First Overnighter Tonight - Brisket - Last Minute Tips?

Hi All,

I'm finally getting to my first overnighter tonight with the WSM and a 9lb brisket. I'm doing the below:

Minion - Full ring of RO lump started with 3/4 chimney piping hot.
Wood - 8 pieces of Smokinlicious cherry, 5 buried in the fuel, 3 on top of the hot coals
Water Pan - 1 Quart of hot water to start
Start - Anticipating 10pm
Finish - When it's done (190F foiled in the cooler up to 200ish), aiming for noon to 2pm.

Does anyone see any issues with the above?

Questions:

Should I be prepared to add more fuel? If so, what's the best method?
What is the easiest way to add more water to the pan (18" WSM, not modified)?
May be blasphemy, but does anyone use a finishing sauce on their brisket?

Thanks All,

James

3/4 chimney is too much lit, for me anyway. What temps are you shooting for?

If your going to use water I would fill it full.

I use RO Lump and very rarely have to add any, can get 10-14 hrs easily. I do use the foiled clay method and that uses less fuel, never used lump when I was using the water method. I did use <span class="ev_code_BLUE">K</span> and was able to get 10-14 hrs as well.

You can use any container for refilling, open the lid and carefully pour through the top grate.

I once used beef stock with some worster sauce/ reduced on the stove for a finishing sauce on a bad dry brisket I done and it was great.

I find it much easier to remove the mid section to refuel. Some say not to if your using water, but in my experience if you needed fuel you were low on water as well.

Untill you mount some handles on the mid section you can remove the lid and the top grate with the meat on it which will greatly reduce the weight.

I never had any problems doing that, but I'm a big ole boy. Just be carful and wear gloves!

Good luck to ya!

I don't think you will have to add fuel--kinda hard to know for sure. I use long tongs when I add fuel.

I never put water in the pan anymore (I use a saucer). When I did, I used a water hose kinked so that I could control the flow of water.

Search for the "NO. 5" finishing sauce recipe on here. Easy to make and adds a lot to the brisket IMHO.

Hope some of that helps.

Thanks All. My brisket has actually topped 11 lbs before trimming. I purchased a Beretta Certified Organic brisket, 11.35lbs @ $5.50 / LB (I know, expensive, but I ordered it blind from Loblaws and my wife picked it up). I didn't weigh it, but I think I lost around 1 1/2 lbs trimming. This sucker is over 18" from corner to corner. I'm going to have to shoehorn it in the WSM.

Anyway, I'm off to set up the kit in anticipation of a 9pm EST start. I'm hoping it's done around 3pm latest. This will be my first real long cook with the WSM so I'm hoping not to have issues. I'm worried about lack of heat at 4am when I'm sleep deprived.

FYI, it's now 14C here but it will dip to 5C tonight. No wind and no rain.

I'll keep this thread posted.

James

Sounds like a lot of wood to me, but depends on size of chunk. Get a remote thermometer and get some sleep! Best wishes and let us know about your success!

Gary - The chunks are only about 3 1/2 X 1 1/2 X 1 1/2 from Smokinlicious (2 to a palm). I used 5 on a 6 hour rib cook and they did well (and yes, I overcooked my backs). I will see how these go and report back if it seemed too much.

So, I put the brisket on at 9pm EST after letting the WSM settle in for around 15 minutes. Had to fold the thinner end under as it was too big for the grate. Used a whole ring as noted earlier and about 2/3 of a chimney (great light show when the sparks fly at night, took a few pics). Temp got high at 100% open off the bat, now I'm holding at 240F with 3 vents at around 20%. Outside temp is 11C with no wind. Actually a pretty comfortable night for this. Reminds me of the cottage.

My cheapie supermarket remote therm won't work where I am in the house but I can look out my bedroom window and see the WSM gauge clearly. Now I'm settling in with a few liquid companions to see how the next few hours go then off to bed with hopes of Christmas morning tomorrow.

Maybe a dumb question but, does anyone baste / spritz beef with a beef broth mixture instead of a juice based product?

James

Okay. So this is what has happened so far.

I went to bed around 1am EST and the WSM had been holding strong around 240F since 9pm. I opened my eyes at 5am and saw that my remote was reading 170F. Closed my eyes to figure out what to do (tap legs, add more fuel etc...) and stupidly fell back asleep until 6:30am.

Remote was now at 100F. OH NO !!!

I only had a bit of lump left and the store wasn't open until 8am so I panicked, foiled the brisket and put it in the oven at 235F (internal temp was 140F). It is noon here now and the temp is 180F. I'm going to yank it at 200 and toss it in the cooler for a few hours.

Colour and smell were good but I know I won't get the bark I want in foil in the oven so I'm a little unhappy but I got at least 4+ hours of smoke so I'm hoping it took.

Anyone have any suggestions as why I only got around 7-8 hours out of a full ring of RO lump using 2/3 chimney Minion? I was really hoping to get 10-14 hrs. Note that the fuel (and wood) was all ash so airflow was not the issue.

I'll update again when I finish.

Thanks,

James

for that long you really need to pack the lump in, not just toss it in. are you sure the temps didn't spike due to a coal flare up and burn to quickly ?

I agree with george curtis, I love me some RO Lump! If packed and Minion'd correctly it will go and go and go and go!