CAN NOT OBTAIN A SMOKE RING ON MY BRISKET

[DavidAustinTexas]

CAN NOT OBTAIN A SMOKE RING ON MY BRISKET

Hello everyone and thank you for helping me out here.
I have been cooking briskets for many years on my offset smoker.
I do a lot if cooking for the church and have cooked as many as 14 briskets at one time and have never had a problem with obtaining a smoke ring.
I purchased my new Traeger Ironwood 885 in May 2021 and since then I have cooked 4 briskets.
The reason I purchased a Traeger is that I needed something a little bit more easy on my body as cooking for 12- 15 hours would just wear me out.
I have tried everything (Water Pan, Super Smoke at 210 degrees, prepping my brisket the night before and place it cold inside the Traeger, Very light on the Rub, Using Traeger Oak or Hickory Pellets))

Any advice would be great please as I miss not seeing the smoke ring and more of the smoky flavor in my brisket

Thank you
David

 

[PriceMP5]

CAN NOT OBTAIN A SMOKE RING ON MY BRISKET

Hello everyone and thank you for helping me out here.
I have been cooking briskets for many years on my offset smoker.
I do a lot if cooking for the church and have cooked as many as 14 briskets at one time and have never had a problem with obtaining a smoke ring.
I purchased my new Traeger Ironwood 885 in May 2021 and since then I have cooked 4 briskets.
The reason I purchased a Traeger is that I needed something a little bit more easy on my body as cooking for 12- 15 hours would just wear me out.
I have tried everything (Water Pan, Super Smoke at 210 degrees, prepping my brisket the night before and place it cold inside the Traeger, Very light on the Rub, Using Traeger Oak or Hickory Pellets))

Any advice would be great please as I miss not seeing the smoke ring and more of the smoky flavor in my brisket

Thank you
David

Meat side up or down?

 

[DavidAustinTexas]

Meat side down....Fat side up...

 

[PriceMP5]

That’s part of the reason right there, Meat Church YouTube recently did a brisket series going over fat side up vs down and they explain how it affects the smoke ring.

 

[RustyJake]

Meat side down....Fat side up...

One of Matt Pittman's latest brisket series just talked about this and they did one fat side up and the other fat side down. Fat side down had a smoke ring on the top side. Fat side up didn't have a smoke ring. There wasn't a difference in the smoke flavor between the two.
If smoke ring is your preference, cook fat side down and cook a cold brisket and you should see a smoke ring

 

[DavidAustinTexas]

Perfect, I will cook another brisket tonight or tomorrow morning and report back....thank you all so much for your help and support.

David

 

[RustyJake]

Perfect, I will cook another brisket tonight or tomorrow morning and report back....thank you all so much for your help and support.

David

Remember we are picture people here. Always great to 'see' what other are cooking.
Post your results and observations with some pictures when you are done

 

[CMTiger]

I "think" i recall he got a better ring cooking at 275 than he did when he did the lower and slower method which seems to be what you're doing with the 210.

 

[RustyJake]

Here's some details on the science behind the smoke ring. You don't need smoke to obtain it.
"Mythbusting the Smoke Ring: No Smoke Necessary!" https://amazingribs.com/more-techni...ce/mythbusting-smoke-ring-no-smoke-necessary/

We are visual beings and we eat with our eyes and we love the look of the smoke ring. Great to show off, but we do need to remember that it isn't necessary to have that to have a great result

 

[Slimpicker]

Tips to Help Get a Good Smoke Ring​

my·o·glo·bin
/ˌmīəˈɡlōbən/
a red protein containing heme, which carries and stores oxygen in muscle cells. It is structurally similar to a subunit of hemoglobin.

• Remove the fat cap – Fat does not contain myoglobin. Furthermore, if the nitric oxide and carbon monoxide have to travel through the fat to reach the meat containing the myoglobin, this will hinder the creation of a smoke ring.
• Keep your meat moist – Cooling the surface of the meat by mopping, spritzing and spraying will keep the surface of the meat cool and aid in the condensation of nitric oxide. It will also delay the formation of a bark until later on in the cook. The bark hinders the smoke ring formation. A third advantage is that a moist, sticky surface will ‘grab a hold’ of the nitric oxide and carbon monoxide in the smoke as it wafts past.
• Keep it low and slow – If you cook at high temperatures, the myoglobin will break down before nitric oxide and carbon monoxide get a chance to penetrate the surface of the meat and create the smoke ring.
• Keep your meat in the fridge right up until you’re ready to start cooking it – This will keep the temperature of the meat low. This opens up a larger window of time in which nitric oxide and carbon monoxide can travel into your meat during the cooking process. This allows the pink color to be fixed before the temperature of the meat climbs too high and the myoglobin breaks down.
• More smoke does not equal a better smoke ring – When meat reaches the 140°F mark, it stops taking in smoke. By this we mean that the gases which are responsible for the formation of a smoke ring will not penetrate the meat after it has reached this temperature. Many will wrap their meat at this point to keep it extra juicy.

 

[DavidAustinTexas]

Good Morning Everyone.

Thank you all for your support and help.

Based on all your valuable information I have purchased another Brisket and her name is WAGYU

She is 12.22 pounds and she is beautiful.

I have season her with 2 parts pepper and 1 part salt.

I started the Traeger at 5:30 AM @ 225 with Super Smoke On.

I put the Brisket on at 6:00 AM CST Time with the Fat Cap Down.

The goal is to achieve a beautiful smoke ring

Here are some pictures

Thank you
David

 

[DavidAustinTexas]

Updated Picture....just got done Spritzing the Brisket.....I do it at the top of each hour

 

[DavidAustinTexas]

Updated Picture....

 

[DavidAustinTexas]

Just hit 165 and wrapped the brisket, man it look really good

See attached updated pictures

 

[John S.]

Let’s see that smoke ring … it is looking good….