UPDATE: Several people have called me out for attempting to claim credit for this idea. That was not my intention. For context, I've been doing this for a long time and many ideas come and go over the years. After my steam injection video, no fewer than 10 people mentioned this idea to me, an idea I and many others out there already had. It's not a unique idea, and it's definitely not uniquely mine. That being said, I did watch this video again and I agree that I should have mentioned that viewers also brought up this idea with me. My bad and my apologies! I will be more thoughtful in the future.
Dude. I love how you still rock your low tier smokers. Just goes to show that a chef will make a delicious meal despite their tools. I just bought an OkJs longhorn and I’m still figuring it out. Right now I can get 15ish minutes of clean fire until I have to throw in another split.
I recently found your channel and I feel (sort-of) confident now to cook on my husband's offset smoker for Father's Day. No matter how it turns out, you're a rockstar and I really appreciate your videos and I have learned so much!
I definitely appreciate your videos! you bring a perspective from angles I would never have thought of and the data points whether expressed in voice or graphs is very INFORMATIONAL.
Thanks for your videos- I actually reference your videos and Mad Sci BBQ during each of my cooks, almost like Cliff Notes, because I still don't have a log book yet or have my temps fully memorized.
I criticised you previously for being obsessed with creating a Franklin's brisket, I am very pleased you have departed from that in recent weeks and have made videos that I find interesting and enjoyable again.
Awesome video! If you were looking for more steam compared to the steam injection version I would suggest decreasing the water levels in the pans. That way you can get less heat absorption. Maybe worth a try? Thanks for the video!
Another great video. I again can't thank you enough for helping me develop the best brisket cooking method ever. Every brisket every time. Amazing taste, tenderness, bite, pull, and bend. I know you got a channel to manage and always need new content, but you developed the perfect brisket awhile ago. Lol. Good job. Keep up the good work. I can't wait till you discover bullion.
Try smoking the brisket with mesquite wood. I know all the professional cooks use oak, but an average Texan uses mesquite wood. Mesquite is a very bold and flavorful smoke and it can be challenging to find the balance but well worth it. Now it could be that we average Texans use mesquite because it is readily available and relatively cheap here, but we love it all the same.
Mesquite requires a different cooking strategy. One must run very clean fire, using small logs and wrap briskets early, in order to avoid kerosene like flavor. I have smoked with mesquite, other times ran mesquite for couple hours before switching to post oak. I prefer doing the latter, cause most of the time I prefer not to wrap.
Mesquite typically has a big, bold, intense, and earthy flavor. It burns quickly and produces plenty of smoke. So yes like I said you have to find a balance, but that's true with all the wood you use the first time. But there is a reason we Texans like it, but then again maybe we Texans just do things bigger and better. 🤣 It could also be that we grew up with it so it could be an acquired taste. 🤔 It's still worth a try in my book.
Outcome of this cook has more implications for other meats. Your control is basically my smoker setup for briskets. Your experiment gave me insight into another approach of smoking lake trout and whitefish. Flatter, lower temp for thinner protein. If it isn't a consumer product already, some one should design a humidity gauge same as aftermarket temp guages for offsets. It be nice to know the humidity ranges we're dealing with.
I can't wait to try this technique on my LSG 20x42" because it virtually refuses to run below 270. When I can get it down to 250 or lower it's almost always white smoke. You may have just stumbled onto a game changing BBQ hack! Thanks!
Awesome video! I have a outdoor gourmet smoker from academy. I leave the ash tray at the bottom, cover it with foil. Then put a water pan on it close to the hole where the smoke comes in and it has made my smoker run same temps throughout it.
I sent the steam injection video out to everyone I know in the New School BBQ community and they all thought a water pan would do the same, but I would have to say that this once again proves your steam injection technique is a game changer. Great stuff!
@@SmokeTrailsBBQ I hope you patent the process at the very least. Products for it can come later. I did a little research on this and no one has done what you are doing on this scale. The closest was a company back in 2015 that had steam injection for industrial sized restaurant smokers and a single discussion out on a forum back in 2021 with someone wanting to try it on a reverse flow smoker.
One thing to consider is the steam wand creates alot of convection in the cook chamber compared to water pan in firebox. That could be whats driving the strong results with the steam wand.
It would be an interesting experiment, after wrapping in butcher paper, to wrap in cling film which would keep all moisture in, and one wrap of aluminum foil to protect and long hold. Like all the testing you do! Thanks for another good video.
How about a kettle that would boil on top of the fire box, and then use copper tubing to route the steam into the same port that you made for the steamer?
I've found that water pan above fire really shines on vertical stickburners (not offset) where fire is directly underneath the food. As you were saying, it helps supress and even temp that can be tough to do on direct stickburner which tend to run hotter
Your hat says “bbq freak” I’d say from your videos it’s more of “brisket freak”! How maybe different brisket cooks have you done? Definitely the most I’ve every seen on any other RU-vidr!
