# new to smokin and have a some ?



## cronic (Mar 21, 2007)

i have a brinkman smoke'n'pit its a charcoal grill with a fire box on the side im tryin to make a brisket should i make the fire in the firebox or should make it on 1 side of the grill and meat on the other


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## squeezy (Mar 21, 2007)

welcome .... I would use the firebox and pay close attention to the temperature at the position of your brisket. There is much information here on how to smoke briskets and others will be posting info for you soon  ... so hang on!

Squeezy


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## cronic (Mar 21, 2007)

another ? i have is should i use wood or charcoal the time i tried before i used charcoal and them wood chips it didnt seem to have very much smoke commin from the grill i think on eof my problems was the fire didnt get hot enough


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## chris_harper (Mar 21, 2007)

make your fire in the firebox. make note of your temps at the food rack level, all over the rack. find the area that is hovering 225-240Â°. place your brisket there. 
what kind of wood you using? (splits, whole logs, chunks, chips?) i use splits or whole logs, usually. i have some that made it into chunks when i split it. i use that first. you have a meat thermometer, with a probe, that you can monitor the internal temp of the meat with, while it is smoking? i take my brisket to 200Â° internal, in the flat. i let it rest for a couple of hours, then slice the flat and pull the point. here is a thread to get you started. here is a thread for a good finishing sauce for brisket. i have made this sauce, and it is very good. here is the whole beef section, where you will more threads on brisket and brisket info. *note i got the above links from this section.*


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## chris_harper (Mar 21, 2007)

btw, welcome to smf. head on over to roll call, so we can all give you a proper welcome.


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## chris_harper (Mar 21, 2007)

i use charcoal to get my fire started, then wood for smoke and more heat. do you have a thermometer in your smoker, at rack level?


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## cronic (Mar 21, 2007)

its kinda crappy it dont give temp just cold ideal and hot so i got a long themometer and stuck it in a hole it works decent yea im gonna try the wood this time can i just get like fire wood for it or do i have to find a speacial store for the wood


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## chris_harper (Mar 21, 2007)

find any wood off this list. make sure it is seasoned. i use oak, mesquite, pecan, and i just got some maple. here, i can get it at lowes or wal-mart. my big grocery store, along with lowes, home depot, and wal-mart has bags of chunks or chips by the charcoal you can use. i am leaving to go to work now, maybe someone else will come along shortly to answer any other questions you have. goodluck, and remember, we like pics.


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## mountaincityoutlaw (Mar 21, 2007)

Do you know what type of fire wood it is. As long as it is not pine, or red oak or anything like that it is prob ok. You can use mesquite,fruit woods, or pecan, those will do just fine. I would use charcoal and wood both to get a real consistent burn for your fire.  Small clean burning fires really help control your temp and then add wood chunks or small logs for flavoring. Good Luck


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## cronic (Mar 21, 2007)

ive only looked at walmart was just wonderin about usin fire wood if i couldnt find none at lowes or somethin and thanks for the replys guys


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## msmith (Mar 21, 2007)

Cronic welcome aboard looks like chris has pretty much got you up to snuff. Im a wood burner myself thats all I use. I prefer Pecan wood cant go wrong with it.


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## cajunsmoker (Mar 21, 2007)

What's wrong with red oak?  I use any type of oak and have never had a problem.  

I have a Smoke N Pit that I hardly ever use anymore, but when I use it I start off with about 8# of Royal Oak briquettes and use wood chunks for the smoke flavoring.  Little pieces of firewood work Ok but the Smoke N Pit is too small for an all wood fire.  Be careful of the spot just inside the smoker chamber by the firebox, it will be too hot and dry out your brisket, put a pan of water there if you want to, it helps control your heat spikes.  Check into the mods in the charcoal and wood burner forums to find out ways to improve your smoker.


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## bbq bubba (Mar 21, 2007)

welcome!!! now that u have all the info u need (nice posts chris!) here's what it should look like






good luck, and most important, enjoy yourself


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## chris_harper (Mar 22, 2007)

thanks, marvin and bubba. i bought some firewood at lowes once in a pinch. it was labeled as hardwood; worked ok. how did the brisket turn out?


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## cronic (Mar 22, 2007)

thanks for the replys guys i went to  lowes and got some hickory and misceet lol love my spellin thats all i can find in the area guss im gonna have to order other flavors im debatin on startin it tonight or tommarow night ill put some pics up when finished and thanks again


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## chris_harper (Mar 22, 2007)

where abouts do you live?


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## cajunsmoker (Mar 22, 2007)

Or maybe like this






Good luck on that brisket smoke, I just picked up a small packer to do on Saturday myself.


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## cronic (Mar 22, 2007)

im in kentucky im tryin to get my fire and stuff workin now expirementen with some chiken and fish now just tryioin to learn the fire


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## tonto1117 (Mar 22, 2007)

Cronic,did you grab a thermometer yet so you know what temp your running at grate and cooking level???


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## cronic (Mar 22, 2007)

yea i did it sucks tho cuzz i gottta open the top to look at it


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## tonto1117 (Mar 22, 2007)

Yeah, the first one I got was like that but at least you have a pretty good idea what your running at when trying to get your fire control down.


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## linescum (Mar 22, 2007)

i run a smoke-n-pit and i've done some pretty good cooks on the thing it's the perfect starter q'uer. i have not done any of the posted mods all i have done is bring the charcoal grate in the smoke box to the top and it acts like a baffle and let's the heat travel the length of the box..if you want to extend the stack you need to cut some of the upper rack. i'm very happy with my POS ECB. i use lump charcoal and wood chunks (apple, cherry, hickory, etc, etc, etc) for the smoke. i use an on grate thermometer to monitor my chamber heat, it reads about the same as the one in the lid and a remote therm. for the meat. the biggest thing is patience don't be lookin in every 15 mins and when you are going in to mop or whatever plan it out and get it done asap and close the lid. once i get it to temp it requires refueling about every2 to 2.5 hours. just check out some of my threads and you shall see


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