Lyfe Tyme Wood Fired Brisket


7/5/14 - I bought this Lyfe Tyme pit for one reason: wood fired barbeque.  Up until now I have used charcoal for my heat source and wood chunks for smoke flavor.  My focus has been on controlling temperature and charcoal works very well.  I use a chimney starter so I can measure whole or half chimneys of charcoal.  I use an old Weber Smokey Joe as a base to set the starter on.

Since I have not set the backyard on fire yet, I think it works well.  With firebox vent at half open and stack at half open my pit averages around 230F to 250F.  I have had the pit for a year now.  Time to grow up. Charcoal is for wimps.  Real pit men use wood.  Cave men use wood.  I want to be a cave man.

The problem I have with wood is the wood.  My firebox is limited by two support bars for grill. They are only about 13" apart.  I have had little luck finding wood that will fit inside my firebox.  I have managed to collect a lot of smoke wood too big for my pit.  Without a chainsaw (birthday gift anyone?), I have not found a good way to cut it to size.

But wait, they have now started to sell mini logs at local groceries (H.E.B) and sporting goods stores  (Academy).  These babies are 8 to 10 inches long.  Perfect!

They are not "seasoned" naturally so I have concerns about being too green.  I found these at Academy. They are kiln dried.  Good enough for me since no one has bought me a chainsaw for Christmas.

The wife bought me a guilt brisket while she took off to Galveston with her girlfriends for the entire weekend and left me with the 5 year old.  It was a 6 lb trimmed brisket.  Not a whole packer brisket but who am I to judge? I rubbed it with kosher salt and course ground black pepper.  I have some fancy store bought rubs.  I have made my own fancy rubs.  When it comes to slow cooking for hours and hours.  The only flavors that remain are salt and pepper.  The rest are just.....fancy.

I am not interested in building a camp fire.  I want the pit to heat up fast and I want the wood to catch fire fast.  Therefore I used a full chimney of charcoal. I put the brisket on the pit and charcoal in the fire box.  Pit temp reached 220F in 15 minutes.  Once the coals started fading and temp started dropping (235F), I put the first mini log on.  Temp reached 262F in 15 minutes and held for 30 minutes.  I then flipped it and it flashed burned and temp hit 285 and died fast.  I put another mini log on those smoldering coals and repeated for the next 9 hours.  Finally the brisket hit the magic 196F and i pulled it off.  Using the coals of the previous mini log to light the next mini log keptan average temp of 248F over 9 hours.

The trimmed brisket split at both ends.  Weird.  But hey, now I have more burnt ends!

Brisket:  Very Good.  5/16 in smoke ring.  Tested a little tough of tender.  Did not hit that sweet spot and used a knife.  Fat rendered well and was smokey good.  Rub came through and added that extra zip to overall flavor.  No sauce needed.