
		
		



		
		
	


	





  ...   And by the way, welcome to the forum.....   Dave


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## leadssled (Aug 14, 2012)

Thanks for the welcome, Dave. I've been lurking since April 2009, but this thread was just my 2nd post.

I do have a lot of documentation and photos from the build. It was a long "work on it when you can" build that took over a year. But it was worth the wait. I will have to put a build thread together in the appropriate forum section when I can make some time. It is essentially a Stumps clone.

Terry


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## daveomak (Aug 14, 2012)

Terry, your design and build would be very interesting to many members here..... Thanks....   Dave


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## savannahsmoker (Aug 14, 2012)

Great looking cook with a nice pictorial about it.
	

	
	
		
		



		
		
	


	





That being said I sure would like to see a pictorial about you self built pit because it sure looks sweet.


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## leadssled (Aug 14, 2012)

It really did turn out to be a nice cooker. I will try to get something posted about the build in the next couple of days. I will post a link to the build thread in this one.


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## dragonmaster194 (Aug 14, 2012)

LSS, welcome to the forum, nice looking smoker and smoke.  A lot of good info there, I enjoyed reading, looking, and drooling!  Keep on keeping on, Steve


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## smokinhusker (Aug 15, 2012)

Good morning LSS! Nice looking smoker and and food! Great job!

When you have a minute, would you mind swinging by Roll Call and introducing yourself, so we can give you a proper SMF Welcome?

Thanks and again that's some great looking food!


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## s2k9k (Aug 15, 2012)

SmokinHusker said:


> Good morning LSS! Nice looking smoker and and food! Great job!
> 
> *When you have a minute, would you mind swinging by Roll Call and introducing yourself, so we can give you a proper SMF Welcome?*
> 
> Thanks and again that's some great looking food!


He already did!


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## leadssled (Aug 15, 2012)

SmokinHusker said:


> Good morning LSS! Nice looking smoker and and food! Great job!
> 
> *When you have a minute, would you mind swinging by Roll Call and introducing yourself, so we can give you a proper SMF Welcome?*
> 
> Thanks and again that's some great looking food!


Thanks for the Props!

I did an introduction back in 2009, but I will give that thread a bump to reintroduce myself since it was so long ago.

http://www.smokingmeatforums.com/t/75478/what-happened


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## sbishop (Aug 15, 2012)

Hi, great job on all the meat!!!

I was wondering how well things taste after being vacuum seal and frozen? usually i don't have any left overs but i'm planning on cooking a big batch like you sometime soon and was wondering!

thanks

Sbishop


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## roller (Aug 15, 2012)

Nice job..like ur smoker also !


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## frosty (Aug 15, 2012)

Beautiful!!!


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## leadssled (Aug 15, 2012)

Thanks!


sbishop said:


> I was wondering how well things taste after being vacuum seal and frozen? usually i don't have any left overs but i'm planning on cooking a big batch like you sometime soon and was wondering!


We do this all of the time. Just cut the vacuum sealed package open on one end, pop it into the microwave, heat it up, and then serve. It tastes as good as the day that it came off of the smoker. The key is vacuum packing with the heavy gage plastic so that you don't get freezer burn.


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## rubbin butts (Aug 15, 2012)

*Just my opinion, but the best way to heat that shrink wrapped PP is to put the bag in boiling water for about 20 minutes. Comes out just like the day you smoked it. Doesn't dry it out like the micro will. *

*Again, just my opinion.*


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## sbishop (Aug 15, 2012)

thanks for the info...i'll have to give the boiling water a try!

Sbishop


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## leadssled (Aug 15, 2012)

Boiling is probably better for sure. But I can say that by just cutting the end off of the package/bag to allow steam to escape and using a modern microwave with a turntable base, that we have experienced no dryness or toughness in the meat after re=heating. Using a microwave might be sacrilegious on a food that was cooked low and slow for 19 hours, so boilng the package is probably more appropriate.


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## dewetha (Aug 15, 2012)

plastic + heat = leaching chemicals into your food.

maybe if its a bpa free bag it's not as harmful. but still,why add plastic chemicals to your food after you spent so much time cooking it.


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## whtplainssmoker (Aug 15, 2012)

Nice day of smoking and quite a variety of poduct.  It all looks great.


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## leadssled (Aug 15, 2012)

dewetha said:


> plastic + heat = leaching chemicals into your food.
> 
> maybe if its a bpa free bag it's not as harmful. but still,why add plastic chemicals to your food after you spent so much time cooking it.


Every flexible plastic bag is BPA free. BPA is only an issue with polycarbonate resins such as Lexan. Polycarbonate resin is not used for food grade vacuum bags.

I'm a Johns Hopkins educated engineer active in the plastics industry since the late 80's, specifically with plastic medical devices since the early 90's. I am a former chairman of the Medical Plastics Division of the Society of Plastics Engineers and am more than a little familiar with the issue of plastics and leaching chemicals. My intention is not to brag, but only to qualify my level of familiarity on this subject. 

I wouldn't do anything to purposefully put myself or my family in harms way, but am I not concerned with the potential for meaningful levels of chemical leaching in this application.  Clinical studies show that it is only an issue for long term exposure (such as frequent use of refillable polycarbonate water bottles) for some resins in some conditions. My opinion is that the whole issue is greatly exaggerated by alarmists that haven't fully researched the issue. The same goes for DEHP and PVC resins. I'm not concerned with safety using this method of food storage.

But I don't intend to get into a philosophical debate about the evils of plastics here. If the potential for chemical leaching using food grade plastic storage methods concerns you, then simply don't preserve your food with this method.

Now how about we get back on the topic of smoking meat again, OK?


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## leadssled (Aug 17, 2012)

For those that are interested in the details of the smoker construction, I have created a "smoker build" thread here:

http://www.smokingmeatforums.com/t/126346/stumps-clone-build


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