First documented cook


 
K

Kirk A

TVWBB Member
Thought it was time to document a cook and see what others might see as room for improvement or otherwise comment.

Been a lurker here for years, but finally registered recently. My neighbor is hosting a large party today, and I offered to make some ribs for him, and realized there would be extra space on the smoker, so things naturally got out of hand. Started off with 8 double packs of St Louis ribs, and a 13 lb brisket.



The plan was to smoke the brisket overnight, and hold it in a cooler; then smoke 8 racks of ribs aiming to be ready for noon, followed by a second batch of ribs for the 5 o'clock hour. It's now 7:30AM, and I'm thinking, "me and my big mouth".

On to the cook:

Started the 18.5" WSM at 6:30 last night, loaded the charcoal ring full of Stubbs, using the minion method with about 20 briquets and 3 chunks of cherry, started the smoker. I filled the water pan with 2 gals of nearly boiling water. Meanwhile I prepared the brisket leaving the fat on the brisket, (a select cut of 13.76lbs) and rubbed with Worcestershire sauce and Montreal steak seasoning.



It went on at 7:15PM. I checked the temps over the next several hours, which held steady at 250/260 and at 10 decided to get some shut eye, and set my alarm for 1AM. At 1AM, the smoker had crept up to 275 or so, and the brisket overshot the temp I was expecting as it was at 180 and starting to get tender.



I took it off the WSM, foiled it, and placed it back on the smoker. Set alarm for 3, checked again the WSM was still at 275 despite shutting down bottom vents a bit. Brisket was a bit more tender. Repeat for 4 and 5 AM...

At 6AM the brisket offered little resistance to the probe, so I removed it, and let sit for 20 mins before foiling and placing in a cooler.



Phase 2

Refilled the charcoal ring with Stubbs and cherry, topped off the water pan with more hot water, and set about prepping 8 racks of ribs. Rubbed with a Commercial rub.



...and put on the smoker at 7:15AM.



That is where things stand now, the WSM is at 240, and loaded with 8 racks. I've cooked ribs this way before, and rolling them on end seems to be a good way to increase capacity on the WSM.

I'll add to this as the day and night goes on.

Cheers
 
I like to trim brisket a bit, but that's just me. Also, I used to use water but now I don't, I just foil the water pan and use as a deflector and something for the drippings to fall into. And I also think you're going to be a hero before the day is over, nice job!
 
Good for you. First smoke and you even managed to adjust on the fly. You don't sound like a rookie to me.

One safety thing to bear in mind. Please be careful when you refill your water pan.

I noticed you said you were using nearly boiling water.

If you add nearly boiling water to a hot pit you run the risk of creating a steam explosion.

If enough of the nearly boiling water goes to steam it can create enough pressure to lift the lid - which lowers the air pressure in the pit - which can cause enough of the water in the pan to flash to steam to create at best a mess and at worst a kind of dangerous situation.
 
Nice first documented cook Kirk. Looks like a full meal deal you have there.

Interesting caution Rob--I'd never heard that outside the context of industrial sized steam vessels.
 
Dwain Pannell said:
Nice first documented cook Kirk. Looks like a full meal deal you have there.

Interesting caution Rob--I'd never heard that outside the context of industrial sized steam vessels.
Click to expand...

Happened to me a couple of years back. It wasn't my first brisket cook but it was one of my earlier overnighters.

I needed to refuel and my pan was dry. I boiled up a magnum's worth of water. By that time the pit temp had spiked. Added the water. Put the lid back on .... and ....

It was like Mt Vesuvius erupting. Ash all over the place. Scared my morning's coffee out of me and the lid was a good 8 or 9 feet away.
 
Looks like an awesome cook. Thanks for joining-in and documenting your smoke for us. I think I could use a few slices of that brisket right about now. :)
 
@ Rob O - not my first cook, just first one documented here. Also, interesting experience about adding water. In my case, I had removed the entire middle piece of the smoker off of the coals before adding water. Hopefully that measure would avoid such an eruption.

As for the ribs, everything worked out perfectly, two batches of 8 racks were pretty much devoured by the party. I'd say they were the hit of the party, as everyone seemed to find excuses and room for "just one more".

The brisket came out perfect, in this case I think it is a case of being lucky as opposed to skillful.

Ribs prior to saucing:


and after delivery to the party:



Adding it all up, some 60 something pounds of meat went through the WSM yesterday. :D
 
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