My family likes a lot of smoke like what my stick burner produced, how is everyone getting more smoke and a good bark? So far I have done a brisket and pork butt on a LG Champion Pro I got from Costco and I am not satisfied with the level of smokiness of the meat. I a have tried Pit Boss competition blend, Traeger Hickory, B&B Competition blend and Pitt Boss Hickory. Any thoughts? I have read lower heat for added smoke (180) but higher heat for bark (225). Kinda frustrating to be honest.
With a brisket you should have plenty of time to achieve both.
In order to get the smokiest output, put the brisket in the smoker cold, straight from the fridge, and wet with whatever binder you use for the rub — mustard, sauce, water, whatever. The cold temp and moisture will increase the amount of smoke the meat picks up. Then, as noted above, smoke it at 180 (or even lower, if possible) for the first 4-5 hours, because pellets smoke more at lower temp’s.
At some point in the cook you reach a point of diminishing returns, in that the meat picks up less and less smoke. So after 4-5 hours, crank the temp up to 225 or 250 to finish the cook, which still leaves plenty of time to set the bark. But do not wrap, which will help form the bark and permit the brisket to continue picking up whatever smoke it can for the rest of the cook.
It will work the same with pork butts, just compress the times a little.
Using this method, I haven’t needed any smoke tubes or other enhancers with my Mak, but I realize pellet smokers vary in the amount of smoke they produce so if the above doesn’t satisfy you, you can try the tubes, etc.
ound: WOW, that guy is a pretty big nut job! Makes me wonder how he can call himself a bbqer:bounce: I would besurprised if he has been bbqing 10 or 11 years. Nobody could agree with him about that strong of a smoke flavor!??
