Seeking WOTL, My First Brisket, 18.5 WSM

[Jake Wilson]

Picked up this packer yesterday (Thursday)...

here's the fat cap side-

Relative smoking n00b here=...I have three pork spare rib cooks under my belt on my 14.5 WSM, and this will be the second cook on my 18.5 WSM, the first being a leg quarter roast (chicken) I've yet to post. I say roast as I forgot to add wood to the coals=:-(...imagine that

This WSM 18.5 has had several fat only smokes on it before doing up the chicken about a week ago so I suspect it's close to somewhat seasoned and is what it is. Ready or not, here comes a brisket

I thought I would have gone for a pork butt for my next cook, seeing how I've done pork ribs a few times and the chicken leg quarters once. Going for a brisket for my fifth ever cook on WSM's to me seems courageous, but as fate would have it, I just so happened to be in a Wal-Mart for other things and had an idea they would have a brisket in stock, and there it was, it called out my name= BTW, at this writing, I have not ever had brisket (true!), so this will be my first taste!

The grocery I normally shop at does not carry packers at all. They stock the flats and cut them in half, wrap them and then set em out for sale (Publix, Foxwood, Ocala Fla.). My short time here in the WSM realm and smoking meat in general, I've considered smoking brisket the holy grail of BBQ, in that I've read it's not the easiest cut of meat to pull off successfully, ending up done to perfection, so I'm aiming high=

Here's my plan...sort of=, and I'm open to other ideas but basically I'm figuring on 1 to 1.5 hours per pound to get er' done. This packer is just shy of 15 lbs. so I'm thinking 15 hours at the minimum to cook. Does that sound about right? I'm planning on trying to keep/hold the temps at around 250 degrees Fahrenheit

I purchased a Pitmaster IQ 120 several weeks ago which I've yet to use. Prudence may dictate testing it out on another less pricey cook but I'm not sure if I can schedule this smoke to start and finish when I'm normally up and awake, so if any of you have experience with this particular automatic temperature controller on an 18.5 WSM, I'm all ears= The weekend is rolling around so I have time to plan this a little more. I'm not cooking this brisket for a group or an event so no pressure there, to get it right (for an audience)

What about the water pan...should I use it for this cook?, and if so, Minnion Method or not? I think it could work out either way, smoking it dry or using water, but I'm leaning to use the water pan, primarily because when I watched Franklin on U-Tube smoke one, he used a pan of water in his cooker though his cooker (the one he used) is a horizontal off set with a wood fire box, totally different from the gear I will be using. I believe Franklin used the pan of water, between the point and the fire, so the water pan acted like a buffer, so the point wouldn't burn up, and why I am thinking using the water pan in my 18.5 WSM would be a good idea...

I'm also planning on putting the trimmed fat cap down (meat side up), to protect the meat from the heat that emanates from below

Let's see...what else?...I'll make sure I trim it so the fits= I haven't done any measuring but if meat needs to be trimmed to get it to fit onto the grill, the trim will come off the flat, or at least that is the plan, and if I have to trim, I'm thinking it would be wise to place that trimmed meat somewhere in the cooker for snacks

For the rub ingredients, at this point, like Franklin, I'm thinking equal parts salt and pepper only

I have plenty of charcoal...we stopped at Home Depot before heading home and although I stayed in the truck and sent Helen in (she had stuff she wanted to get and I needed a couple of winks), I think she got the sale price going on Kingsford I read about in another thread, that's going on there at least through this weekend. I love sales..she does too but she's not in a charcoal collection/hoarding mindset as she didn't mention anything about the price. heck ,if it was me going in there and seeing half off, I would have purchased quite a bit. Sorry, but I digress=

I've come to gather with brisket, to let it roll uncovered till it hits 165 degrees (I have and will be using a Maverick ET 732 Thermometer w/the meat probe), or until there is a respectable bark formed, that won't come off using a finger nail to scrape... so if and when I have the bark, pull the brisket and wrap in butcher paper or tin foil till done (190-200 degrees f?) I like the idea of bending the brisket to determine doneness, although I've yet to smoke one so I have no idea...but I was wondering, since I failed to score a thermapen, and I have the Maverick to keep an eye on final temps, is it possible to leave the meat temp probe in the flat when I wrap it?...this point seems hazy to me. Any videos I've ever watched where brisket is smoked, I don't recall seeing them leave a temp probe in the meat and then wrap it, after the bark has formed...Oh!, and I planned on inserting the meat temp probe into the flat, from the side, just behind the point

Okay, am I missing anything?...let the comments fly, I'll be watching and will appreciate anything coming from this fine group's empirical knowledge and superior tutelage


Best,


Jake
Reddick Fla.

 

[Jake Wilson]

Uh-Oh!, I found this-

http://virtualweberbullet.com/brisket4.html


Best,


Jake
Reddick Fla.

