c/bbq-pitmasters

Cooker fire at 3am taught me a lesson about fat traps

Last Saturday I was running a brisket overnight for a neighborhood cookout and woke up to flames shooting out the side of my offset smoker at 3am. Grease had built up in the baffle plate area and caught from a wind gust pushing the fire sideways. I grabbed the fire extinguisher and put it out quick but ruined a $120 prime packer. Now I'm scraping that baffle clean after every long cook no matter what. Anyone else had a grease fire scare with their offset?

Rant: people who flip ribs every 5 minutes at a competition

I was at a local cookoff in Tulsa last weekend and watched a guy spin his rack like a rotisserie chicken. Every time you flip you lose bark and juice, just set it and let it go for at least an hour. Has anyone else noticed competitors overcooking their ribs by fidgeting too much?

I doubted the whole low and slow thing for years

I grew up in Kansas City where everyone cranks their smoker to 275 and calls it good, so when a retired pitmaster in Lexington told me I was ruining my pork shoulder by not holding it at 195 for 4 hours I laughed at him. After he let me taste a sample from his cooker at a fair last September I finally understood what real tenderness feels like. Has anyone else had to eat crow after ignoring old school advice like that?

Used to wrap my brisket in foil at 165 like clockwork, but after a buddy in Austin told me to try unwrapped the whole cook at 225 I've never gone back to the crutch.

Has anyone else ditched the wrap entirely or do you still swear by butcher paper over foil or something else?

Spent $80 on a welding cart and it completely changed my pit building workflow

I finally broke down and bought a proper welding cart for my little Hobart Handler 140 after two years of balancing it on a cinder block, and now I can't believe I wasted so much time moving it around my garage when building my offset smoker repairs.

Had a competition pitmaster tell me my bark was too thick and it messed me up for weeks

I was at a BBQ contest in Nashville last September and one of the judges who's also a pitmaster pulled me aside. He said my bark on the brisket was way too dark and heavy, like I was going for a steak crust or something. So I changed up my rub recipe and cut my cook time by like 2 hours to get a lighter bark. Now I'm wondering if I overcorrected because my last three briskets came out tasting more like pot roast than smoky meat. Has anyone else gotten feedback like that and struggled to find the sweet spot again?

Got roasted for my brisket bark on a competition forum

Some dude on a BBQ forum told me my bark looked like 'dirt with regrets' after I posted a pic of my last brisket. I was using the same rub recipe for years and thought it was fine. He said to ditch the sugar and go with a finer grind pepper, plus wrap later in the cook. Tried that on my last smoke at home and the bark actually set right for the first time. Anyone else have a random online comment that totally changed their method?

Hit 100 briskets this weekend and finally nailed the stall timing

I smoked my 100th brisket last Saturday for a big family cookout in Austin. Started keeping count after my first one came out like shoe leather back in 2022. The stall hit at 157 degrees this time and wrapping in butcher paper got me through it in under 2 hours. Has anyone else tracked their brisket count and noticed a big improvement after a certain number?

Saw a huge difference in brisket after switching my wood blend

I've been cooking brisket for about 3 years now and always used straight hickory. Last month I ran out mid-cook and grabbed some pecan and cherry from a local supplier in Nashville. The bark came out way darker and had this sweet smell I never got before. My family actually said it was the best brisket I've made yet. That one change over a single weekend cook made me rethink everything I thought I knew about wood. Has anyone else noticed a big shift from mixing up their wood choice?

Bought a $200 pellet smoker on clearance, total regret

That cheap smoker can't hold temp for more than 20 minutes, so my brisket turned into jerky after 8 hours of babysitting it. Anyone else get burned by a budget pit that promised way more than it delivered?

Vent: My $600 pellet smoker died mid-brisket at a comp last Saturday

I was 6 hours into a 14 hour cook at the Jack Daniel's Invitational last weekend. Temp sensor just flatlined. Had to finish that brisket in a buddy's offset. Never thought I'd say this but I'm about to switch back to wood charcoal after 3 years on pellets. Anyone else had a controller fail at the worst possible time?

Appreciation post: The change in my brisket after ditching the cheap offset

I picked up a $200 offset smoker two years ago from a big box store, and my brisket always came out dry with a thick, bitter bark. Last month I borrowed a friend's 200 gallon reverse flow smoker for a cookout in Kansas City, and the difference was night and day. The meat stayed juicy for 8 hours without me babysitting the fire, and the bark turned out like a deep mahogany crust. What caused it was the steady airflow and even heat distribution, not my technique. Has anyone else seen this big of a jump just from switching smokers?

