Corned beef brisket pastrami

[namtrag]

Soaked in water for about 12 hours to get rid of some salt, then dried with paper towels, rubbed a little olive oil on it, and heavily peppered it.  Prepared my kettle for my first ever snake method by lining 3/4 around with 2 on bottom, 1 on top.  Then put a few chunks of pecan along the way, and lit with 10-12 coals.  So far after 2 1/2 hours, it's holding 225-250 pretty well.  Problem I am having is that the pecan is catching on fire as the coals reach the chunks.

[1buckie]

Great start !!!

I think you'll be fine on the wood......they're supposed to catch fire....that's an indicator that your fire's hot enough & not just smouldering & producing ugly smoke.........a low smoulder = creosote & sluggish or white smoke burn & eventual bad taste in the food.......



Keep in mind also that if you notice that by opening the lid to look, there's a big rush of air introduced when the lid's off.......just check by watching what's happening at the exhaust vent:

Is it flowing smoothly & forcefully out of the vent?

That shows good, solid air movement, or draft, thru the cooker & you're golden......
Here's the approximate color to look for:



If you get a little white when each piece first catches, don't sweat it.....it'll come out just fine......

[BBcue-Z]

Looking great!!
Can't wait to see the final results
If you put the wood chunks on the Cooking Grate directly above the lit coals, you'll get pretty good smoke and the chunks wouldn't catch on fire for a long time.

[namtrag]

Thanks, Buckie...I had always thought blue smoke good, white smoke bad.  Definitely getting a good air flow!  But the smoke is pretty white coming out.  It's been on 6 hours and is almost ready to pull!  I wrapped it at 150 and put it back on to get to 195.   My kettle is definitely a little off because I get smoke from the rim some, and not just through the vent.  Next time I cook, I will take a pic of the smoke so I can post it up.

Another weird thing that happened is that I laid the brisket so that the fat cap was face up.  It puffed up on one side so now I have a big triangle of meat!  Will put a pic up before slicing so you guys can see what I mean

[namtrag]

BBCue-Z, I will give that a shot too!

[namtrag]

Here is what the fat cap did...weird.

[namtrag]

But all's well in the end!

[BBcue-Z]

Great results, but the picture is upside down

[namtrag]

Weird, it's not upside down on my browser

[SixZeroFour]

Looks good on my browser... VERY Good!!

[Ted B]

Looks good but upside down here too on tapatalk. That dang fat cap must have something to do with it.

[namtrag]

Haha, that must be it.  I've never seen meat expand like that.

[eccj]

Looks good but upside down here too on tapatalk. That dang fat cap must have something to do with it.

Upside down here too!  Good job though!

[namtrag]

Now I see what you guys mean....at my office, the pics are upside down!  On my iPad, they were fine! 

[1buckie]

Another weird thing that happened is that I laid the brisket so that the fat cap was face up.  It puffed up on one side so now I have a big triangle of meat!  Will put a pic up before slicing so you guys can see what I mean

Here is what the fat cap did...weird.

Proof positive that fat cooks at a different rate than just meat, I suppose.....

Here's one where the beef ribs not only puffed up but slumped over sideways & had to be cut at an an angle when finished....



"  I wrapped it at 150 and put it back on to get to 195.  "

Was a little concerned that that high of an end might make it crumble, but you did just great !!!!

Great results, but the picture is upside down

Looks good but upside down here too on tapatalk. That dang fat cap must have something to do with it.

Looks good but upside down here too on tapatalk. That dang fat cap must have something to do with it.

Upside down here too!  Good job though!

....except for the mustard dripping downward, everything looks fine here......