Not Good Results

jgh1204

jgh1204

Babbling Farker
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Well, my first cook with all lump and chunks failed miserably. The large brisket that was on the bottom shelf was overcooked, parts of it were ok. 1 butt, I just chunked it, it was dry as a bone, not worth eating.

There are 2 other butts and the smaller brisket in the frig and hopefully they are better, but I am not hopeful.

Somebody was asking if people talked about their bad experiences on here and this was definitely mine.

You know its bad when your family agrees it is not up to par they agree it is not worth keeping!

BBQ is a lot like golf I am finding out. Just when you think you got it figured out, you shoot 120.

The ribs did come out decent. If I get up the nerve to try the other, I will let you know.
 
Keep at it. It will all pay off.
 
Sounds like temps were to high. Bottom shelf means what?/ immediatly above the water pan? or a few 4-5 niths higher. I never went and loower than 3-4 th from the bottom.


next.. I try to take briskets out not very much higher than 180.. I prefer it sit at 180 for hours to tenderize, or cooler it under its own heat load than to bring it to 190-200 the way some of us do. Give us details of what ya did.. Dont give it up.. we'll get ya there. :wink:
 
jgh, don't despair, we all have less than stellar moments from time to time. My prime rib got done way too soon yesterday (I managed to recover from that) but then some of our guests were 45mins late so what would have been great beef was just so-so. We learn and do better next time.
 
I had temps too high on my stuffed loin and it finished way to soon also. I thought it was too dry but everyone else raved about it. The turkey turned out great even though the wifey threw out over half of the butter and wine basting liquid I had on the counter while I was tending the fire. Go back in to get it and she asks, "what are you looking for? OH! I thought you were done so I threw it out and washed the pan." My wife is obsessive when it comes to things being neat and clean. I have to keep an eye on everything I'm using or when I reach for it, it will be gone. The good thing is that I know I'll find it in the drawer or cupboard already washed, dried and put away.
 
JGH, chop up that leftover brisket and make some kickass chilli for the bowl games next week.
 
The temps were too high. It was a 12lb brisket and it hit 160 after only 4.5 hours and it probably was a little too low in the chamber. My baffle extends a little too far into the smoker chamber for the water bowl to sit on the bottom shelf, so it is up 2 or 3 slots. The 12lb brisket was just above that.

My main problem was that I was not monitering everything as well as I should have been.

The brisket is good once I chopped off all the charred hunks around the eges and just a little on the dry side, which means to me, that I did not pull it soon enough.
 
Personally, I find lump burns too hot and fast for longer cooks. I use it for grilling, but use KF for smoking.
 
The Woodman said:
Personally, I find lump burns too hot and fast for longer cooks. I use it for grilling, but use KF for smoking.
Click to expand...

And always "K" side up........

I agree that lump might have not been your best choice for a low and slow cook. I mainly use lump to help get the initial cooker temp up, and when I have drastic temp drops that needs attention (like when I fall asleep), other than that, I use it for grilling.

Question: Where you spraying the meat with something to help keep from drying out?
 
In Austrailia, do they have to cook with the K side down?
 
How often did you spray? Did you wrap in foil at any point through your cook?
 
If it was like my day, we had 20mph wind with 30mph gust. Hard to keep a steady temp. Backyard was like a cyclone.
 
JGH - you'll do all right. There are a ton of brothers in TX - maybe one can be there persoally some day for some troubleshooting and a 'coached' cook.
 
I sprayed about every hour, foiled when things hit 160.

My first cook in the bandera went great, I did one butt and 1 brisket and they were some of the best I had done. Difference was using Kingsford for a base and hickory chunks and less meat.

With the lump, I was getting a lot of roller coaster temps, 190 back to 270, dump some heat down to 240, then drop to 190 and start over. With the Kingsford 3 weekends ago, I was able to keep the temps steady between 200 and 250 and the meat was higher in the cook chamber.
 
Keep doing it, eventualy it starts to come to you. Seems impossible at first but believe me, if I can do it any one can.
 
tommykendall said:
JGH - you'll do all right. There are a ton of brothers in TX - maybe one can be there persoally some day for some troubleshooting and a 'coached' cook.
Click to expand...

Well, I may be the closest to the valley, but I am pretty much a newbie myself. I get down there every once in awhile though for work.
 
I agree with The Woodman about lump being too hot. I have found that you have to use alot less lump than you think you need or you get too hot. It's hard to resist the tempatation to fill up the chimney though. The great thing about lump is that you can add some as your smoke progresses with out causing unwanted smoke. I don't use charcoal at all for smoking, only for grilling and if I'm not very careful it gets out of control there too.
 
I don't use a lot of lump. More often than not I start my fire with some Kingsford and then add some mesquite to get up to temp. I will add some lump slowly now and then to maintain temp, but most of the time I add wood splits. Lump does come in handy for me if I let the temp fall, but I start adding it slowly. It takes some time to get back up to temp, but I put myself in that position by letting the pit get too cool.

Having a steel burn barrel close by is always handy. If the fire takes off and is out of control removing some of the fuel helps me. The meat I have in the cooker costs a hell of a lot more in time and money than whatever I'm burning in the firebox.
 
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