Charcoal Consumption w/ High Heat Briskett


 
J

JamesV

New member
I'm about 2.5 hours into my high heat packer smoke (14 lb). This is my first high heat brisket on my new 18.5 WSM that came last week.

I'm battling temperature fluctuations. I started off using the minon method and followed the steps on the high heat brisket thread. Temps have been 310-365 throughout the first two hours and I have already added close to 25 lbs of Kingsford (16lbs to start). It seems like the coals either let a ton of heat off or very little. I've had the door open throughout most of the smoke so far. I'm getting ready to foil in the next 15 minutes and there is a nice bark forming.

My question is this- anyone fighting temps like me with the new Kingsford blend? I noticed in Kevin's high heat thread he had similar probs. I wanted to throw on some baby backs at 2.5 hrs before the briskett was done but I'm not sure if my 36 lbs of charcoal will be enough.

Which leads me to another question. How much charcoal does the typical high heat brisket require?

Thanks to everyone who shares on this forum, it makes everyone- including me - a much better smoker !!!!
 
I use a full ring of quality lump and usually have about half of it left when finished.

I am surprised you need to use so much K however.
 
Wow, that's way more than necessary. Something isn't right. Like Craig, I always have left over coals. Are you using water? Is the water pan sitting on its tabs and not directly on top of the charcoal ring? Don't laugh, it's happened before.
 
No water pan in the smoker. I'm sure this has something to do with it. My foil pan had a hole in it so I went to the store and asked the misses to watch the temperature when I placed the 30 bricks over the full ring. When I came back she told me she took the door off cuz temps were not rising. Our 11 month old daughter drew her attention and when I got back the door was still off (30 minutes). I'm wondering if a lot of the coal beneath lit and wasted all the spent up BTUs. Who knows - this is my first high heat smoke - maybe I should just buy stock in K.
 
You definitly have used way to much K in two hours. I think the obvious thing here is that there is way to much airflow going on. Also when you started your coals how long after they ashed did you let them burn? Sounds like your start up might have been the issue.
 
I have done multiple high temp briskets, with Kingsford and with WGC lump, and haven't had those issues with either. Sounds like having the door off for so long probably helped consume fuel without bumping up the temp.

I will say that the lump seems more efficient than Kingsford, but it's more expensive certainly.
 
I did a high heat butt cook yesterday, I maintained 350 degrees for over 5 hours and only used half a ring of blue bag Kingsford. Sounds like there must be some kind of extra air getting into the cooker.
 
I only use about a half ring as well. What is your door position? All I need is tiny moves of the door -- like 1/8-inch open, or 1/4-inch open -- to hit temps. I can get some fluctuations in the beginning, once I am up to temp, when I've yet to settle in on a position for the door. Once I do though I usually get stability. (I cook under no cover and with no windblocks so that affects some cooks.)
 
If you are taking the door off completely, then most of the heat is hitting the bottom of the water pan and going right out the door opening. As said above, prop it open a little bit.
I prefer to set the lid askew by about a 1/4" to get more air flow going, thus raising the temp up fast. HTH
 
When I returned from the store the top level of the coals had ashed considerably. I put the door back and then propped a rod against the door so it was open about 1/2 inch. When I foiled the brisket it was crusted pretty well so things looked good. After another 2 hours I temp checked it and it was at 192, I took it off and rested in in the foil(tented) for another 45 minutes. The meat hit 197 and was fork tender. When I removed it from the foil to slice, the underside was burned all along the flat as deep as a quarter of an inch- burned bad - very disapponting to say the least. The point was in great shape so I chopped that, tasted it -tasted great - but decided not to serve it.

Lucky for me the ribs came out perfect over the same heat as the brisket (ribs went on top, brisket was on lower rack) - I served those and everyone enjoyed them. So my first high heat brisket was a disaster- I wonder if the temperature gauge on the cooker is broke. I'm going to run another full ring through it with no meat in it and check the gauge on the cooker with a therm I know works. I purchased it from Amazon so if it has a problem I'll send it back for a new....I've done many briskets before with no problems but never with this high heat method. I know it works cuz the ribs were fantastic. Hindsight says I should have never done high heat with a new cooker I'm not familar with...
 
If I read this right, you had no water pan at all in the smoker. You should still have your water pan in when doing the high heat cook, just don't put any water in it (you can wrap it in foil for easy cleanup).
 
<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by Ken_K:
I did a high heat butt cook yesterday, I maintained 350 degrees for over 5 hours and only used half a ring of blue bag Kingsford. </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

Ken, what were your vent settings if you don't mind me asking and did you have to mess with the door? Thanks James
 
James,

I ended up with two vents open and one closed, I flipped the access door upside down but did not prop it open at all. With it being upside down there is just enough of an extra gap to get the temps over the 300 degree range.
 
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