Brisket on the WSM for Graduation party tonight.


 
W

Wayne Dimirsky

TVWBB Super Fan
I put on about a 12lb Brisket on my 18.5 WSM this morning about 5:45am. I was going to try out the HH cook for this one but the temps are really slow to come up. I'm only at 158 degrees at the grate and about 250 at the dome using a thermometer stuck through a cork in one of the vent holes at 6:40am. The Brisket was in the refrigerator for about 22 hours covered in mustard and some Fiesta Brisket rub and then I let it set out for about an hour before I put it on the smoker.

As suggested on another thread, I have the brisket sitting on a rack in an aluminum pan on the top grate with no water pan in the smoker. I'm using my Maverick 732 to monitor temps. Internal temp in at 118 degrees right now. Hopefully temps will come up or this thing will not be done for dinner tonight. I think we are eating at 7:00 pm. It's a good thing we are having other types of meat in case that happens.

Wayne
 
I did forget to mention that on the last two cooks that I have done this year, I have had trouble getting the temps to come up, even with all of the vents open. I'm using Kingsford blue bag that I bought last year on sale. I'm beginning to wonder if I got some bad charcoal. I used to never have this kind of trouble with bringing up the temps. This was on the new 14.5 WSM that I got a few months ago as well as on the 18.5 that I'm using now. The charcoal was kept in the shed and each time I used a new sealed bag.

Wayne
 
I think that whether storing charcoal in a shed is a good idea or not depends on your climate. With no pan serving as a diffuser, your grate temp might be higher than you think and the probe is just too close to the meat. In any event, the temp would rise some if you took the cork out of the top vent.
 
Crack the lid abit with a metal spatula and see if that helps. Watch it tho as the temps can get up there in a hurry.

Tim
 
Wayne Dimirsky said:
I did forget to mention that on the last two cooks that I have done this year, I have had trouble getting the temps to come up, even with all of the vents open. I'm using Kingsford blue bag that I bought last year on sale. I'm beginning to wonder if I got some bad charcoal. I used to never have this kind of trouble with bringing up the temps. This was on the new 14.5 WSM that I got a few months ago as well as on the 18.5 that I'm using now. The charcoal was kept in the shed and each time I used a new sealed bag.

Wayne
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How many lit coals did you start out with? I am doing a Brisket this Friday, I am going to go low and slow, but I am going to make sure I put at least 30 lit coals on the bed. It is easier to start high and cool down, than to start to cool and try to heat up. Also are you using water in your pan? If so is it hot water or cold water? At this stage, I would add some more lit coals in the weber to start to get the temp up ASAP.
 
Well, I changed some things up. I took out the aluminum pan that I had the weber roast rack sitting in and put my foiled water pan with no water in the smoker and just set the roast rack on the top grate. Prior to doing all of this, I opened the door and put my hand over the coals and I could leave it there without it burning my hand so the coals were not putting off enough heat. I had put my taylor candy thermometer in the top vent earlier to see if it would show anything different than the weber one in the cork. They both read the same. The Taylor showed 240 degrees.

I started out with 20 lit coals but I guess I should have started out with more since the outside temps were only in the low 40's when I started.

The smoker temp is now at 295 at the grate so I'm happy with that as I intended to cook between 275-300. I feel like I'm still behind though and the meat probably will not be done in time. Having the lid off for the time it took me to change out the pans dropped the internal temp of the meat down to 153 from 163. I guess I will see how it all turns out. Thanks for all of the advice.

Wayne
 
Dave Russell said:
I think that whether storing charcoal in a shed is a good idea or not depends on your climate. With no pan serving as a diffuser, your grate temp might be higher than you think and the probe is just too close to the meat. In any event, the temp would rise some if you took the cork out of the top vent.
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I live in MO and I see you live in TN so our climates are probably close to the same. I used to keep most of my charcoal in the house but when I bought a lot of the two pack deals from Walmart and Lowe's last year, I had to put some of them out in the shed. It's a metal shed so it gets pretty hot in there in the summer and as cold as the outside during the cold months. I guess it's possible it could have gotten moisture in it but there has never been any obvious signs of moisture.

Wayne
 
Crack the lid, as suggested by Timothy. You should get up above 325 easily and get back on track. You still have plenty of time to complete a high heat cook.
 
The smoker has settled down to 302. Do I need to let the temp go over 325 for the rest of the cook to have it ready by 7:00 pm? I have one of the bottom vents open all of the way and the other two half open and the top vent is all of the way open so I can open it up some more to raise temps.

