First time attempt: full packer MES 30 w/ window

[cukoo bbq]

Seasoned up a full packer brisket 14 and a quarter lbs- cut the point off the flat (not my best knife work) wrapped it up and It's in the fridge- in a few hours I will start up the MES and go for my first ever attempt. I will add posts and pics as the cook progresses. Join me on my adventure!

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• cukoo bbq
• Jul 6, 2017

 

[stovebolt]

 That sounds like a fine game plan. I'm in.

Chuck

 

[cukoo bbq]

After a kind prompting from my alarm, I got me out of bed and started the cook setup-

Pulled the meat from the fridge

put a couple of the smoker grates onto my propane grill and got em nice and charred - scraped em with a wire brush and rinsed em off after

Since I'm doing both parts of the brisket I need two thermos- cleaned off the built in meat probe and tested in a glass of ice water (32°on the money) got out the maverick for the other cut

Put (hot) water into the water bowl in the hopes it won't delay my heat up process too much

Laid a sheet of foil over the water bowl to help keep it tidy.

Waiting on the smoker to peak temp at 275 before putting the meat in- this way when I open the door and lose that initial heat it won't take too long to reheat (at this point I'll be setting to 225)

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• cukoo bbq
• Jul 7, 2017

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• cukoo bbq
• Jul 7, 2017

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• cukoo bbq
• Jul 7, 2017

Posting the pics I realized I forgot my amnps in there from my last cook! Won't be using that -pretend it isn't there :)

 

[cukoo bbq]

In the famous words of Glenn Frey

"The meat is on"

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• cukoo bbq
• Jul 7, 2017

Oh he said "heat" not "meat"...yeah right we all know what he meant

 

[SmokinAl]

Looks like a great start!

Al

 

[cukoo bbq]

Thank you sir! Currently the flat is at about 149 IT ...only been going for 2 hours, isn't that kinda quick? I'm afraid I'll have to wrap her up here soon. Point is at 145 currently.

(Meat in about 430am
Posting now 630 pm)

 

[cukoo bbq]

Temp on the meat rose pretty fast so I wrapped up the flat- gonna see if the point will get to 202 on it's own.

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• cukoo bbq
• Jul 7, 2017

 

[cukoo bbq]

I'm about 12 hours into the cook - the wrapped flat has been at a decently steady pace it's at 194

Point is reading 177 -i can't leave her running as long as I like because I have some other weekend plans (unfortunately) so I decided to wrap the point too -in order to see if it will speed up the pace.

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• cukoo bbq
• Jul 7, 2017

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• cukoo bbq
• Jul 7, 2017

 

[cukoo bbq]

At 16 hours in - my temps froze at 196 on the flat and 190 on the point.

4 hours of sitting in the smoker and the IT on the flat only rose 2 degrees. It rained outside and I'm sure there was a drastic climate drop outside my smoker but it didn't show any lower smoker temps .

I decided to ramp it up to max to finish the cook - 16 hrs and 45 minutes and I pulled the flat off at 201

Point came off another half hour later also reaching 201

Toweled and in the cooler. On the road now - pics will follow as soon as I carve her up and have WiFi!

 

[cukoo bbq]

So here it is!

The fruits (meat) of my labor...

I know the basics of carving it...across the grain and aim for pencil thin ...

First thing I did was try and scrape along the grain to see the fat cap would slide off and boy did it along with a thin layer of meat - (as pictured)

And pencil thin went out the window because the smell turned my in-laws into an army of drooling observers (which was very intimidating lol)

Got a lot of compliments and everything was pretty tender and juicy. Decent Smokey flavor all around...gonna make sure next time I have zero obligations on the same day because even though I got a slew of compliments I just know it could have been that much better.

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• cukoo bbq
• Jul 9, 2017

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• cukoo bbq
• Jul 9, 2017

 

[stovebolt]

 Looks like a winner. I don't use water in my pan (MES40) I lined it with foil and filled it with play sand covered with foil to keep it clean.

Good work.

Chuck

 

[cukoo bbq]

You know I've seen that suggestion pretty often and I understand the basic concept of it but I'm curious about something-

1.Where do you get the sand?
2.How do you go about changing it out? (scooping the top layer only? Change out all of it? How often?
3.have you noticed any difference in the moisture level/juciness level of your finished products with sand vs. Water?

 

[stovebolt]

 The sand comes bagged at any home supply or building supply (Lowes, Home Depot). It's clean and ready to use.

 I have only changed mine once because I keep it covered to keep it clean.

 You only get dry food if you over-cook it. I think the majority don't use water but I could be wrong.

Chuck