Quick question with some background after: Would you ever use Apple wood for a brisket. I've always been a big advocate of Pecan (nod to Behad for the tip), but is that recommendation based on Apple wood being expensive, or Apple wood being too sweet for a brisket? My friend just deliver a cord of apple to me. In 30 minutes, the fire starts. Should I use this free apple wood or my stash of pecan. It does change my variables. Background: So, thanks to Behad (great advice early on, can never repay you) and Pole many years ago, I've become an accomplished brisket master. So, for the Spring and early Summer I was getting mad at my Oklahoma Joe. Don't get me started. In July, my neighbor (who kept talking about the green egg) talked me into buying a Costco rip-off with him...the black egg when it went on sell for one day at $400. The baby is a piece of cake at 240-260 for ribs, chicken and pork. But, I was skeptical that I could keep it at 210-230 for 18 hours without restoking, but 20 fires since, I'm convinced we have the technology. We can do it. The egg kilns are pretty cool. bottomline: Today is my first brisket in a kiln -- this egg's first long burn. Free apple wood or pecan is the question.
^ undercooked and marinated. Tasty I'm sure, but not Texan....keep it simple and go for the long burn.
From my experience, Apple is more common since it goes well with all meats. Have you ever thought about mixing wood? Try a Pecan/Apple mixture
LOL that's not even 713's brisket... he just linked to a pic off a cooking blog/website for whatever reason.
One of the beautiful things about the egg is one load of fuel might be able to last 18 hrs at sustained temp. I'm still not sure it will accomplish this. This is my first try over 10 hours. We shall see The downside of an egg for a brisket is it is more difficult to add more fuel vs a side fire box. So to your point about mixing wood, although sound for a normal smoker, an egg only needs two logs. I'm thinking I should just pick one wood I went ahead and did the apple Yeah I understand what you are asking and was my main skepticism of eggs for smoking. But they have accessories to manage the fact the fire is directly below the meat I have the deflector plate. Works for my pre-testing of smoking chicken, ribs and pork butt, so time to try the heavenly meat. We'll see. Be done at noon Sunday
At 3:30 am. Dropped below 190 while making the mop. R e a l l y I guess that's better than 300 Not really Note to self: the rest of the night is all about established best practices not really sure what the kiln is doing for me right niow. And mop one hasn't even commenced yet
430am mop #1 The egg jumped to 300 degrees. It doesn't want you to open it. I'm not talking about a short term jump...i'm talking about i'm going to have to baby this egg back down to 210-220....damn I already had this out with Oklahoma Joe. but brisket will be good nonetheless Mop #1 bad photo <img src="https://sphotos-a-dfw.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ash3/1186339_10201113547574378_456299883_n.jpg" width=800>
Mop #2 530am 312 degrees. What are you doing for me Mr Egg? <img src="https://sphotos-a-dfw.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-prn1/1094951_10201113644696806_1628227316_n.jpg" width=800>
I love brisket. I even love it on a Traeger although it doesn't get the bark on it that I've seen. I know it's too late to answer your question, but I think apple works great for brisket.
My weber smokey mountain can sustain temps for almost 14-16 hours on a load of charcoal so I don't see why an egg couldn't. The only drawback of eggs are they are small, little room for a water pan, and it takes a long time to reduce temps if you overshoot(which you just experienced). I personally think Weber Smokey mountains or Ugly drum smokers are better for dedicated smoking. I want an egg mainly for making pizza. I dream of a Stump style smoker. I may make a custom one if my wife lets me.
HP, I realized you didn't use a water pan. A pan helps stabilize the temps a lot and prevent overshooting. The whole enthalpy of vaporization thing.
Anyone ever had success with smoking a brisket in a gas grill using indirect heat and a basket of wood chips? I've had pretty good results with chicken, but have never attempted brisket. I know it's not as good as using a true smoker, but I'm sure it would beat that oven baked monstrosity that 713 posted.
You can do it, but gas grills are really inefficient in regards of holding in heat so you are going to use lots of propane. To do it, you light one side of your grill, put a water pan on that side with your chips and put the brisket on the other side. You will have to turn the brisket every couple of hours. Personally, I would smoke it at 300-350 for about 3 hours(or when it hit 160 degrees internally), crutch it(wrap in aluminum foil) and stick it in the oven for 1.5 to 2 hours at 300. It's not traditional but you will get Rudy's quality brisket this way and it only takes 5-6 hours.
