August 2020 30 Day Rule/Focus Pix & Discussion

Lovely photo, Clint! Gorgeous razor!

 

Marvelous shave and results, Joe! Sounds like you finished with a smile on your face.

 

Looking good Joe. Happy Friday

 

Great pic, setup and shave Joe! Hope everything will be fine with your wife's followup care. Enjoy the day and the family BBQ!

 

I've done 4 briskets now, a good number of other long slow cooks also (chicken, turkey, brats/sausage), all in the BGE XL. For those who aren't interested....TLDR

Use your own recipe...here's some for reference:

https://www.smoking-meat.com/tag/brisket

https://www.smokingmeatforums.com/threads/brisket-flat-my-way.277499/

Tips specific to the BGE:

Expect any meat smoke time to be 2/3 normal offset smoker time.

Get some dedicated welding gloves! Really helps with moving things around without getting burnt.

While starting/getting the fire lit in the BGE, try to keep the temp from getting above 275 or so....it's very hard to get the temp back down, especially if it's in the sun (mine is), and with that great 200lbs of ceramic insulation.

Have the fire steady for ~30-45 minutes before starting the smoke, to get the temp settled as low as you can without the fire going out (harder on an Kamado style cooker than a offset cooker). About the lowest I can keep the XL is 230-240. Even shooting for 220 (which most say is optimal) the embers start to die. This 230-240 is with barely a 1/4 inch showing on the in draft and out draft.

Use the convector plate, flat side down closest to the coals, put drip pan (disposable works best) on the convector. Put the circle grill on the convector feet (which should be up), meat on the grill. FWIW, I don't like putting the brisket in a pan. Most pro smokers don't do it this way, it's also tough to work around. I also have a small wood chip smoker box goes off to the side (on grill or convector plate, depending on room). Keep drip pan and wood smoker box as full with water as possible during the smoke.

When thickest part of meat hits 150, wrap it in aluminum foil (sometimes called the Texas Crutch), then continue smoking til 195 to 205. 195-198 has always been good to us, meat always tender/falling apart. Then let it sit for 30-45 minutes.

With an offset cooker, you don't always have to do the 'Texas Crutch' of wrapping the brisket halfway into the cook (which is the same as any recipe that encases the brisket while cooking)....but the BGE or other devices where the meat is so much closer to the actual heat source, it dries out if you don't. I'm looking at some 3rd party grates that add height to get the brisket (or anything cooking) a few inches higher, the maker says it helps slow the meat temp rise more like an offset cooker.

Hope that helps!

 

Great red tip shave, Joe! Glad it went well!

 

thank you Joe,good morning..

 

Thank you Jeff.

 

awesome red tip shave and pic Joe,good morning..

 

Thanks, Maestro!

 

Glad you got your power back Jeff! Wonderful shave, pic and gear my friend!

 

Thank you Blair. I will try it when this COVID stuff dies down. My buddy Wade would enjoy it. The ladies are not big fans of beef period.

 

Love the pic and gear! Great Georgia shave Clint!

 

Great shave, Mark! Rexall built some great brushes back in the day! I’ll bet many of our members never entered a Rexall pharmacy!

 

Thanks, Blair! Me too!

 

Awesome shave Maestro! With your straight shaving skills, I know that you will get that stroke down to a tee. It really makes a difference in the quality of the shave.

 

Wonderful shave report Andrew! Congrats on your new toys! WCS is a great company and this example of customer service illustrates it.

 

Great setup Joe!

Sent from my Galaxy using Tapatalk

 

Thank you, Joe! It was a great shave and the brush worked well even being brand new. I have always had great service from WCS and fast shipping too.