@@SmokeTrailsBBQ your crazy but in a good way! Haha how much left over do your have or how much to you give away! Family/neighbours. You could have a bbq food bank and feed the homeless lol
@@SmokeTrailsBBQ any more attempts with the steamer? Seems it’s the same concept but on steroids… I have it in my amazon cart but haven’t pulled the trigger yet.
It seems as though the lower temp longer help to render callogen in the brisket better; allowing it to pull apart easier. I've noticed I get more steam in my smoker when my water pan is close to empty. Maybe less water to create more steam?
Thx again Steve. I'm the one who tried steam in my pellet smoker and it didn't shorten the cook. Seems like boiling water would work as well as steam, so i am wondering if the steam machine short cook time was a fluke. Would you consider a repeat of that experiment? And perhaps a variation in your pellet smoker? Thanks again, Scott
Hi Scott, I also tried it in my pellet smoker and didn't get any different results. I have another video coming out soon where I steam injected with ribs. Others who are trying the steam injection on their offset smokers are reporting the same results I had, so it may only work with the high convection of an offset.
Nice experiment.. i like tinkering with my cookers as well.. anywhaaay.. ur thoughts on supressing the heat in the box an eye opener .. i wonder if the difference between this and the steamer setup is where in the cook chamber U introduce the water or could it be the finer mist much like a carburetor atomizing fuel into the system... Hmmmm.. more experiments pleez.. hehe.. thanks again on another thought provoking video
Just came across your channel as well. Excellent video here! I have wondered about this technique but didn't want to waste time, money, meat and effort on an experiment as such... Great review of the techniques and I learned a good trick to help keep pit temp lowered! Keep up the great work!
@@SmokeTrailsBBQ Interestingly the steam it generate seems to suppress the heat... I think this method has potential to be develop. Potentially lowering the pot of water closer to the fire might bring the boiling more rapidly, maybe. But what I've seen here, it definitely need more charcoal/wood to generate more heat in order to match the usual smoking temp. I can't wait to see how you develop and try it out myself too
easier temp control makes sense. same thing as a cast iron skillet. Same with the steam injection, steam is already at 212, water phase change takes a Lot of energy. Wonder what you would get using apple juice or something.
Interesting that the boiling water did not improve in the bark formation. Your concoction of pushing steam into the cook chamber was miles ahead. Great work.
I have a couple theories. The steam cleaner pushes a higher volume of water through the system in general. It's also heated separately and all the moisture is directed over top of the brisket. But my gut feeling is it is just the sheer volume of water going through it. Higher humidity than just a pan of boiling water.
@@SmokeTrailsBBQ Maybe with the steam you are just getting way more BTUs of heat into the cooking chamber? Also, the moisture is going to transfer more energy/BTUs to the meat as it condenenses on the meat (latent heat of vaporization?)
I unfortunately cannot afford to kill a chest freezer for a steam holding chest, but I did keep two briskets in my Sous Vide for an event and it turned out great. Bark did not fall off like I thought it might, and that long hold made sure ALL the fat was rendered. I probably would have just thrown them into a cooler if it had not been for your videos. Thank you.
You can use a cooler with a sous vide device aswell. I have used this method with a heating element and a PID controller for over a decade for steaming Pastrami.
I'm thinking the quantity of water was the major factor here. Those pans were kinda simmering, which probably didn't yield a ton of steam, but still poached the lions share of the heat from the fire. I'm wondering if you can make a feeder bottle setup into a smaller pan that gets screaming hot without sapping too much heat from the fire box. Thinking like a self regulating dog water dish setup which maintains 1/2" in a modest size pan all the time so its at a rolling boil. More steam, less heat absorbing. I still think you're on to something here!!
Another good video. I always use a water pan, either under or to the side. But never put it right over the fire like that. How many times did you have to refill the water?
Thoughts on somehow using a stainless steel tube coming out of some sort of water vessel that is on TOP of the fire (like where you usually put your wood) so that the steam gets into the smoker that way? I feel like that wouldn’t make the temperatures be so low in the cook chamber since the water is not directly above the fire, instead you’re relying on the radiant heat of the fire. You can still add wood from the air vent on the side. Just don’t open the lid anymore.
@@SmokeTrailsBBQ if I find an older smoker that I don’t care about drilling into, I might try to see if I can emulate this. Your videos really helped me go from 0 to hero here on the BBQ side. I started watching your stuff since your videos on firebox management when I was given a hand-me down offset smoker. It’s super cool to see the evolution of your videos and while I don’t have the time to devote to experiments, I’m happy to watch you go through them. Thank you so much!
Hi! I love your videos. In the experiment with boiling water there was more than one variable since the temperature decreased the cooking temperature. The lower temperature increased the cooking time and the higher humidity probably decreased it for a roughly same cook time. You might want to cook at the same temperature and have just one variable being the humidity. I live at sea level very neat the ocean and the humidity from weather variations seems to impact my cooks.
