Aaron Franklin Brisket?

[Dustin Dorsey]

I went back and read last night. At no point that I was able to see when discussing upright smokers does he mention anything about a preferred temperature, but when discussing cooking on a pit that isn't his, he says that 275 is his preferred starting point, choosing to alter from that based on how the cook is proceeding.

He does mention the pits at the restaurant being even hotter. In my experience 275 is a lot easier to maintain on an offset with a clean fire than 225. I have a smaller cheap offset though. He seems to place a lot of importance on convection and good air flow. I've been running my wsm some at 275 and I feel that it breaths a little better, but I can't say my results are all that different from 225. Other factors seem to be more important than temp. The single biggest is taking the thing off at the right time and letting the meat rest.

 

[Wayne Ficklin]

Pretty close to where I was reading and mentioned from above, he said that if you came with a thermometer to his pits, you're more than likely to find them running around 285.

 

[J Hasselberger]

If you use water in the pan, running a WSM at 240 is about the same "wet bulb" temperature as running a stick burner at around 285 in a 60% humidity environment. At any given temperature, humid air transfers more heat. It's why 90° feels hotter in South Florida than it does in Phoenix.

Dustin has good stick burner experience and I think he's correct about Franklin's focus on airflow. Franklin's pits are huge and need good airflow to cook evenly. A WSM is a tiny and controlled environment by comparison.

Jeff