Brisket Flat - To add water to the pan or not


 
J

John Saniga

New member
18.5" WSM. I am getting ready to smoke a brisket flat that was cut well and is decently thick. I smoked a pork butt last weekend and had trouble keeping the temp below 275 with a dry water pan; sunny day and near 90 degrees in Carolina. I added water a couple of hours in and that made the temperature more manageable. I normally run the water pan dry but I normally smoke more chicken or other hot & fast recipes.

What do you all do for briskets and butts? Water in pan or not?

And, do you manager heat by top vent only or do you play with them all? I normally go full Harry Soo and manage temp with the exhaust, only...but summer had other plans.
 
John Saniga said:
18.5" WSM. I am getting ready to smoke a brisket flat that was cut well and is decently thick. I smoked a pork butt last weekend and had trouble keeping the temp below 275 with a dry water pan; sunny day and near 90 degrees in Carolina. I added water a couple of hours in and that made the temperature more manageable. I normally run the water pan dry but I normally smoke more chicken or other hot & fast recipes.

What do you all do for briskets and butts? Water in pan or not?

And, do you manager heat by top vent only or do you play with them all? I normally go full Harry Soo and manage temp with the exhaust, only...but summer had other plans.
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275 for a flat might be ok. The flat has less connective tissue that will need to break down compared to the point. As far as the top vent, don't move that one from wide open until you are ready to close down the cook. Just use the bottom vents for temp modifications.
 
Adding moisture won’t hurt. Key parts are your temp. I’d stick at your 275° cook temp and I’d wrap that flat once it comes out of the stall and I’d add some beef stock to the flat on the wrap just to add in some moisture for that 170-200° to finish at probe tender doneness. I’d also avoid over trimming the flat. Flats need all the protection they can get and any fat left on will add to that tenderness. Hopefully you have probes so you can monitor the flat remotely. Do note that flats take on and hold heat much faster from 75-170°. From 170-done that rate of heat absorption is at a more reasonable pace. I posted a probe readout IIRC this June on this forum. I’ll see if I can find it for your reference.

Edit:

Post in thread '20#, nope, now 16# brisket'
https://tvwbb.com/threads/20-nope-now-16-brisket.91541/post-1043793
 
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i use water in the pan, but only half full. This keeps the moisture up at the beginning of the cook. Once empty, I do not refill it. Some say use water, some say do not so I personally split the difference. By the time the water pan runs empty, it very close to wrap time. I wrap using butcher paper.
 
I’m lazy, no pan, no wrap, no spritz, put it in, close it up and leave it alone.
I generally run 1/3 on the back 2 vents and full open in front until things need some tweaking. That said I’ve never done just the flat always full packers.
 
Most of us leave top vent 100% open all the time and regulate solely via the bottom vents. But you can do it via the top too, but that’s the minority.

Water has two purposes. First to keep temps down. I use other non water tools to control heat so I don’t use water that much.

Second reason is to add moisture to the chamber. I sometimes use water for this reason. Spritzing is another thing people do for moisture.
 
Some people use water to increase the humidity. One reason is because moisture helps smoke stick to the meat. I don't believe I've ever had a problem with that. The other reason is of course may be help retain moisture in the meat.

I don't find it necessary. That doesn't mean it's not superior.... The food is just acceptable without it. And I'm lazy I think most people here probably don't use additional water in a pan. But try it both ways and see what you like the best.
 
Mark Foreman said:
i use water in the pan, but only half full. This keeps the moisture up at the beginning of the cook. Once empty, I do not refill it. Some say use water, some say do not so I personally split the difference. By the time the water pan runs empty, it very close to wrap time. I wrap using butcher paper.
Click to expand...
Very close to what I ended up doing. Thanks!
 
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