Wayne
 
Wayne Dimirsky said:
The smoker has settled down to 302. Do I need to let the temp go over 325 for the rest of the cook to have it ready by 7:00 pm? I have one of the bottom vents open all of the way and the other two half open and the top vent is all of the way open so I can open it up some more to raise temps.

Wayne
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If I were you, I would go to the HH recipes for cooking Brisket and let that help you with the process. BTW I do think that 302 is to low. Honestly at this point, I would take the brisket and put it in the oven. I know this might not be optimal, but at least you will know for sure that you will be eating "cooked" brisket for dinner tonight at 7PM.
 
I did print off some different HH recipes for Brisket and most of them said to cook between 275-300 but of coarse I'm behind at this point. I may have to finish this off in the oven. I did open up all of the vents but the temps have not come up yet. Right now I'm at 298 and 156 internal. We are also having Ribs, pork loin, and chicken that other people are cooking so we will still have plenty of meat. If I have to put this thing in the oven, what temp should I set the oven to? Thanks.

Wayne
 
In short: Breath.....you are fine! ;)

Foil at 165-175 internal (i.e., when it stalls) and cook another 90 min then probe for tenderness. If not done, repeat probe every 30-45 min.

At least what I do.....YMMV. Good luck and I look forward to pictures.
 
As to your OP, the issue could've been that the pan was blocking too much of the airflow. Since the charcoal seemed to be sluggish though, you might want to give the fire more air than usual. Anyhow, you should have plenty time if the temp doesn't drop much more. It just depends on if and when you wrap and how long you want it to rest before slicing.
 
Monty House said:
In short: Breath.....you are fine! ;)

Foil at 165-175 internal (i.e., when it stalls) and cook another 90 min then probe for tenderness. If not done, repeat probe every 30-45 min.

At least what I do.....YMMV. Good luck and I look forward to pictures.
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Good advice. Just keep an eye on it and oven if the fire dies.
 
Well, my fiancée's dad is firing up his smoker and is going to finish it on it because my temp is down to 214 and won't go back up. I added some more charcoal but no luck. The original charcoal was over half gone so I wasn't going to be finishing it up anyway. The biggest disaster since I started smoking three years ago. Thanks for all of the help.

Wayne
 
So did you start with the ring full with charcoal? If the charcoal was the issue, wouldn't there have been more left? Let us know if you figure out what the issue or issues were, and I hope the brisket turns out good.
 
Wayne Dimirsky said:
Well, my fiancée's dad is firing up his smoker and is going to finish it on it because my temp is down to 214 and won't go back up. I added some more charcoal but no luck. The original charcoal was over half gone so I wasn't going to be finishing it up anyway. The biggest disaster since I started smoking three years ago. Thanks for all of the help.

Wayne
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No don't do that!!! Your setting your self up for years smack talk. Let'ting your future farther in-law help you with grilling is a set up. He will never let you forget it!! :)
 
Dave Russell said:
So did you start with the ring full with charcoal? If the charcoal was the issue, wouldn't there have been more left? Let us know if you figure out what the issue or issues were, and I hope the brisket turns out good.
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I did start with a full ring of charcoal with 20 lit on top using the minion method. I maybe should have started with more lit initially since it has been fairly cool today, especially when I first started the cook.

The Brisket was pulled off of the smoker about an hour ago. We did finish it off in my fiancée's father's barrel smoker which holds very steady temps. The internal temps were around 204 in the flat and ranged from 183-195 in the point. Her stepmom wanted it to be pulled and foiled so it didn't dry out so that is what we did. My thermapen probe went in with slight resistance so I don't think it was quite ready to be pulled but at that point I was frustrated with the entire situation and let her have her say. I foiled it, wrapped it in towels and put it in a cooler. I'm not sure how it's going to turn out. It looked and smelled good so hopefully it's not too bad. I will let everyone know.

Ironically my WSM finally came up to about 350 at the vent and has sat there so I guess I should have given it more time. This has definitely been my most frustrating cook. Thanks again for all of the advice.

Wayne
 
Send pix. My prediction is it eats up just fine. Everything you said sounded right. Give it a good rest and a chance to reabsorb liquid.
 
After 4-5 hr, you've got all the smoke you need. Put it in your oven at whatever temp that you wanted in theWSM (325 350 whatever). Then just m0nitor for doneness the exact same way as u would if it was in the WSM.
 
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