First the BRITU, now a Brisket!


 
L

Lee A

TVWBB Member
Threw a brisket on for a midnight cook about 30 min ago. I minion'ed the start but it's taking forever to get up to heat. Therm on the grill still says 160, gonna go check it in another hour.

One thing about the minion start. The official page talks about using a coffee can to start the smaller number of coals... any ever (surely someone has) simply turn the chimney upside down?

Anyway, more reports coming through the night. Mostly because I got nothing better to do, lol. Peace!
 
Well, the upside down chimney worked like a champ. about a dozen briquettes fired up on just over 1 sheet of newspaper. I turned those out onto the rest of the coals, made sure that several were touching the hickory chunks I had interspersed in there and let it sit.

My previous report about the temp being low was premature as it's currently sitting at a nice gentle 240 on the main rack. I've got all bottom vents almost completely closed, maybe 1/5th open at most. I'm letting the thing sit as untouched as possible and will check again in 1 hour, then it's off to bed with me.
 
OK, 2:00am and it's still sitting at 250 on the rack. I'm headed to bed, will be up early tomorrow to check and turn it.

No racoons in site.
 
Nothing quite as peaceful as a brisket on the ole WSM sleep
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Sweet blue dreams.
 
I'm up at 4:30 am to put a brisket on. (my First) it is now 6 a.m. I have the opposite effect with my wsm.
Put about 25 briqs. in the chimney. The minion method. My temp almost immediately goes past 250
degrees, after firing it up. have to close all bottom vents to get it to stop climbing. This is the 4th cook on my new wsm. This is the case everytime i've fired it up.
May have some air leaks around the door.
Jerry P
 
Hehe, thanks Jim. Just got up and checked it, alarm still has another 2 hours before it goes off, but I just kinda woke up and wanted to see...

Absolutely no smoke coming out of the pit, at the last check last night (this morning) there was a steady stream of smoke. I need to figure out why sometimes there is, and sometimes there isn't...

The meat is a rich, dark color and the rack temp is a steady 250. The WSM is a beast, amazing. Turned the meat and will check it again in about 2 hours. Internal meat temp is somewhere above 160. But I don't trust these thermometers that much, so I did the fork test and the meat still tried to lift when the fork was pulled out. It didn't get very far, but it still tried.

So back to bed and another check coming up at 7:00.

Peace!
 
Jerry...too many lit coals to start with. Try 10-12. Better to have to try to heat it up, then cool it down. Also since it is new, that is part of the isseu.
Try to start closing the vents on it 's way up (I pretty much get them all the way shut by 190-200) and let it continue on to 225-250.

Lee...No smoke does not mean it is not getting smoke. You do not want to see heavy smoke, but light or almost none.
 
Thanks Mike
That's probably why, it finally settled at about 260. i used 29 briquets to start each time.
Thanks again.
Jerry P
 
I've been using the chimney upside down for a few months. Works good. I lay about 8 K briqs in around the wires in a upside down cone configuration, then a Weber Starter in the bottom of the cone, light it, add in 10-12 more briqs.
 
This is my first brisket. I've read so many posts on the forum about briskets. I'm kind of
confused. I trimmed the cap off the flat and other down to about one eight inch. It was a 9 pounder. Will this effect the cook time? or cause it to "dry out too much?
I'm using a baste recipe. "Braggn-Rights Brisket"
Every hour or so baste the brisket. Anyone tried this, I got it from a post.
Jerry P
 
Jerry,

Temp control is an art that takes time to master. Mike's right in that you are using way too many coals to start. 15 coals is a good startng point. Spready the lit coals evenly over the unlit, add smoke wood, assemble the cooker, open lower vents all the way, fill the water pan with HOT water, put the meat on and start closing vents down around 200 deg. I usually cook at 225 deg measured at the grate so when the WSM hits 200 deg I'll close all lower vents to about 20 percent. After 30 min I'll check the temps again. It usually only requires one or two more adjustments to get her chugging along.

Trimming the brisket isn't to difficult. I trim all of the HARD fat away and leave a 1/8 to 1/4 inch layer of fat to protect the meat. My cooks are always done fat-side down and the meat is never turned or basted/mopped. When done it is usually rested wrapped in two layers of foil, wrapped in a towel, and placed in a cooler for around 4 hours (fat-side UP).

The smoke you aren't seeing is probably the right smoke. Puffs of white smoke is NOT what you are looking for. That stuff can make the food bitter. You are looking for a thin blue "whisp" of smoke - it's pretty much invisible. That is the wood burning clean. Though you don't see it, the smoke is there and will impart its' flavor into your food.

Keep practicing and good luck with your cook.
 
Thanks Russ

I am trying the Rancher charcoal for the first time. my wsm is at 260 now it is holding steady for past two hours. Cant seem to get it below that. all vents bottom vents closed. I'll adjust my minion method to less lumps to start from now on.
I read about seperating the flat from the tip on the posts after brisket is done and ready to serve. i'm a little confused about where to find the seperation point to cut?
thanks again
Jerry P
 
Apologies for crappy math in my previous post, my 'next check' wasn't set for 7, but for 8!

So I see all the smokers have woken up now! Hehe.

The WSM is still holding an even, steady 250 at the grate. However, the meat is still failing the fork test. It's a 6 pound brisket, so 1.5 hours per pound should be 9 hours. It actually went on the grill at 10:00 last night but the grill took some time to come up to heat, didn't actually get there until midnight. I'm going to give it a little more than one more hour then pull it, regardless.

Oh, dang it, a small corner of the meat fell off and landed on my fork this morning.
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Man, it was tasty. Going to remove it and foil it just before 10:00 this morning.

Cya all then!
 
OK, off she came. The brisket is double wrapped in foil and the towels and is sitting in the microwave oven just resting. Should make for a good lunch a little after noon.

Yeah, the top rack of the WSM was STILL holding like a rock at 250, amazing.

I cut off a small section of one end of the brisket and she had a beautiful smoke ring and tasted wonderful, but she was a little dry. Can I expect the interior to be juicier?
 
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