14.5 lb brisket, no snake on the 22 Performer

Last week's cook was pork with the coals Snaked out. Yesterday I used a basket (expanded metal) of coals with a Minion start like a WSM.

The brisket was a 14.5 lb Sterling Silver brisket. Sterling Silver is supposed to be upper Choice to lower Prime quality.

The brisket went from one end of the grate to the other side with maybe a 1/2 inch or so to spare on each side.

5:45am meat is on
6:45am, Performer thermometer up to 290, shut down all bottom vents, I removed the gas assist igniter last week, and this week left it open, so at this point the only entry air is the 3/4 inch hole left by the igniter.
The temps settled down to 250-270 at the Performer thermo and eventually closer to 250 (didn't touch vents from this time)
10:30 to 11:00am meat temps around 160, foiled it up
1pm removed and checked meat, fork tender and about 195-200 in a couple of different spots, rested in a Cambro for a couple of hours

Used the juices collected in the pan and foil, defatted and mixed with bbq sauce. Turned out pretty good, the flat was tender under the point and less so near the end.

It cooked faster than I thought and I need to check the Performer thermometer.

In general, for me the less fiddling with anything the better. In comparison to the Snake method the basket of coals is harder to keep at a lower temp. Once the coals get going it's harder to settle them back down.. so it may take a couple of tries to get it dialed in. I prefer the basket of coals because I think it provides a more even heat source. With the Snake it has hot spots so heat is coming up from just one area at a time. In this case it helps to rotate the grate, food, and or lid to mitigate the hot spot.

14 inch Basket of Coals (same as 18 WSM)


Foiled at 160ish after shrinking up some.

looks great. interesting idea on how to set that up

The brisket cooked fast... Nice color in.

Looks really good. I like these posts that try different ways to cook bbq on the kettles. As far as temp control goes, you may want to seal off the gas assist hole as it was letting in a good bit of air.

J. I'm curious, what type of foiled pan did you use and did it just rest on the charcoal basket? Looks really good I'd like to try that method.

J Reyes said:

In comparison to the Snake method the basket of coals is harder to keep at a lower temp. Once the coals get going it's harder to settle them back down.. so it may take a couple of tries to get it dialed in. I prefer the basket of coals because I think it provides a more even heat source. With the Snake it has hot spots so heat is coming up from just one area at a time. In this case it helps to rotate the grate, food, and or lid to mitigate the hot spot.

Click to expand...

Great stab at closing the WSM-Kettle gap, which I see more people trying these days. There are two main stumbling blocks that I can see.
1. When trying the basket method, as you've tried, there still isn't enough distance between the cooking grate and charcoal grate for either extended cook times or adequate heat dissipation. It's choose one or the other. Smaller qty of coals = more baby-sitting (adding fuel, etc.). Larger qty of coals = longer cook times (perhaps), but due to the close proximity to the coals, more temperature control issues.

2. The snake method produces hot spots, as you've noted, and requires frequent meat rotation to avoid those spots.

If only weber made the coal-cooking grate distance an inch-and-a-half larger.

Barry, that was the only air source. I may use some foil tape to make is smaller. But yes it doesn't take much of an air inlet to keep the coals going. I think my mistake is I didn't choke the fire down by closing the bottom vents earlier. Closing the bottom vents all the way and then using foil tape to control the gas assist hole might help control the temps better.

Rich, I described the pan in my last week’s post. It is an aluminum pan 18 inches round and about 1.75 inches deep (with sand) and yes it sets right on the basket. An 18 inch deep dish pizza pan would also work.

W Tyler, I dropped the charcoal grate about 2 inches by using a charcoal grate from an 18 inch kettle which is 14 inches. This allowed the pan to fit on the basket below the grill. it seems to fit OK.

I think the temp control thing is because there is very little space/volume in a kettle compared to a 22 WSM to heat up and thus it takes only a few lit coals at a time to get to the 250-300 temp range. The basket if not controlled on the ramp up can overshoot and then it's not easy to get back down under control. Maybe with better air management on the ramp up or a pan full of water could help manage temps better.

J Reyes said:

Last week's cook was pork with the coals Snaked out. Yesterday I used a basket (expanded metal) of coals with a Minion start like a WSM.

The brisket was a 14.5 lb Sterling Silver brisket. Sterling Silver is supposed to be upper Choice to lower Prime quality.

The brisket went from one end of the grate to the other side with maybe a 1/2 inch or so to spare on each side.

5:45am meat is on
6:45am, Performer thermometer up to 290, shut down all bottom vents, I removed the gas assist igniter last week, and this week left it open, so at this point the only entry air is the 3/4 inch hole left by the igniter.
The temps settled down to 250-270 at the Performer thermo and eventually closer to 250 (didn't touch vents from this time)
10:30 to 11:00am meat temps around 160, foiled it up
1pm removed and checked meat, fork tender and about 195-200 in a couple of different spots, rested in a Cambro for a couple of hours

Used the juices collected in the pan and foil, defatted and mixed with bbq sauce. Turned out pretty good, the flat was tender under the point and less so near the end.

It cooked faster than I thought and I need to check the Performer thermometer.

In general, for me the less fiddling with anything the better. In comparison to the Snake method the basket of coals is harder to keep at a lower temp. Once the coals get going it's harder to settle them back down.. so it may take a couple of tries to get it dialed in. I prefer the basket of coals because I think it provides a more even heat source. With the Snake it has hot spots so heat is coming up from just one area at a time. In this case it helps to rotate the grate, food, and or lid to mitigate the hot spot.

14 inch Basket of Coals (same as 18 WSM)

Foiled at 160ish after shrinking up some.

Click to expand...

Looks great. I like how you tweak the kettle; thanks for sharing, I am always looking to expand this awesome experience called bbq.....

Wow that brisket looks good.I used a setup like that for years,basket for coals and a foiled pizza pan.When I discovered the "snake method" a while back I never looked back.it is so easy and less babying.Thats what makes this hobby so much fun ...experimenting with different ideas.I would sure like to see that brisket sliced.

J Reyes said:

Tyler, I dropped the charcoal grate about 2 inches by using a charcoal grate from an 18 inch kettle which is 14 inches. This allowed the pan to fit on the basket below the grill. it seems to fit OK.

I think the temp control thing is because there is very little space/volume in a kettle compared to a 22 WSM to heat up and thus it takes only a few lit coals at a time to get to the 250-300 temp range. The basket if not controlled on the ramp up can overshoot and then it's not easy to get back down under control. Maybe with better air management on the ramp up or a pan full of water could help manage temps better.

Click to expand...

The 26 has greater volume. I manage my temps for LNS in three ways. My bottom vents are usually set at 1/4 open. I have Nomex around the underside of the lid and I use wooden dowel plugs to control the top vent. The reason I do this is to be more precise in my settings and to force the smoke to stay in the kettle longer. In other words instead of having 4 vents open at 50% I block the two closet to the centre.
Since them I have added two more vents further to the outside generating a cross flow. This kettle smokes very well.
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Gary S said:

The 26 has greater volume. I manage my temps for LNS in three ways. My bottom vents are usually set at 1/4 open. I have Nomex around the underside of the lid and I use wooden dowel plugs to control the top vent. The reason I do this is to be more precise in my settings and to force the smoke to stay in the kettle longer. In other words instead of having 4 vents open at 50% I block the two closet to the centre.
Since them I have added two more vents further to the outside generating a cross flow. This kettle smokes very well.

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Click to expand...

Wooden dowels, that's a great idea. I will try that on my next pork shoulder. Thanks.