Do Temperature Swings Really Matter on an Offset Smoker? | Smoke Lab with Steve Gow | Oklahoma Joe's
Вставка
- Опубліковано 14 жов 2024
- Will temperature swings on your offset smoker affect the quality of your brisket or other meats? Steve Gow from @SmokeTrailsBBQ conducts an experiment to find out, comparing two briskets on the #OklahomaJoes Longhorn Offset Smoker - one with steady temps and one with WILD temp swings. Let’s find out if there’s a difference.
Offset Smoker Brisket Recipe
Ingredients:
Meat
10-15 lb brisket (Choice grade or higher)
Rub
Quarter cup course black pepper
Quarter cup kosher salt
Tablespoon Lawry’s Seasoned Salt
Wrap liquid
1/3 cup beef tallow
1/3 cup clarified butter/Ghee (or substitute with normal butter):
Technique
Trim brisket
Mix rub ingredients in shaker bottle, add small amount of vegetable oil to help mixture stay consistent
Apply rub to brisket, starting with back and sides, and finishing with fat cap
Place large water pan on grate next to firebox with a few inches gap from the firebox to allow heat up and over the water pan
Place brisket on cold side of the smoker with thicker point end of brisket toward the firebox
Smoke at 250 for 4 hours (Note: Temperatures can be +/- 25 degrees of target temp)
Increase temperatures to 285 for around 8 hours or until the brisket probes at least 190-195 everywhere in the brisket
Wrap brisket in butcher paper with beef tallow and clarified butter
Place wrapped brisket in aluminum pan with quarter cup water added, foil top tightly. If aluminum pan is unavailable wrap, brisket with aluminum foil, ensuring liquid cannot leak from bottom.
Place brisket into holding device (holding oven, electric smoker, regular oven etc.) at 150 and hold for 15-20 hours. If using oven, check manual for instructions on how to adjust temperature down to attain 150 degrees - recommend confirming actual oven temps ahead of time with remote-graphing probe thermometer placed in a pan of water in the oven to ensure oven can hold meat at a steady 150 indefinitely.
Remove brisket from wrap, slice against the grain and serve.
This is good content Steve! I really appreciate watching you use the Longhorn. I own a 20+ year old one, and really like it. I am learning how to make small changes to the fire often in order to maintain temp. I was told by others that OKJ smokers were not capable of making great BBQ. You have proven them wrong, and educated me in the process. Thanks!
They can totally make amazing BBQ! Thank you for watching man!
I'm glad to see this, I tend to have issues with temp control, I try to keep it within a 50 degree range (25 above/below the target).
I think it's kind of a feature, not a bug, for offsets. Even on my much larger offset I still have temperature variation.
Thanks for this comment! I also have wild temperature swings on my offset. Watching numerous smoking videos on here it seems they never have issues with keeping a steady temperature and rarely do they mention temperature swings as being ok.
@@bryred9299 Yep they are ok within reason of course
Thanks for this video. I struggle with a steady temp in my offset so it's nice to know others do as well but it won't affect the meat too much.
Not as much as I used to think!
Great that Oklahoma Joe is giving a try on good usefull content. I hope to see more of you instead of just seeing product Promotion. I love the idea of smoke lab. Best greetings from Germany.
Thank you for your support!
Great experiment.
Thanks man!
Glad you are on here now. STB is the bomb.
Thanks man!
Very informative 🔥🔥
Cheers!
From a design perspective for small offsets, I wonder if the overhead door in the fire box contributes to temp fluctuations. I have a Highlander with a basket. I'm thinking of modifying the basket so I can feed wood from the damper door and leave the door directly above the fire closed the entire cook.
As a northern smoker, also, the feed rate of wood increases in cold weather, which allows the heat from the fire to escape every split added.
I haven't seen a video focussed on temp control comparing how splits are fed into a small offset. For cold weather smoking I think side feeding of splits has the potential to flatten out temp swings, by not allowing the fire box heat to escape with every added split.
Yes the chamber temps do dip a little bit when the firebox lid is opened.
Not a bad idea.....
I suspected this even with the relatively little amount of brisket I have made. A twist on this topic you might consider is to do the same thing again, but skip the 10 - 18 hour hold at 150 degF and let the meat stand 1/2 hour or so before slicing. I am curious what those results would be.
I've tested with a 203+ probe tender brisket rested 2 hours against a 190 & hold brisket many times and I like the 190 hold briskets. Would be a good experiment though with multiple taste testers.
Great videos
thanks!
How do you think the up and down Temps effected the smoke flavor? It should have added more "dirty" smoke which I don't necessarily is always a bad thing.
Maybe test something along the lines of the rate or the extremity of temp swings between insulated, semi insulated, and non insulated fireboxes 🤔
Great idea!
Can you make videos on Oklahoma Joes smoker mods?
I'm thinking about it. Trying to gather up all the most common mods first.
I've given up on it... My offset is too small, if I try to get 3/4 of it full there's gonna be an area just roasting and others that are okay... I just make sure there's always a fire going and always a log in there. If it's 200-300 I don't care. The long rest is the great equalizer
I cooked ribs this past weekend on my longhorn and i had it steady at 260-265 for 6 hours straight. I had 1 flare up that spiked to 280, but i was able to settle it within 15min. I recorded weather at 42F and felt like 39F. I didn't pay too much attention to it either. The Longhorn holds really well for a solid 25-30min before needing a new split. Granted, I have it gasketed and a smoke stack extension
That's amazing! Do you think the extension and gaskets help?
@@SmokeTrailsBBQ 100%! I had some leaks from the firebox and smoking chamber, so I got the gaskets and clamps. They work wonders! As far as the smoke stack extension, it draws very well. Living in Alaska, Temps don't get optimal for offsets (as you are likely familiar). I have a nice, hot, healthy fire with every cook
I used the charcoal basket and kept a channel carved in the coals perpendicular to the vent and laid the split across it. Quick combustion within 15-20sec. Kept temps very stable. Winds were 5-10mph as well
@@mattvangampler7508 Nice! did you control the temps by opening/closing the inlet vent/door?
no idea, i have no temp gauges on my offset, i am old school. learned at a young age how to build a fire. anf manage temp by feel.
Crazy! That's awesome!
How thick is the metal on that Okkahoma Joe ?
I have one. I think its about an 1/8th inch. Yes Firebox too.
How did you make your sous-vide holding chest?
I drilled a hole in an old chest freezer and installed a sous vide machine.
@@SmokeTrailsBBQ did you add water inside the freezer chest or no?
@@alldayfeenom yes there's a few inches of water in the bottom for the sous vide machine to heat. The heated water creates hot water vapor that fills the entire chest at the same temp as the water is heated to.
Next experiment: Kiln dried wood vs seasoned wood
I don’t get how people keep steady temps. My temps stay between 215-300. For every cook .