c/bbq-pitmasters

Finally tried a pellet tube on my offset, I was wrong about them

I figured they were a gimmick for people who can't tend a fire, but after 2 cooks with a cheap one from the hardware store, the smoke flavor is way closer to charcoal chunks. Anyone else use one just for cold smoking cheese or bacon?

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samjohnson•1d ago

Visited a comp in Kansas City, changed my mind about pellet grills

Went to the American Royal last month and watched a pellet setup take 2nd in brisket. I always figured pellets couldn't hang with stick burners, but the smoke ring and bark on that thing were legit. Anyone else see pellet rigs placing at serious comps lately, or was this a fluke?

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victor220•2d ago

One judge told me my bark was 'too pretty' and it messed with my whole process

Competed in a small local comp outside Nashville back in May. My brisket got a 7 for appearance and the feedback sheet said the bark looked 'too uniform, like it was painted on'. I always trimmed fat super clean and used a fine rub so it comes out looking almost glossy. That comment stuck in my head for weeks. I went home and started using a coarser rub and stopped over-trimming the fat cap. Honestly the flavor did get better because the fat renders into the meat more, but I still feel like I'm chasing some ideal that nobody actually explained. Has anyone else gotten weird judge feedback that made you change your method even though you didn't fully agree? What did you do about it?

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cora_scott77•9d ago

The 225 degree rule is wrong for brisket and I can prove it with my smoker logs

I've kept a temp log for every brisket I've cooked in the last 4 years, about 60 total. Last spring I got tired of 14 hour cooks and ran one at 275, wrapped in butcher paper at 170 IT. It came out with a better bark and the flat was actually moist, which never happens for me at 225. I checked my logs and noticed my 225 cooks averaged 11 hours with a 3 hour stall, but the 275 cook stalled for only 45 minutes. Aaron Franklin's book says low and slow is the way, but he also cooks on a massive offset where the temp swings happen anyway. I'm not saying everyone should crank it up, but I think the 225 gospel gets parroted more than tested. Has anyone else tried a higher temp on a home setup and seen better moisture in the flat?

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lewis.troy•11d ago

My brisket stall panic at 3am in Wichita changed how I cook

I was running a 14 pound packer on my offset smoker for a family reunion and the temp just sat at 158 for almost four hours, so I wrapped it in foil out of pure fear. Turns out the foil killed my bark and made the flat dry, but the point was so tender my uncle said it tasted like pot roast. Has anyone else jumped the gun on wrapping and ruined one side trying to save the other?

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nancyw97•15d ago

Spent $150 on a discount smoker that fell apart after 2 cooks, worth the fight?

I grabbed a clearance offset smoker from a big box store last spring thinking I got a steal. First cook was okay, but by the second the firebox door warped so bad it wouldn't close, and the thermometer read 60 degrees off. Tried to return it but they said no refunds on clearance. So now I'm stuck with a welding project or a paperweight. Is it worth trying to fix a cheap smoker or should I have just paid full price for something built to last? Anyone else blow cash on a bargain rig and regret it?

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kaid59•16d ago

Shoutout to the old timer who said don't wrap brisket in foil, I called him crazy

Been doing foil wraps for 5 years in Austin, then this guy at a comp told me to try butcher paper instead. First time I tried it, bark came out way better and the smoke flavor stuck around, but it took 2 extra hours to finish. Anyone else switch methods and see a big difference, or is it just my setup?

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dakotawood•18d ago

Found out my smoker runs hotter on the left side by 40 degrees, checked with 3 probes after 6 years

Been chasing uneven cooks all this time, turns out the firebox side is always hotter and I never thought to test it, anyone else have a pit with a hot spot they just live with?

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the_holly•19d ago

Took me 15 years to try wrapping my brisket in butcher paper instead of foil

After fighting stalled flats for a decade and a half in Austin, I finally tried peach paper on a 14 pounder last Sunday and the bark held way better than foil ever did, what do you all use for that last 30 degrees?