Heads up about a brisket spot near Lockhart

I swung by that famous old place on 183 last Tuesday and noticed the pit crew was rushing through their trimming like they had a bus to catch. Left bark was uneven on three flats I saw coming out of the smoker, and the smoke ring looked thin for their usual standard. Has anyone else seen a drop in quality there lately?

My buddy told me I was crazy for using cherry wood on pork shoulder

So last summer, my friend Dave who's been doing comps for 10 years said cherry wood is too sweet for pork shoulder. Said it would taste like candy. I went ahead and used it anyway on a 10 pounder for my backyard cookout. Everybody loved it including Dave. He even asked for the recipe later. Has anyone else had a pitmaster give you bad advice that turned out to be just their preference?

Warning: built a whole brisket workflow around a $30 thermometer from Amazon

It read 195 when the meat was actually 160 and I served shoe leather to 12 people at a neighborhood cookout last Sunday, has anyone dealt with that brand giving false readings?

PSA: That pitmaster class I took last Saturday nearly ruined my brisket game

I signed up for a two-day class at a place outside Nashville, all about trimming and fire management. The guy spent 45 minutes teaching us to trim every ounce of fat off the point, and my next cook came out dry as a bone. Has anyone else had a teacher steer you wrong on brisket fat?

My granddad had a smokehouse out back. Talked to a old timer at a comp in Kansas City last month and he said "low and slow is just a saying, you gotta FEEL the fire". Hit different hearing it from someone who's been at it since the 70s.

PSA: That $120 fan controller I bought was a COMPLETE waste

I dropped $120 on a fancy fan controller for my UDS smoker last month. Thought it would keep my temps rock solid overnight. First cook with a pork butt, it lost connection at 2 AM and my fire almost went out. I yanked it off and went back to my old tuning fork method. Has anyone else had bad luck with those electronic controllers or did I just get a lemon?

Vent: My rub recipe took 9 tries to get right and I burned 7 pounds of pork shoulder figuring it out

I kept adding too much brown sugar and it would scorch in the smoker every time before I finally realized I needed to cut it by half and add more paprika, has anyone else spent way too long chasing the perfect blend?

Hot take: my 8 hour brisket trim turned into a 3 day ordeal

I keep seeing everyone rave about those fast trim jobs on YouTube where pitmasters knock out a whole packer in like 15 minutes. Well I tried to copy that and ended up spending way too long on a single brisket last month. What they don't show is how much fat you actually need to leave on for a 12 hour smoke. I trimmed off too much, got paranoid, then spent 2 hours trying to patch it back together with butchers twine and hope. Then my smoker temp spiked because I was distracted and I had to babysit it all night. Total time from start to finished product was around 30 hours just for one cook. Has anyone else ruined a brisket by following those speed trimming videos?

Just realized a small change in how I trim brisket fixed my fat cap issue

A pitmaster on YouTube pointed out I was trimming cold, not room temp, and the fat was tearing instead of slicing clean. Switched to letting it sit out 30 minutes before trimming and now I get a perfect 1/4 inch every time. Anyone else have a tiny tweak that made a big difference?

Unpopular take: Aaron Franklin's brisket method isn't the gold standard everyone thinks

Ngl, I've cooked 12 briskets using his exact technique from the book and they came out decent but not life-changing. Has anyone else found that trimming less fat and running a higher temp actually gives better results?

The way people trim brisket fat on YouTube drives me crazy

I keep seeing these BBQ channels cutting off ALL the fat cap on the flat side before they even season it. Made a brisket last Sunday for a family thing and left about a quarter inch on there, came out juicy and everyone loved it. Am I missing something or is paper thin fat just asking for a dry brisket?

Had a guy tell me I was trimming the fat cap wrong on my pork butts

Been doing pork butts for about 3 years now, always left a quarter inch of fat cap on. This pitmaster at a competition in Austin told me to take it all off, just rub the meat directly. Tried it on my last two cooks and the bark came out way better, crunchier and darker. Anyone else had better luck with a bare fat cap or do you still leave some on?

My smoker's temp gauge exploded mid-brisket last Saturday and I had to finish by feel like a caveman.

I was three hours into a 12-pound brisket when the glass on the dial just cracked and shot across the yard, so I spent the next five hours guessing the heat by holding my hand over the vent and checking the color of the smoke, has anyone else had a sudden equipment fail throw off their whole cook?