Jay Critchfield
TVWBB Member
I did my second brisket Friday night. The first one I tried last summer was a total disaster. It was a select cut (first mistake) with an odd shaped flat It ended up overcooked, too much smoke (mesquite, second mistake), creosote formed in the smoker…yada yada anyway it was nasty ((shudder)). So after many very successful pork butts and other various cuts of meat over the last year I decided to try another brisket. I believe the BBQ gods were not happy with me for ruining the first brisket because they made me work for this one.
At 8:00pm Friday night I pulled the brisket out of the fridge and placed it on the counter while I got the WSM ready. At 8:30pm I dropped 20 lit briquettes on a full load of Kingsford, placed my smoke wood (Pecan), added room temp water to the brinkman pan and assembled the smoker. My plan this time was to let the brisket warm up a bit and also preheat the smoker. I haven’t found this necessary with butts but I wasn’t taking any chances this time.
With the vents wide open, by 9:30pm the smoker was only at 180 measured at the grate. Hmmm…that’s strange. Normally it would be over 200 by this time. This was the first sign of trouble brewing.
Wanting to get to bed by midnight I put the brisket on anyway. A very nice looking 12lb choice packer that had been rubbed the night before. At 10:30 the temp was up to 220 so set all three vents to about 30% like I’ve done many times before. At 11:30 the temp was up to 245 and still climbing. Hmmmm…that’s strange. Thinking the light breeze was fanning the fire I shut down the upwind vent and closed the other two to 20%. By 1:00am the temp was a steady 235 and the breeze had subsided so I set the alarm on my thermo and went to bed. Being the machine the WSM is this SHOULD have been fine for a good 5-6 hours, easy.
For some reason at 3:00am I woke. Peeking at the thermo it read 275! Yikes! Oh crap….I forgot to set the audible on the alarm. Stupid stupid stupid. Shutting the lower vents down I waited for the temps to drop off. By 4:00am it had only dropped to 265. Hmmm….that’s strange. I opened the side door to find the charcoal 2/3 gone and the water pan EMPTY! ????????? What the ……..
I added water, stirred the coals and left the vents closed. By 6:00am with the vents still closed the temps had climbed back up to 250. Hmmm….that’s STRANGE!
By 7:30 the coals were almost gone. Less than 12 hours…. There was also a lot more ash than usual. I reloaded the charcoal, flipped and basted the brisket. The rest of the cook went pretty much the same. Lower vents closed and the top vent half closed just to maintain a temp below 250.
At 11:00am the brisket was done! Wrapped in foil and off to the cooler to rest while I heated some beans and prepared lunch.
I’m pleased to say the brisket was excellent but what a chore getting there!
I’m wondering if I got a funky bag of briquettes. I've never had so much trouble with temps and I can't believe how fast it burned and how much ash it left.
At 8:00pm Friday night I pulled the brisket out of the fridge and placed it on the counter while I got the WSM ready. At 8:30pm I dropped 20 lit briquettes on a full load of Kingsford, placed my smoke wood (Pecan), added room temp water to the brinkman pan and assembled the smoker. My plan this time was to let the brisket warm up a bit and also preheat the smoker. I haven’t found this necessary with butts but I wasn’t taking any chances this time.
With the vents wide open, by 9:30pm the smoker was only at 180 measured at the grate. Hmmm…that’s strange. Normally it would be over 200 by this time. This was the first sign of trouble brewing.
Wanting to get to bed by midnight I put the brisket on anyway. A very nice looking 12lb choice packer that had been rubbed the night before. At 10:30 the temp was up to 220 so set all three vents to about 30% like I’ve done many times before. At 11:30 the temp was up to 245 and still climbing. Hmmmm…that’s strange. Thinking the light breeze was fanning the fire I shut down the upwind vent and closed the other two to 20%. By 1:00am the temp was a steady 235 and the breeze had subsided so I set the alarm on my thermo and went to bed. Being the machine the WSM is this SHOULD have been fine for a good 5-6 hours, easy.
For some reason at 3:00am I woke. Peeking at the thermo it read 275! Yikes! Oh crap….I forgot to set the audible on the alarm. Stupid stupid stupid. Shutting the lower vents down I waited for the temps to drop off. By 4:00am it had only dropped to 265. Hmmm….that’s strange. I opened the side door to find the charcoal 2/3 gone and the water pan EMPTY! ????????? What the ……..
I added water, stirred the coals and left the vents closed. By 6:00am with the vents still closed the temps had climbed back up to 250. Hmmm….that’s STRANGE!
By 7:30 the coals were almost gone. Less than 12 hours…. There was also a lot more ash than usual. I reloaded the charcoal, flipped and basted the brisket. The rest of the cook went pretty much the same. Lower vents closed and the top vent half closed just to maintain a temp below 250.
At 11:00am the brisket was done! Wrapped in foil and off to the cooler to rest while I heated some beans and prepared lunch.
I’m pleased to say the brisket was excellent but what a chore getting there!
I’m wondering if I got a funky bag of briquettes. I've never had so much trouble with temps and I can't believe how fast it burned and how much ash it left.
