Christopher Newkumet
New member
I'm scratching my head after a frustrating smoke this past weekend, and hoping some of you can show me the way back home. Here are the particulars: 22" Weber Smokey Mountain; 13lb trimmed Creekstone Farms (Choice grade) full brisket rubbed with kosher salt and black pepper; inaugural run with Thermoworks Signals probe & Billows fan system; overnight temperatures in the 30s. As have others here on the forum, I ended up with a dried out flat after 18 hours in the smoker, with the internal temp pretty much stalled in the 180s for the last 2-3 hours. I set up the Thermoworks kit, filled the water pan with warm water, and loaded my Weber as per normal (packed pretty well with Kingsford) and started coals using Minion Method. It was cold, but not frigid... somewhere in the low 30s for most of the night. I had the fan program set to 225, and it came up to that pretty quick. I threw in a few fist-sized chunks for wood and put the brisket on around 12:30am. I stayed up for an hour monitoring, and the system seemed to be doing great, very stable at 225, give or take a digit or two. When I woke at 7:30-8:00, the Pit temp had dropped to 190, presumably because nearly all the fuel had consumed (the 22" Weber really does use up some charcoal!!!). The probe for the brisket read 150 or so. In checking the graphs, it appears the Pit temp had dropped below 200 only an hour or so before I got up. I quickly brought the temp back up to 225 with a fresh chimney full of lit coal, plus a few extra handfuls delivered through the side door. I double-checked the Pit temp with an accurate oven thermometer and the brisket with a Thermopen. Outside temps in the morning through the afternoon were in the 40s, and it was pretty breezy -- but keep in mind, with the Billows setup, all bottom vents are closed off and the top vent is open just 1/8. The Pit temp stayed around 225 most of the morning and early afternoon. I added more water to the pan, and a few more fistfuls of coals. When the brisket hit 170 in early afternoon and kinda stalled, I wrapped it in pink butcher paper and boosted the fan to 235. The brisket temp then crept up to 180 throughout the afternoon. By 6:30pm I couldn't wait any longer and had to take the brisket out to serve a bunch of hungry people, with internal temp on the beef around 182-183, well short of my 203 target. The point was fine (as almost always is the case), but the flat was dry and tough. It was very disappointing. While I can't eliminate anything in searching for the cause, I'm pretty sure the new Thermoworks kit performed as advertised in keeping the Pit around 225; I was impressed with that aspect. Thoughts? All wit and wisdom appreciated.