MickHLR
TVWBB Fan
Been smoking briskets forever on offset stick burners. Always smoked briskets at 275*-300* and usually done in 8 hours. Never a problem, always turned out good...hardly ever stalled. But, I got to hearing so many people on here talking about low and slow with the WSM, I thought I'd try it on my new 22.5 WSM. So, I practiced for two weekends on a pork shoulder and a butt...and they both turned out great, so I was ready to give a brisket a shot. I had a 15 lb choice brisket, rubbed it up with salt and pepper only...normal stuff. Started the WSM at 9:00pm last Friday night, threw the brisket on at 10:00, after I finally got TBS...and the grate temp was 230*. I used about one and half of my normal post oak splits, cut up into smaller chunks...4 chunks on a bottom layer of Kingsford and 3 chunks on top. Then poured in about 1/3 chimney of lit coals.
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Went back out to check on it at 8:00 the next morning. It had been on the smoker for 11 hours, and the Auber had held it right at 230* all night. Yep, not only going from a stick burner to a WSM, but going high-tech as well, letting the Auber control the temps for me all night. And, I must say it does a fantastic job. But, at 8:00am Saturday, we were still in the stall, with an internal temp of 165*. I checked on the temp at 2:00am with the Maverick and it was 164* then...so, it had been in the stall for 6 hours already. I opened up the charcoal door and threw in about 7-8 double handfuls of charcoal, and left it alone. It wasn't but just a couple of minutes until the internal temp started creeping up from 165*...but to get from there to 200* internal, it took 7 more hours. I have actually smoked briskets from start to finish in 7 hours when going hot and fast. Anyway, it finally got to 200* internal at 3:00pm. The reason I have two grate temp probes in this pic is because I was ensuring the Maverick and the Auber were on the same page...and they were...never more than 2 degrees off either way. I knew when I picked up the brisket it was going to be good, as I had that good jiggly-jello feeling.
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Wrapped it up and put it in an ice chest to rest a couple of hours. It was really good...especially the point. I think it was a tad over-cooked though, as you can see below, it wanted to crumble a little when cutting it. It was still juicy and tender, and the point was amazing, but I'm thinking about removing from the WSM at about an internal of 195*-197* next time, just to see if that would fix that little issue. I'm thinking it's either take it off earlier, or wrap it in foil during the stall. Thoughts? I used to wrap it every time, but haven't done that in years. Of course, I'm used to cooking hot and fast on a stick burner, and it's a little different going low and slow on the WSM. I just never could get my old stick burners to run that low. And, I am still learning the WSM...but I do love it, as it's a lot less work than what I'm used to. Plus, it uses so much less wood, for the same smoky-taste, it's amazing. For example, on a 17 hour cook on my old stick burner, not only would I have been worn out from watching it, but it would've used anywhere from 25-30 splits of wood, instead of the 1 1/2 I used for this. I did use a little over a bag of charcoal though, whereas with the stick burner I would've only used about 1/2 chimney, just to get it started...the rest would've all been wood.
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Went back out to check on it at 8:00 the next morning. It had been on the smoker for 11 hours, and the Auber had held it right at 230* all night. Yep, not only going from a stick burner to a WSM, but going high-tech as well, letting the Auber control the temps for me all night. And, I must say it does a fantastic job. But, at 8:00am Saturday, we were still in the stall, with an internal temp of 165*. I checked on the temp at 2:00am with the Maverick and it was 164* then...so, it had been in the stall for 6 hours already. I opened up the charcoal door and threw in about 7-8 double handfuls of charcoal, and left it alone. It wasn't but just a couple of minutes until the internal temp started creeping up from 165*...but to get from there to 200* internal, it took 7 more hours. I have actually smoked briskets from start to finish in 7 hours when going hot and fast. Anyway, it finally got to 200* internal at 3:00pm. The reason I have two grate temp probes in this pic is because I was ensuring the Maverick and the Auber were on the same page...and they were...never more than 2 degrees off either way. I knew when I picked up the brisket it was going to be good, as I had that good jiggly-jello feeling.
Wrapped it up and put it in an ice chest to rest a couple of hours. It was really good...especially the point. I think it was a tad over-cooked though, as you can see below, it wanted to crumble a little when cutting it. It was still juicy and tender, and the point was amazing, but I'm thinking about removing from the WSM at about an internal of 195*-197* next time, just to see if that would fix that little issue. I'm thinking it's either take it off earlier, or wrap it in foil during the stall. Thoughts? I used to wrap it every time, but haven't done that in years. Of course, I'm used to cooking hot and fast on a stick burner, and it's a little different going low and slow on the WSM. I just never could get my old stick burners to run that low. And, I am still learning the WSM...but I do love it, as it's a lot less work than what I'm used to. Plus, it uses so much less wood, for the same smoky-taste, it's amazing. For example, on a 17 hour cook on my old stick burner, not only would I have been worn out from watching it, but it would've used anywhere from 25-30 splits of wood, instead of the 1 1/2 I used for this. I did use a little over a bag of charcoal though, whereas with the stick burner I would've only used about 1/2 chimney, just to get it started...the rest would've all been wood.