Brisket in an FE question

Below is what Eddy sent me when I first received my FE100. I think what he is doing is getting the fat from the butts onto the meat side of the brisket then wrapping not long after. Perhaps Eddy will elaborate on his instructions. Also I think if you put all the below instructions together you may conclude he is doing this for competition getting everything done about the same time in one oven!

I use parts of these techniques all the time. Except I now usually don't turn up to 275*F for the butts until later than he suggests because I am timing differently. I may put the butts in between 3 and 9 PM, depending on how busy I have been and mostly how I feel. I want them to come out about 11 AM the next morning when I open my business.

As I understand it smoke is absorbed up to a meat temp of about 140*F and after that we are just cooking. However to render the fat through out the meat we need to continue to cook slowly. I go for pulled which is at least 190*F...but because the butts are almost always different sizes and densities. I always shoot for 195*F and will go to 200*F if necessary before pulling any of the butts out of the oven. Sometimes there is the stubborn butt that just needs more time so I'll just leave it in by itself. I, myself, never foil, the main reason being it is to much of a hassle commercially another is that the steam cools the a lot of the hot of the peppers and may changes the strengths and/or flavors of some of the other spices in the rub I use! I use Bad Byron's Butt Rub exclusively on everything. That is from my experience only!

There were some posts about getting butts done in 8 hours...I just cannot see how if there are going to be pullable! If I do exactly what Eddy says below with butts only in the oven but without foiling, turning, or moving and using the 3 top shelves, my 8-10 butts are always done right at 12 hours maybe as long as 12 hours 20 minutes!

Peter
-------------------------------------------------

Fast Eddy's cooking instuctions for the FE100.


Brisket & Butts on 8-9PM
2 briskets top shelf fat side up
butts on 2nd shelf
225deg til 5AM then 275 deg
7AM take briskets off top and put fat down under butts, Turn butts over
8:30AM briskets wrap in foil after 180 deg - turn butts
Cook briskets to 200 and butts to 190 - then holding cooler.
--------------
Ribs
8AM on top rack 3 slabs baby backs cook 275 deg 3 to 4 hours
looking for them to bend in middle but not break
when done wrap and place in cooler

Chicken
10 AM bottom shelf Cook legs and thighs, cut apart
170 internal in thigh. Start at 275 and when ribs go off,
turn pit wide open to finish chicken.

How do you achieve 225 degrees with the FE's? Did the older models have a 225 setting? Mine appears to have a 180 and a 250 setting.

When I ordered my FE100 it had a control similar to or like yours, as best I can tell. I never saw it because I knew from the Traeger web site that there was a digital option and I had it installed before it was shipped from Fast Eddy. That cost me an additional $100. Mine has OFF, Smoke, 225, 250, 275, 300, etc. to 450.

Peter

I'll call Cookshack on Monday.

I think I have the Off, Smoke, 180, 250, 275, 325, 375, something and maxing out at 450.

Eddy, are we talking about the same control or is another one available.

I have the same one you do, BAM. Definitely different from the one Pete has. I DO wish I had the 225 setting, followed by 25 degree increments. Let me know what you find out from CS.

I'll post my findings.

I just checked out Traeger's site and I see the difference.

Is this also the new digital thermostat that comes on all new FE's?

Eddy suggest that you wrap your Brisket at the end , this might be your solution to the over cooked texture that you are getting on your Brisket.

Saw that post previously in another post, so I was looking for comments from others who do a brisket, if they have similar issues.

Appreciate FE's method, I'm not a foiling kind of guy.

Just looking for comments about brisket.

I'd suggest a new thread if you want to talk about the digital controls. What happens, when you talk about different threads, they tend to get lost when I move them to an archive.

We use a Cookshack 350 and do a few hundred pounds of brisket each week. We rub it, put it fat side up, set it for 12 hours at 225 and walk away. It's always 'choice or better' certified Angus beef, always with the same rub.

We've done this every week for more than a year and it's always turned out perfect. The last few weeks, however, we've noticed the same problem. The bottom seems to develop an inedible hard crust (not bark) about a 1/4 inch thick. It's baffling because we've never had this problem before and we haven't changed a thing that we can think of... same wood, same settings, same meat, same rub. We were hoping that someone could take a guess at what's going on or what might be happening in the process that we're not catching.

Since it's not an FE issue, the question might get lost in the thread. I'll move it to the "brisket" section with a new heading so we can discuss there.