OT: BBQ Smoked Brisket Opinions. Offset vs. Pellet Smoker?
by NDinVA 
, Yorktown, VA, Sunday, March 29, 2026, 06:44 (6 days ago)
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I smoked for a bit. I mostly enjoyed it. But I just prefer
by BillyGoat , At Thanksgiving with Joe Bethersontin, Monday, March 30, 2026, 08:02 (5 days ago) @ NDinVA
more activity when I'm cooking. And an absolutely incredible BBQ place opened by me in the NW suburbs of Chicago, and it's just not worth bothering trying to make it at home any more.
OT - but I got a hot tip from Aaron Franklin himself...
For those of you who might buy a frozen brisket from Goldbelly or the like to heat up in the oven or via sous vis - he said to heat to an internal temp of 141... no higher and no lower - to restore to restaurant quality. The USDA makes them include reheating instructions to an internal temperature of 165, but doing so will completely dry the brisket out. So don't listen to those government clowns.
Great tip. Thanks
by NDinVA , Yorktown, VA, Monday, March 30, 2026, 12:47 (5 days ago) @ atxND
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Are you interested in the process or the end result?
by ReginaldVelJohnson , Sunday, March 29, 2026, 07:58 (6 days ago) @ NDinVA
A stick-burning offset is certainly the traditional way. But you also have to be into the process of getting it there. There are other method (including pellet smokers) that will get you near-similar results but be a lot less effort.
Personally, I'd buy the thing that will get the most routine use. I'd love an offset stick burner, but it's not worth it for the few times a year I'd have the time/energy to fire it up. So I have a vertical smoker with a automatic billows. Pretty much the same "set and forget" as a pellet smoker but I think it turns out a slightly better product. And when Indiana brisket, I'll often do an oven finish which speeds things up.
If you want to get wild, Chris Young had a video that supposedly will get you respectable results in 6 hours. (Sidenote: His content is great in general. I use his chicken stock recipe regularly. And the "cryosear" method for steaks is a winner too.)
End Result.
by NDinVA , Yorktown, VA, Sunday, March 29, 2026, 18:05 (5 days ago) @ ReginaldVelJohnson
I’ve owned an Oklahoma Joe pit smoker for about 5 years, but rarely used it. I just don’t have the stamina any more to stay up for 18-24 hours baby sitting the fire box.
I was given a Traeger recently for my birthday and suspect I”ll use this a lot more. It’s so much easier it feels like cheating.
I was just wondering what the BBQ experts on the board think of the end result of a pellet-smoked vs a stick-smoked brisket.
People who eat a lot of brisket might be able to tell
by ReginaldVelJohnson , Monday, March 30, 2026, 08:57 (5 days ago) @ NDinVA
the difference. Your average eater probably not. I'd like to think I could, but I don't know that I've ever done a blind comparison.
The knock on pellet smokers (at least previously) is that they don't let you control the smoke to the same degree. That's why some people add extra smoke tubes, or some of the newer models have enhanced some settings. The benefit is that it's a lot harder to mess up a brisket on a pellet than it is a stick burner (for the average cook). The time you are going to notice a difference is if you end up with a crappy cook on the stick burner. So for a pro, or someone who does it a lot who knows how their pit behaves, that risk is mitigated. But for everyone else, it may make sense to take the lower ceiling, higher floor approach.
That being said, if you have a pit barrel cooker, you can potentially get the best of both worlds with a billows. After using a homemade version, I moved to a Fireboard which works well for me. Basically turns a charcoal smoker into the set it and forget it convenience of an oven or pellet smoker. Like you, I don't like to plan out 12+ hour cooks anymore. With this, I set it up right before I go to bed and can get about 8 hours without having to touch it. Wake up, then finish it wrapped in the oven and hold either in a warm oven or cooler with towels. The cooler will get you at least 4 more hours of holding (and honestly tastes even better).
While the wrapping and oven finishing has downsides (like a softer bark), 98% of people don't know the difference (or care). And the reduction in hassle is worth it. People have supposedly studied this, and the brisket stops absorbing smoke after like 6-8 hours. So anything after that in the smoker is just to finish cooking it and not for flavor. This also allows me to free up the smoker to cook other stuff, as I'm usually doing a brisket for some form of party. So while the brisket is in the oven finishing, I'm getting the smoker ready for cream cheese, chicken, etc. which will finish in a few hours.
Wish I hadn't watched that video.
by domer.mq 
, Sunday, March 29, 2026, 08:39 (6 days ago) @ ReginaldVelJohnson
B/c 1) Absolutely loved all the science and math and charts and 2) Now I need to try that, and I don't usually have even 6 hours to do this stuff.
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Sometimes I rhyme slow sometimes I rhyme quick.
Ha! Then don't go down the rabbit hole of his YT channel.
by ReginaldVelJohnson , Sunday, March 29, 2026, 14:21 (6 days ago) @ domer.mq
Because they're all like that. Think it would be impossible to make an engaging 45 minute video on the science of making chicken stock? Not so fast, my friend. He did it.