S
smokeemifyougotem
Guest
Hey all,
I smoked 2 flat cut briskets and 2 boston butts this weekend. I tried my idea of making a charcoal basket out of firebrick in a 'c' or 'u' shape (depending on how you're looking at the firebox). It actually worked fairly well - maintained constant temp and just had to add wood chunks (cherry and oak) and a few coals every now and then. I have some pics that I'll have to try to post. I was actually surprised because the coals all seemed to light fairly quickly and I was very afraid the fire was going to be too hot and that I would be shoveling coal out of the bandera to keep temp down. I think what happened was when I stood the bricks on end on the firegrate I had one side of the 'wall' near the entrance to the smoke chamber and it closed it down a bit so not all the heat got directly through.
My point of this story is a lesson learned. I inadvertantly left the foil on the firebricks and the charcoal 'melted' the foil. The burning foil left a foul taste in the pork - in fact when I brought a sample in - my wife said it smelled like fish. The pork was not bad - I have opened bad pork before and you know right away not to use it. The pork was affected much more than the brisket and the brisket was edible and turned out good.
Just thought i'd share this with you all - don't put foil near your fire! Stupid mistake for me and I cried when I threw the pork in the trash.

I smoked 2 flat cut briskets and 2 boston butts this weekend. I tried my idea of making a charcoal basket out of firebrick in a 'c' or 'u' shape (depending on how you're looking at the firebox). It actually worked fairly well - maintained constant temp and just had to add wood chunks (cherry and oak) and a few coals every now and then. I have some pics that I'll have to try to post. I was actually surprised because the coals all seemed to light fairly quickly and I was very afraid the fire was going to be too hot and that I would be shoveling coal out of the bandera to keep temp down. I think what happened was when I stood the bricks on end on the firegrate I had one side of the 'wall' near the entrance to the smoke chamber and it closed it down a bit so not all the heat got directly through.
My point of this story is a lesson learned. I inadvertantly left the foil on the firebricks and the charcoal 'melted' the foil. The burning foil left a foul taste in the pork - in fact when I brought a sample in - my wife said it smelled like fish. The pork was not bad - I have opened bad pork before and you know right away not to use it. The pork was affected much more than the brisket and the brisket was edible and turned out good.
Just thought i'd share this with you all - don't put foil near your fire! Stupid mistake for me and I cried when I threw the pork in the trash.
