I have One of these from Texas Pit Crafters, and it works very well. But I've been thinking of adding a small gas grill for convenience's sake when I just want to quick grill some chicken breasts or brats.
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i have one of the horizontal smokers. i really love to smoke meat on it; turkeys, pork shoulder, and salmon. haven't had much luck with brisket...yet.
it takes a lot of attention to keep the fire going for the twelve hours or so needed for a large piece of meat. so i have come up with a solution that works great and takes very little wood to get the smoky flavor.
bought an inexpensive fish fryer with removable legs at home d. i put it in the fire box without the legs and ran the hose out the vent hole. next i put a large cast iron dutch oven on the burner. put your wood chunks in the dutch oven, put the lid on and the fire low. control the heat with the exhaust vent.
with a wood fire i had trouble keeping the heat as low as 200 degrees. now it is no problem; just open the exhaust vent a little more and the temperature goes down; close it a little and the temp goes up.
i can smoke a turkey or roast for twelve hours and only have to add wood chips at the start and about three hours later. that is enough for a mild smoky flavor and i don't have to mess with it any more.
i also have a charcoal grill for burgers and such. guess what comes out of the dutch oven...chunk charcoal. i buy the wood chunks at home depot also.
i've been using this about two years now and can't imagine living without it.
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I smoke a lot of brisket, and what I've found makes the biggest difference in a brisket is finishing it off. I now do this with all of my smoked meat. Plan to have your brisket come off the smoker 4-6 hours before you want to serve it. Then, wrap it in aluminum foil, then wrap that in a large towel (use one you can bleach or don't care about). Once you do that, throw it in a cooler and leave it there for 4-6 hours. That step makes all the difference in the world with how juicy / tender your brisket will be. I was highly skeptical at first but I tried it and couldn't believe the results. It will still be piping hot when it comes out 4-6 hours later. Just my $.02.
CodeJockey wrote:I smoke a lot of brisket, and what I've found makes the biggest difference in a brisket is finishing it off. I now do this with all of my smoked meat. Plan to have your brisket come off the smoker 4-6 hours before you want to serve it. Then, wrap it in aluminum foil, then wrap that in a large towel (use one you can bleach or don't care about). Once you do that, throw it in a cooler and leave it there for 4-6 hours. That step makes all the difference in the world with how juicy / tender your brisket will be. I was highly skeptical at first but I tried it and couldn't believe the results. It will still be piping hot when it comes out 4-6 hours later. Just my $.02.
You can achieve the same results by wrapping the brisket in foil and then putting it in the oven for 6 hours on 200-225.
Yummmmm.
Anygunanywhere
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Yup, I've used the oven method too. I like the cooler though because we can take it with us to the park, friends house, whatever while it continues to tenderize.
Great! Now my mouth is watering and I'm going to have to go buy a brisket!
pbwalker wrote:It just says 'Image'...but we might as well show off our grills!
Personally, I have the Char Griller Duo. Half Gas (convenience) and Half Charcoal / Smoker (Flavor). Nice side burner and side smoker box.
Best grill I've ever owned, and I've had a bunch over the years. Mine doesn't have the side smoker box yet, though I'm thinking about getting one for the times when i don't want to fire up the big New Braunfels smoker.
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