So out of curiosity, and I was hoping you were going to touch on it at the end of the experiment, what do you think made so much of a difference in smoke flavor, juiciness, and cook time when you injected steam directly into the cook chamber vs the way you did it in this video?
I noticed smoking salmon at really low temps 160°-180° that on my pellet grill, with a water pan full of boiling water, I am getting really steady temps- lower than what I would get without a water pan. Oddly I am getting water coming out into my drip pan.
13:52 Were you opening the control firebox as often as the test? Because if you're topping off the water every 15 minutes, that might've contributed to the experimental smoker's temp staying lower. Thanks for the video!
@@SmokeTrailsBBQ I put an forced air injection system on my 22” WSM and I haven’t touched my offset since. Its basically set it and forget it now but with that real wood smoke flavor.
@@SmokeTrailsBBQ the 22 is frickin awesome. Pitmaster IQ, way better door system. Mounted the lid with a hinge. I can run it for 20hrs with one load of fuel and I add big chunks of whatever wood I’m using throughout the cook. Best part is, I can get it to maintain 150° for the long rests too. Dammit, now I need to smoke a brisket this weekend.
Wait, why did the steam injection help but the boiling water have no difference in result, not intense enough? Would this help in a WSM18? I don't understand why everyone doesn't use their water pans. Is it because offset has much more airflow and so the environment benefits from a water pan?
I couldn't helped but notice, there was a dramatic color diffrence between the water in the water pans, the control was dark orange brown and the extra streamy was yellow, another thing I was thinking the color must be smoke! So you might actually be losing quite a bit of smoke. Whatcha think?
Maybe, I'm not sure how much of the flavor carries through the steam or just ends up as a crusty solid on the bottom of the pan after the water evaporates.
@@SmokeTrailsBBQ thanks for the quick response. I wonder if it did raise the air moisture content in the smoker? You are an inspiration. I have an Oklahoma joes offset.
Yes. There's something called the Orion cooker which kind of does that. Problem is to pressure cook you need a sealed environment which is not great for smoking.
@@SmokeTrailsBBQ perhaps a brisket could be done in the smoker then finished in the pressure cooker then smoked again to give it bark? seems like the steam thing is along the lines of pressure cooking. If you can break down the briskets fibres quickly then perhaps we don't need to smoke for many hours and can achieve the same result in 2 or 3.
too much of the energy of the fire was being used to heat the water and acted as a giant heat sync where the steamer was an outside source. i also think that the convective properties of the offset werent as useful to carry the steam into the cook chamber with the smoke with these giant pan changing the air flow, where with the steamer its pumped into the airstream and carried with it. but ultimately id be curious if you could even guesstimate the amount of water user in each experiment. Maybe one of the experiments will be getting a humidity sensor and seeing what % humidity works best. Question about the steamer, is it a steamer or is it diffusing, id be tempted to put some fluids through it like soy sauce, hot sauce or Worchester sauce
It's a steamer. Yea I think you are bang on. Exactly what I was thinking. I think I used alot more water in the steamer than in the water pan experiment. So sheer volume of water. And yes, it was already heated steam injected into a hot convective current whereas here the current may have been changed by the heat sink. I'll set up my wet bulb and dry bulb next time to measure humidity.
Interesting video. I have a Weber Smokey Mountain, would putting water in the water pan have the same effect as your putting the boiling water in the fire box? Also, I have a AAA Harmony Beef brisket from Costco, is that the same as the briskets you're using in this video? Thanks. Love your videos!
What do you do with this much brisket? I eat mine for 3 days but I can never finish one I’m always giving some away but I might cook a brisket once a month not 4 a week 😂
Soo.....the takehome message is: get a steam injector and drill a hole in your offset??! How did these compare to the steam injected brisket a few weeks ago?
I want to thank you for buying all this meat and trying all these experiments so we don't have to. Im lucky if i can smoke 2 briskets a year. You're smoking these things 2 at a time every week! What do you do with all that cooked meat?
Some save there fat trimmings and render in the smoker. This is likely to enhance the tallow (rendering) with the smoke flavor. I haven't tried it, but I cringe with the amount of trim coming off a brisket. I'll try rendering my own next brisket cook.
Lol literally took my idea and didn’t give any credit. Which makes sense the bbq community is all about stealing other people’s ideas and passing them as your own like you’re a hero or genius.
I’ve been doing this for years, so you actually stole my idea. But seriously, you act like this isn’t an obvious, logical thing to do. Literally get over yourself.
Im assuming you commented with your idea on a prior video but let me know if we had some other exchange. To put things in perspective, over 20 people asked me to do an experiment with this idea or something similar. It was such a widespread idea that i didn't even think to credit any one person, nor do i honestly recall who had what idea or when. I'm sorry you feel ripped off. That was not my intention. Thank you for watching my videos and being part of the community as always!
