My first brisket

[b0rderman]

So I went out and bought the $30 Brinkmann Smoke'n Grill, some hickory chunks, apple chips and a large bag of lump charcoal. Went next store and got a 13.97 lb. brisket, slung it over my shoulder and checked out.

Went home, chopped that puppy in half (couldn't fit intact on my little smoker) and started patting on my rub. I used a '1/3 cup' rub I found on the internet that included 1/3 cup each of brown sugar, paprika, chili powder, salt, pepper and I put in a quarter cup of garlic and cayenne just for fun. I then wrapped these things up in some plastic wrap, threw them in a cooler and drove 5 hours to my family friends house, arrived at 9pm and started up the smoker. I let the smoker season for an hour and a half, managed to suck down 3.5 during that time and figured it was time to put the meat on...at around 11pm. I refilled the water tray, threw in a couple of apple chips and some garlic cloves. I started soaking some hickory chuncks to put on the coals, and off we went. Come 3:30am I realized I did not have a mop, mop sauce or even a baster. Trying my best not to wake the family I dug around in the garage and commandeered a brand new 2'' hair-paintbrush. I poured some of by beer on it and started to mop down the meat. I just realized this is a pretty annoying stream of consciousness I've got going on here, but I am just gonna go with it.

I decided to try to get a little bit of sleep when the clock struck 4am, but I just couldn't...I had BBQ on the brain. I finally gave up on sleeping at around 5:30am and by that time the sun was shining, birds were chirping and I couldn't think of a better place to be then on the western slop of the Rockies smoking the **** out of some beef.

A couple more mops, change of the coals and it was Noon and everyone was jonesing for some meat. I pulled the brisket off the two racks of the smoker and wrapped them in foil to let them rest for an hour after smoking. I was extremely nervous about this brisket, it was my first time smoking anything and I stupidly went for a brisket right off the bat...but someway, somehow that thing was the one of the most delicious pieces of BBQ I had every tasted...I dunno how it managed to turn out edible, maybe I got lucky...but man what I wouldn't give for another bite of that brisket right now.

Here is a temporary iphone photo of the finished product...I will post a couple more photos of the process when they become available to me

I can't wait to do it again! Thanks to BigDick and WYPirate's threads here, they helped me take that enormous $30 plunge on a smoker I plan on making a few modifications to my cheapo smoker to help make the whole process a little more carefree, but overall I was very impressed with how well it all came out and would recommend to anyone to give BBQ a try...I don't know if I will ever look at grilled meat the same way

P.S. Unfortunately no cigars were smoked during this whole process...my mouth was pretty lit up from a heavy night of smoking the day before...I nursed my palate with plenty of beer though.

[Ethernut]

Great BBQ forum on virtualweberbullet.com..

Congrats on the new smoker and Q!

[BigSlick]

I'm glad BigRick could be of assistance.

[SmokinLightning]

Im droolin over here... I need to get a smoker.

Specially since BigRick never saves me any tasty brisket...

[b0rderman]

ah wtf I thought I edited Rick to Slick...browser must have timed out

[BigSlick]

It's all good! BigDick is fitting.

Brisket looks like a success! Now on to ribs and pork butt and chicken and ham and turkey. Have fun and enjoy the journey!

Please be wary of feeding any of your friends as they begin expecting great food out of you every time they see you......

[SmokinLightning]

Small price to pay for how many times you've dropped cigar ash in my pool.

[b0rderman]

haha...I do have a few leecher friends expecting me to do this every weekend.

Any of you gents smoke cheese?

[Habanos2000]

Any of you gents smoke cheese?

I have a hard time keeping it lit.

[Homebrew]

Very nice looking brisket.

Thanks for the pic, it has me drooling.

Dave (A.K.A. Homebrew)

[thcooper]

Wow that brisket looks mean and nasty! I remember a local grill where they grill the meat in a well-like structure and just lets the uncooked sausages on top so as to let it have some smoked tinge to it. OK, i am drooling now. Let me grab a cigar and see if that would be enough to satisfy my craving.

[thechenman]

Nice brisket. I'm tempted to give smoking a try this summer. Thanks for sharing. I'm suddenly hungry.

[whiskeynwine]

If that brisket tasted as good as it looked, don't change a thing. That is a good looking first brisket. It took me about three attempts to get it right.

[Ghabanos]

that looks delicious...great job.

[Ellery]

because of this thread, i went out and purchased the same smoker. In the past was using a weber kettle bbq but the coals were too close to the grill surface and ended up burning half of the meat. haven't used the brinkman yet, will prob light it up within the next 2 wks. Cant wait.

[First Lady]

Well I am going to try my first Briskett this weekend as well but don't have a smoker as they are just crazy expensive over here but I have some amazing rubs from Texas (thanks Chris ) that I will try

Anyone want to ship me a small smoker from the states???

[CanuckSARTech]

Well I am going to try my first Briskett this weekend as well but don't have a smoker as they are just crazy expensive over here but I have some amazing rubs from Texas (thanks Chris ) that I will try

Anyone want to ship me a small smoker from the states???

LOL. Sure, I will! What you got to trade??!?!?!

[GP012]

Well I am going to try my first Briskett this weekend as well but don't have a smoker as they are just crazy expensive over here but I have some amazing rubs from Texas (thanks Chris ) that I will try

Anyone want to ship me a small smoker from the states???

Lisa, can you get the classic Weber UFO/Kettle grills cheap? If so, you can rig those up to use as a ghetto-smoker if that's your only option.

http://simplyrecipes.com/recipes/how_to_tu..._into_a_smoker/ is a good writeup. It's not the perfect solution, but it works. Make sure you get one of the hinged grill grates or else you'll spend a lot more time cursing the fact you can't access the coals without someone else helping you.