baby back report and brisket

not Jo · January 2001

Everyone;
Well here I am reporting back after some tasty baby backs this weekend. My quickie, impromptu spreadsheet I used to keep track follows. The ribs came off delicious delicately smoked, I used a mixture of Hickory and Cherry. I did the usual sparse loading of the firebox and let the dome temp initially come to about 300 then tossed in the ribs.[p]I decided to tackle a brisket and wonder if I should have waited for a little more experience. I loaded the firebox full. Started the fire and came indoors. I'd planned on letting the dome temp get a bit higher before tossing on such a large mass of cold meat but was shocked to walk back outside and find it had shot past 450!! EEEK. Apparently more fuel and this pup just soars to temp. I immediately moved as quickly as I could narrowing down the vents tossing in the bottom rack (8x13 rectangular grid sits just above firebox and holds the drip pan). And then dumped in some damp wood, tossed in the top grate, slapped the brisket on and shut down the lid and watched my remote temp anxiously as it climbed up into the 250ish range.[p]Since then it's been wrestling to keep the temp lower. I've learned about a full firebox, don't LEAVE it for a moment. However I didn't want to completely starve the fire and have it bitter... hmm never a happy medium it seems. I'm currently hovering about 230ish and am happy, waiting for dinner tonight at about 11 PM.
I'm resisting the temptation to open the lid and wondering how forgiving brisket is.....
Jo[p]Baby back chart[p]time pst grill temp meat temp
3:45 217 52 fire started
4:15 183 64 meat on grill
4:30 210 144
5:00 226 165
5:30 226 165
6:00 227 164
6:30 225 165
7:00 219 166
7:30 213 168
8:00 204 168

Nature Boy · January 2001

not Jo,
i don't think the higher temps at the start will hurt your outcome. And 250 indirect is a perfect dome temp. How big is that chunk o chest and what time did you put it on??[p]NB

not Jo · January 2001

Nature Boy,
Thanks for the help I do appreciate it. It's about 6 pounds and I got the temps down then made the mistake of opening a tiny bit cause it dropped down to about 206ish stirring the coals and the temp soared back up we are now holding about 255.[p]I wouldn't be as worried if these were dome temps but they are grill temps. I have a remote check thermometer I stuffed through an onion and it's right at grill level. My dome temp is actually about 275ish.
Jo
Here's what the chart looks like so far:
type meat 6# beef brisket rubbed
time pst grill temp meat temp
8:30 217 42 fire started
9:00 199 65
9:30 244 110
10:00 250 150
10:30 236 164
11:00 230 174
11:30 220 175
12:00 217 176
12:30 218 178
13:00 215 180
13:30 237 183
14:00 250 199
14:30 260 205 [p]

Unknown · January 2001

not Jo, I`m not to sure but I believe the temps that the folks give here are "dome temps" unless otherwise posted.
Which is nice for me cause on my other cooker I use your method at the grate......
Happy cooking.....
Roger!

Char-Woody · January 2001

Roger, early on in the formation of the BGE forum there were a number of discussions regarding recipes and temperatures. We more or less agreed that once the dome thermometer is set accurately, we would use that as the reference point in all the recipe cooks that we use. So there would be no up'sy down'sy variations. So when we post a recipe..its always "Dome". temps. [p]I made a post a while back regarding temps and took a detour from that. I found that reading the stack temperature and deducting 15 to 18 degrees from that would put me right at the area of the temperature around the food.
One of the nice things in using my Polder sensor tip inserted in the stack daisy wheel vent opening in low and slow cooks was the quickness of the digi readouts when changing the lower vent. Usually leave the upper vent as is.[p]Stirring coals as suggested by Jo isn't a viable thing to do once your fire is started. Not necessary and unneeded. Once the fire begins to migrate thru the charcoal, it does it as you adjust the lower vent for draft control. Stirring the coals during a cook only succeeds in throwing off all your carefully laid temperature control.
Have fun...Char-Woody[p]

Nature Boy · January 2001

not Jo,
yea. I suppose that is a little quick for a 6 pounder, but you might be suprised at the results though. One thing for sure is it will taste good. Not sure how tender. Your meat temp was at 205 at 14:30. Definitely done when it gets to 200...sometimes earlier. Did you pull it off? [p]Keep us posted.
NB

baby back report and brisket

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