Grate Weekend - Low ‘n Slow on GB

[Gringo]

Writer's Cramp Warning....forgive the VERY LONG chronical cook post!

Wanted to share some details about tonight's brisket cook as it went completely awesome (and is still going on!

Last few years I have always "grilled through" the winter. DC area is not heavy snow normally but it does get cold. As many of you that doesn't stop us. All said, this year I grilled once or twice at home from December - April. Many reasons for it (some live related and some too many grills for my space). It's a  traffic jam most days!  Working on that though. Got enough cleaned up to try the Glen Blue on a long cook since purchasing last fall from some Grillfellas and WKC members, thank you!

17lb (pre-trim) brisket from Costco (it was choice grade as they didn't have prime). I stuck it in freezer for a few to help with trimming. Realizing I had a huge green bag of B&B lump (lump) and no briquettes I ran quickly to Home Depot with fingers crossed on something I could use. Having seen all the recents and not so recent posts on charcoal quality and knowing my HD does not have much of a selection outside of Traeger pellets, I decided I'd go with Jealous Devil Max briquettes in an attempt to have a uniform as possible heat source for this first Low 'n Slow on the shiny GB. Oh snap, forgot the other reason I headed to Home Depot, fire bricks! I have 3 Slow n Sears but all for 22" so had to makeshift something!  HD didn't have firebricks so it was the $1.16/per for clay bricks to act as some type of heat barrier.

Started about 10 briquettes ~4pm and once going loaded more charcoal with hickory squares (also Jealous Devil) for smoke. Let the GB settle in at ~180, I like to keep it low for the first 2 hours as my experience has been I get better smoke flavor on the end product that way.

Trimmed the full packer with a backyard, minimal cut, and glad to see there wasn't  much silver skin to piddle and distract. Added Worcestershire as binder and went traditional with 16 mesh black pepper, coarse sea salt, and some Adobo (no garlic powder in cupboard)!!  The GB had maintained 185 for 45 mins so I knew it could go on. Slab went on at 5pm over top a 50/50 water/distilled vinegar full tray.

Placing the lid down had the OS moment that I didn't put any thermometers in the meat, oh boy! Ran and grabbed the gracious WKC Secret Santa gift that I had only used twice,l and that was January!  Connection/bluetooth issues and immediate troubleshooting commenced. After changing some app permissions I was still looking at flashing read light as my own internal temperature rose!  Realized it was the battery in the Meater and much to my chagrin, I assumed the new battery in January would hole for 3 months in a standby state but didn't. Then went back to trusted and true Inkbird and just added to meat probes to the existing hub where the ambient probe was connected.

GB did not disappoint, plenty of room for the brisket, ambient grate level probe, internal probes on top of the large brisket and the fire was not right on top of the meat situation that the 22" would create with this size brisket.

Cook went extremely well, the JD briquettes burned a bit quicker than I had hoped and definitely faster than the normal orange bag extra large B&B I'm used to using. All said , I went through 1/2 bag through the cook and when finishing up the next morning I had burned through right about the exact amount of charcoal with one refill at midnight.

After first 2 1/2 hours of smoke I adjusted bottom vent for a 50 degree increase, so now we're about 235 and maintained that through until after the midnight charcoal fill-up. Bumped the grill then to ~285. Thinking back maybe the JD did as good as B&B   My memories of B&B are mainly based off of pork butt and a 6-8hour run with using a little less than 1/2 bag with extra fuel for reuse when cook was completed. So, this experience with JD was good, I noticed their XL briquette is not as big as B&B but no major complaints with its performance.

Now the fun part, what was I going to do to rest the slab?  I wanted to get a true "full rest" of +5 hours and up to 8 depending on when the cook finished. My choices were to get the Lifetime branded cooler (I personally love this vendor and their products over Yeti) and pour a few tea kettles full of water in and down the sides to prep the cooler to be a "warming oven" (I've done this often in years passed and results were amazing) or was I going to use Sous Vide as my resting "oven"?  Claudia won't allow brisket rest inside the kitchen as she doesn't want the whole place smelling of bbq and she puts up with my outdoor fragrance much too often. I ultimately chose Sous Vide (water bath) for the rest and went to the basement to get the 26L party container to prep for a 140 degree precise temp and a tool that would support my goal of 5+ hours.

Sous Vide / Smoker hybrid cooks were in my past but I had never used Sous Vide to rest a large piece of meat of any kind. Now to determine process for the transition from cook to rest and getting the large, wet, HOT, juicy and oily brisket into a vacuum seal bag, these two items in these conditions don't play nice together! Adding to the dilemma, it's 530am and the cook started at 5pm the evening prior. No one is awake to assist and handling the 200 degree brisket with the silicone grill gloves didn't give me the precision needed, uggh!  I should've (but didn't) go get my cotton gloves and add nitrile work gloves (just didn't think about it.

I wrapped the brisket in butcher paper (after pouring 2 cups of beef tallow on it) and began the now even bigger challenge of getting this thing into the bag! Honestly it was not a pretty site and my kitchen butcher block would bear witness to all that happened in the 15 mins of this challenge.

It got done, for the first time for me I know have a paper wrapped brisket in a Sous Vide bag and lowering into a 140 degree container, I'm liking the newness of this grilling adventure!  It would stay resting there from 6am until the 2pm lunch serving.

GlenBlue was rock solid and this cook was a. Grate motivator for me.

Long winded post.



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[michaelmilitello]

A wonderful bbq result worthy of a read.   Nicely done.   I haven't cooked a brisket since last September.   You're inspiring me.   


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[bamakettles]

Fun cook Bobby, wow what a feat!  I got called in to work tonight, home now and can't sleep.  This was the perfect reading I needed.  Not sure how you got the bag to seal with all that liquid....  Thanks for sharing all the details!


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[Gringo]

Thanks Greg! I know, that post was a long one!

The bag sealed well and easy. Mostly because the brisket was wrapped in butcher paper so juices contained within and paper just oily. I know the sous vide didn't make the difference it was purely the rest but sous vide made the rest so much easier (except for getting it in the bag)!

Thanks again for the comments.


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[JEBIV]

Awesome write up and grate looking brisket

[Mr.CPHo]

I enjoyed reading your detailed write up!

I laughed when I read "outdoor fragrance".

[ASpitzer]

Nice write up on a good looking cook. Well done!

[Gringo]

Thanks all! I was trying to win the "longest post" award!🥇


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[jdoan]

Thanks for the Smokey Joe and for the plate of brisket! So glad we stopped by


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