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gavin_kelly91•19d ago

I doubted the pellet grill crowd for 5 years, now I get it

I was always a stick burner guy, charcoal only, the whole purist thing. Last month my buddy offered me a brisket off his Traeger at a cookout in Austin and I almost turned it down. That thing was juicy, had a smoke ring, and honestly beat half the stuff I've pulled off my offset. I borrowed his unit for a weekend, ran a pork shoulder at 225 for 11 hours, and the bark was solid enough that I didn't feel embarrassed. I'm not throwing away the offset, but I've stopped talking trash at the family gatherings. Is anyone else out there secretly using one of these for weekday cooks, or am I the only convert here?

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martin.felix•19d ago

My old rub recipe was a salt bomb, here is how I fixed it

I used to just throw salt, pepper, and garlic powder on everything and call it a day. About 6 months ago I did a brisket for my brother's birthday and he said it tasted like a pretzel. That hurt, but he was right, I was doing like a half cup of salt for a 12 pound packer. So I started measuring everything and adding brown sugar and smoked paprika to balance it out. Now I do a 2 to 1 ratio of pepper to salt and let the meat sit overnight. The bark comes out way darker and the flavor actually tastes like beef, not just salt. Has anyone else had to rebuild their rub from scratch after a bad comment from family?

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the_charlie•20d ago

Drove 3 hours to Lockhart and a brisket trimmings bowl stole the show

Went down to Black's BBQ last Saturday with my buddy, mainly to compare their brisket bark to what I get at home on my offset. We ordered the big platter, but the thing I couldn't stop thinking about was the bowl of burnt ends and trimmings they toss in the warm sauce on the counter. I asked the pitmaster how long they let those bits render before serving, and he said around 4 hours in their warmer, which I never do. Has anyone else tried saving all your brisket trimmings and simmering them in your mop sauce as a side dish?

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thomasshah•21d ago

That pellet tube nearly ruined my brisket at 2am

I tried one of those smoke tubes for cold smoking cheese and figured I'd toss it in the smoker with my 14lb packer from HEB. It put out so much thick white smoke that the brisket came out tasting like a campfire and the bark turned bitter, not in a good way. Took me 8 hours to realize my cheap tube was smoldering too fast because I packed the pellets too loose, not using the right density. Anyone else had a smoke tube backfire on them, or did I just get a dud from my local Ace Hardware?

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jamie_white•27d ago

Took me 11 months to nail the vent position on my offset

Everyone says to keep the stack wide open, but on my rig in Austin, that just gave me thin blue smoke and bitter brisket. It wasn't until I closed it down to 30% for a 14 hour cook that the fat finally rendered right. Anyone else find their smoker likes a half-shut stack despite the usual advice?

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margaret_williams5•27d ago

My 3 a.m. brisket stall panic in Tulsa ended with a cooler trick

Ngl, I was smoking a 14 pound brisket for my nephew's graduation party last Saturday. Everything looked great until 2:45 a.m., the temp just sat at 157 for like two hours. I kept checking the firebox, thought my pit was dying. Then I remembered a buddy from a cookoff in Tulsa mentioned wrapping in butcher paper and tossing it in a dry cooler with towels to push through the stall. Did that, left it for an hour, and it jumped to 175. Still came out perfect by noon. Has anyone else used a cooler mid-cook or was that just luck?

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kaiharris•28d ago

Wife's cheap gas grill outsmoked my expensive offset

I've been running a 20 gallon offset smoker for about 4 years, dropped $700 on it plus a fan controller. Last weekend we had family over in Austin and my wife fired up her $180 propane grill from Home Depot. She put a rack of ribs on with some foil packet of wood chips and they came out with a better smoke ring than most of my brisket flats. I thought it was a fluke, so I tried it myself three times this week with chicken thighs and pork belly. That little grill holds 250 degrees like a champ and the smoke flavor is clean, not bitter. I'm not ready to ditch the offset, but I might start using hers for weekday cooks. Anyone else find that the cheap gear beats the fancy stuff when you actually use it right?

