Update 1 - 2:15am - Alrighty! The smoker is put together and I am waiting for it to come to temp at 220. I put some nomex seal on the WSM door and seems to stop the air leaking out of there.
I am using the modified minion method I used in my test burn a few weekends ago. All I do is light the weber starter cube (LOVE THOSE THINGS) and let the ATC bring the smoker to temp.
Brisket is rubbed with a pre-made Salt Lick rub:
Update 2 - 2:35am - Smoker is up to temp and brisket is now on. I decided to smoke a little lower at 210 as I want to eat around 5-6pm tomorrow and this is only a ~8lb brisket. HeaterMeter brought it up to 210 but it is still rising slowly. Im going to watch for a few minutes before heading to bed. I readjusted wood to make sure it burns at different time as the fire spreads through the coals. I am now setting the alarm on PitDroid and the text message alarms with Tasker alarm on the HeterMeter and phone. I plan to sleep until I get a warning that the brisket is at 150 OR the smoker goes below 190 and above 250.
Update 3 - 3:03am - Smoker has stabalized to 210 +/- a few degrees for 30 minutes or so. I am satisfied. Time to go to bed.
Update 4 - 5:55am - I am woken up by alarms from both PitDroid and Tasker. Brisket has reached internal temp of 150. That took about 3.5 hours. It is cooking faster than anticipated. Took the brisket out and it doesn't smell very smokey. I look into the coals and all but one of the large pieces or wood are burned up. Doesn't quite have the bark I am looking for. I am not sure it got enough smoke. Now it is time for the stall. I Texas crutch the brisket in foil with some beef broth, apple juice, and a little Worcestershire sauce. I decide to add more water to the pan. In the process of adding water, checking wood, and putting the brisket back on, the temps shoot up to 270 degrees. I put the lid back on and I am waiting for temps to lower below 250 so I can set alarms and go back to bed. Finally dropped to around 240 and I decide it is time to go back to sleep.
Update 5 - 11:20am - I finally decide to roll out of bed. Brisket is at 190. I checked it to see how easy the probe goes through it. Still not done I do not think. Going to check around 195.
Update 6 - 11:40am - After opening the lid to check the done-ness of the brisket, the smoker is steadily falling in temp and can't seem to recover. I am willing to bet it is out of coals. I have turned on the oven at 220 to finish the cook since I don't feel like opening a new bag of charcoal.
Update 7 - 12:20pm - I finally transferred the brisket to a new foil pan to put in the oven. The foil I had wrapped around the brisket was starting to leak after I moved it off the grate. There was a LOT of liquid inside the foil. Probably 2.5 pints worth. The brisket was half submersed. I am thinking that I am adding too much liquid when I am crutching the brisket. There shouldn't be that much should there?
I also noticed a lot of ash on top of the foil. All I could think of is this would have ended up on a pork butt since I do not foil them. This seems to be more than I should be getting. Is the fan kicking this all up? Should I lower the max fan speed from 50% to 25% ?
Update 8 - 2:30pm - I had to go grocery shopping to buy food for our meal plan for next week and a few things for tonight to make bourbon baked beans. Using PitDroid, I monitored the temp of the meat in the oven from the grocery store. Came home and a few minutes later it hit 200 degrees. I slid the probe through the meat and it was very smooth with little resistance. Since the meat was going to be foil wrapped and in a faux cambro for 3 hours, I decided to go ahead and pull it now so it didnt over cook while resting.
Not sure if people know what I mean by a "faux cambro". Its an idea from Meathead at Amazingribs.com -
http://amazingribs.com/tips_and_technique/faux_cambro.html. You take a cooler and I fill it 1/4 full with hot tap water. I let it sit 15-20 minutes and let it steam and heat the cooler. Then you empty the water and place your brisket, wrapped in foil, wrapped in towels and close the lid. The foil and towels insulate the brisket while the heat in the cooler keeps it even warmer.
But luckily I have a few Et732 meat probes and I will sub one of those. I attend to use text message alert on the heatmeter and the alarm in PitDroid to wake me up if anything bad happens. I will update will pictures and results tomorrow morning.
