Brisket report and issues


 
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Smoked a 10 pound brisket. The flavor was amazing, though my nights sleep could have been better. Ah, the price we pay for smoked meat.

Anyway, the WSM ran like a champ all night, when it would have really be hard to have to tinker with it. But, at about 9 am or so, it began running hot. I tried pulling some of the coals out and replacing them with new ones since I wanted the smoker to continue to burn until 4. I could not get the temp back down to anything under 275 and finally just finished the brisket in foil in the oven. Gave up on smoking some veggies.

I used the minion method to begin and Kingsfod coals.

FYI -I used Stubs beef marinade for 18 hours. Then as I put the brisket on the smoker, I topped the meat with W'ham's rub. Then basted with apple juice after 4 hours and then every 2. Very tastey!! I was shocked to find how small the resulting brisket was. We don't have many leftovers and only had 4 people over for dinner.
 
You can add cold water to the waterpan and close the bottom vents (leave top vent open) that should have cooled the cooker down.
Jim
 
Scott,
It sounds like you might have some air leaks. You should be able to put the fire totally out by closing all the vents. Check the fit around the smoking chamber and the base. There are some instructions on this Web site for fixing a slightly out-of-round WSM. If that doesn't work, you might try putting foil between the smoke chamber and base. Once you have a relatively air tight unit, temperature control should be much easier.
 
Hi Scott!

Sounds like things went OK overall. Jim gave you some good tips.

If those fail you, then close the top vent, but not all the way...about 3/4 closed. I do this quite regularly.

My reasoning is this............

If you have the bottom vents closed tight, and the temp still climbs, that means you have some leaks somewhere. That is not a real big deal, so don't worry about it. Those leaks are what is keeping the fire raging. So, you can safely close that top vent down about 3/4 of the way and you will still have a clean fire.

I have had to do this many times over the past 6 years and have suffered no ill effects from it....it also works every time. I travel with my WSM so it is understandable that it gets knocked around and hence may go slightly out of round or my bottom vents get bent, etc.

Give this some time to adjust...probably a good 15 minutes. As the temp starts to fall, let it get to your target temp and then open the top vent first and give it another 15 minutes to see what it does.
 
Thanks all, I'll try the top vent. I do have air leaks, but use foil now. So, I think I have that under control. Oh, also, the bottom vents were closed.
 
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