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jenniferw82•1mo ago

Tried the pellet tube on my offset and it bit me in the ass

I threw a $25 smoke tube into my WSM last weekend, thinking it'd give me that clean blue smoke without babysitting. Instead I got this acrid, dirty gray smoke that coated the brisket in 3 hours and tasted like a campfire ash tray. Turns out the pellets were too damp from sitting in my garage in Orlando for 6 months, so they smoldered instead of burning. Anyone else had a pellet tube backfire on them, or am I just cursed with humid weather?

2 comments

the_thomas•1mo ago

Had a brisket day last Saturday that almost made me quit

I pulled an all nighter on a 14 pound packer for a buddy's 40th in Austin. Firebox kept dropping because my intake vent was clogged with ash, and I didn't catch it until 2 AM. Got it stabilized, but then the brisket stalled at 160 for over three hours, which wrecked my timeline. It finally came out decent, not great, and he said it was 'fine' after I smoked it for 13 hours. I've done better on a $60 offset in the rain, so what's the point of dialing in a fancy rig if the day goes sideways anyway? Anyone else have a cook where everything fought you and you still wonder if it was worth it?

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seth683•1mo ago

Watched a guy at a comp in Waco ruin brisket with a squirt bottle

He kept spritzing the flat every 20 minutes for 5 hours and it came out like wet dog food. I've seen too many folks do this, thinking moisture equals flavor. Anyone else notice water on the bark washes away all your rub before the smoke can set?

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anderson.david•1mo ago

Watched a backyard cook-off change my mind about pellet grills

I've been a stick burner guy for about 8 years now, always thought pellet grills were just overpriced ovens. Last month I went to a local competition in Austin and watched a guy take first place using a Rec Teq RT-700. He let me taste his brisket and I couldn't tell the difference from a wood fire cook. The bark was solid and the smoke ring went a quarter inch deep. Now I'm thinking about selling my offset for a pellet setup, but I'm worried about losing the hands on experience. Has anyone else made the switch and regretted it?

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kimr10•1mo ago

I just realized I've been slicing my brisket against the grain wrong for years

Was at a competition in Kansas City last weekend and watched a pitmaster named Dave trim his brisket completely different than me. He pointed out that the grain actually changes direction halfway across the flat and my usual slicing was tearing up the fibers. Anyone else ever have that moment where you realize you've been doing a basic step totally wrong the whole time?

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mila_flores8•1mo ago

Spent a whole Saturday arguing with a pitmaster from Kansas City about brisket temps

I was at a tailgate near downtown Austin, and this guy named Hank told me he pulls his brisket off at 198 degrees, not 203. He said the carryover heat does the rest, and I thought he was nuts. So I tried it on a 14 pound packer from HEB, and it came out way juicier than my usual method. Has anyone else dropped their target temp by that much and gotten better results?

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grace508•1mo ago

Had a cookout last Saturday where my brisket was a total disaster

I put a 14 pound packer on my offset at 6am and it was looking perfect until I hit the stall around 160. Then the wind picked up and my temp dropped from 250 to 180 in like 20 minutes. I tried to fix it by adding more wood but then it spiked to 300 and ruined the bark. The middle was dry and the flat was tough as leather. My uncle said 'at least the beans are good' which was a real burn. Has anyone else had their whole cook go wrong because of a sudden weather change?

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nancybailey•1mo ago

Wasted $80 on a fancy flavored wood chip variety pack

The chips were way too small and burned up in 20 minutes, plus the smoke flavor was so weak I couldn't tell the difference from plain oak, so has anyone found a reliable brand that actually gives you decent results with fruit woods like apple or cherry?

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lauras83•1mo ago

Changed my mind about wrapping ribs after a guy at a comp told me why

I always wrapped my ribs in foil because I thought it kept them moist. Then a pitmaster from Kansas City at the Big Apple BBQ told me I was steaming them and losing bark. He said try butcher paper instead and see the difference. I tried it on my last cook and the bark stayed crunchy while the meat was still tender. Has anyone else had better luck with paper over foil?

2 comments