re: First Time Smoking a Brisket... Advice?

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) You're putting too much wood on at a time

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I think so. I use a chimney starter. I filled it pretty good the first time, when I threw that on, it struggled to get to 200 degrees. So I added another full batch. Probably just too much the second time. After that stuff burned (3-4 hours) it was easier to maintain when I would add.

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b) Your vents are wide open

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I had them closed completely, and I kept throwing water on the fire. It would light back up in a few seconds.

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c) Your temp gauge is bad

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I just got a new maverick redi check. Has pit temp and food temp. It seemed very accurate. My smoker is new, the temp gauge on it was a little lower than what the digital one said. But I had the probe right near where the smoke was feeding in.

Good advice. I used to be concerned with wasting too much wood, but I now realize that it's not worth the hassle of having to bust my arse to get the temperature right.

I always start with about two chimney's of Kingsford then about 30 minutes into them stabilizing and burning down I'll add two good chunks of post oak. That leaves me 30 minutes to adjust accordingly. So you're not really wasting too much wood if you follow that process. It just takes repetition for you to find a process that you can manage.

Bumping this thread as I'm doing my first brisket tomorrow. I am using post oak and hickory on my egg. Planning to pull at 165-170 internal and wrap in foil. Since I will not be able to use my temp probe after that, how long should I cook before I unwrap and check my internal temp? Or can I just stick the probe through the foil? I'm probably overthinking this, I know.

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quote: his real rub recipe First I've ever heard of that. And I've watched a lot of his videos. Where did you get that?

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I have his cookbook and he gives many little hints and suggestions to add to your rub but never comes out and says it he also highly suggests he adds things in the restaurant but never gives the official recipe.

Upon doing some further research I came across an article with the owner of La Barbecue in Austin. He was Franklin's right hand man for years when he first started then branched out on his own. He I and I think he gives the pickle juice/mustard trick in that book too. He gives out his recipes a lot and even says people can come down to his restaurant and he'll help you with your cooking, seems like a really nice guy. He gave out the recipe that i previously listed. I put two and two together and came to the confusion that is basically Franklin's real rub recipe. I've also read people hinting that Franklin doesn't give all his secrets on those videos.

I also got the pickle juice/mustard pre rub from both Franklin's cookbook and the La Barbecue owner, they both use it, hence the rub being the same also.

I have a BGE and plan to wrap the brisket I'm smoking today. But I've never wrapped a pork shoulder or any other big cuts. I always wrap my ribs after 2 hours of smoking.

Did a lot of research on briskets before I pulled the trigger, and there's a lot of different techniques out there, but wrapping in foil or butcher paper is something everyone does it seems.

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kamodo style cookers.. Do you always wrap with foil?

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I've tried both ways, I prefer to wrap (Texas crutch). It definitely cuts down on cook time.

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At what temp does the TX crutch say wrap at?

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Somewhere between 155° and 165°, you should notice that the brisket's internal temp will quit rising. They call this "the stall." Wrap it here.

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It looked like the ending of Apocalypse Now where they hack that cow for slaughter/butcher. Rare is no way to eat brisket.

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