 

[Dustin Dorsey]

It sounds good to me. The bend test is for ribs. You are going to want to probe for tenderness. Put a quarter cup of beef stock in when you wrap. Wrap it and then put the probe back in. The amount of time for the cook could be around 15 hours. You definitely wanna use the minion method for that long of a cook.
I'd use water in the pan but that's arguable. The only other variable is when you wrap. In this case on a first brisket I'd wrap closer to 150. However I put mine on overnight and usually wrap later.
Good luck. I'm excited for you!

 

[Cee El]

Hi Jake,

I just want to start out by saying that I am no expert. That said, I've smoked briskets before and they turned out pretty well for me. Here is a link to one recently: http://tvwbb.com/showthread.php?50692-Over-night-brisket-cook

I have 2 pieces of advice for you: 1. Don't overthink it. You'll stress yourself out trying to be Oh-Perfect-King-of-Barbecue-Who-Doth-Knoweth-All. Relax and enjoy the process.
#2. Make sure you have someone to help you eat all that meat, or that you own a Foodsaver!

Best of Luck,

Cee from South Carolina

 

[CLasko]

Sounds like a solid plan. I actually think that's the most important thing...have a plan and stick with it. As I'm sure you've seen on the site, there are a million ways to do the same thing. Everybody has their own take. My first brisket, I did hot and fast and just used Montreal Steak seasoning, foiled at about 165ish (nice color), and then used a wooden skewer to test for tenderness. Turned out pretty good. There are some things I'd change, but that's all part of this and why we all love it so much!

The only thin I'll add is that based on what others have said here, I got myself a clay pot base, foil that and used that in the water bowl. I'm not experienced enough to tell you if it makes a huge difference in the product, but for me the cleanup that way is awesome! Wad up the foil, throw out, clean! Sure beats cleaning that water bowl.

Have a wonderful cook. Can't wait to see the pics!

Chris

 

[Bob Bass]

Hi Jake,

Just a couple of items that will make your life (and this cook) easier and more enjoyable...

Brisket Prep:
There is a triangular piece of white, hard fat located between the flat and point, remove it. While it does continue into the seam, remove only the major, thick part. No need to remove the thinner, inter-seam part.
Trim the fat cap as needed, leaving roughly a quarter inch.
On the meat side, remove as much silver skin as you can. If there are small surface layers of fat (not intramuscular layers), remove them and the silver skin below them.
Very important... 'Mark' the flat before applying rub so that you'll know how to cut the brisket once it's cooked... See 'Marking the brisket', about half way down the page... http://virtualweberbullet.com/brisketselect.html
When trimming a brisket, you want to end up with (as much as possible) a uniform thickness for even cooking.

Coals :
Minion method preferred. Fill the charcoal ring to the top and then some, but clear of water pan bottom.

ADDED -
Take your brisket directly from the refrigerator to the WSM. The colder it is, the better the smoke ring. Also, when rubbing the brisket, do no apply a non-water soluble oil to the brisket as it will inhibit the smoke ring development.

Following the cook :
After removing the foiled brisket from the WSM, open the foil package to vent the heat. Vent until the brisket reaches approx 170 degrees internal. You can then re-wrap and hold without the possibility of overcooking it due to thermal carryover.
Save the Au Jus from your foiled brisket package. De-fat it, thin with some water and use as a 'sauce' for your brisket slices. Slices of brisket will dry out fast. Applying Au Jus helps with the lost moisture. You can even dredge each slice, as it is sliced, in the Au Jus. Then plate.
When slicing the flat, use the slice you made earlier ('Marking the Brisket') as a guide as to where to begin slicing. Slices should be in the 1/4" range, about the thickness of a #2 pencil.

Wishing You a Very Pleasant Cook and an Enjoyable eating experience !

 

[Jake Wilson]

Uh-Oh!, I found this-

http://virtualweberbullet.com/brisket4.html


Best,


Jake
Reddick Fla.

~~~the more I read through the high heat method of doing brisket, empirically, it's not recommended for choice cuts (choice is what I bought) due to the marbling of choice, high heat is not needed, nor advised but as all things considered...YMMV=


BTW, awesome responses from everyone...I feel the smoking love here=



Best,


Jake
Reddick Fla.

 

[Jake Wilson]

It sounds good to me. The bend test is for ribs. You are going to want to probe for tenderness. Put a quarter cup of beef stock in when you wrap. Wrap it and then put the probe back in. The amount of time for the cook could be around 15 hours. You definitely wanna use the minion method for that long of a cook.
I'd use water in the pan but that's arguable. The only other variable is when you wrap. In this case on a first brisket I'd wrap closer to 150. However I put mine on overnight and usually wrap later.
Good luck. I'm excited for you!

~~~Thanks Dustin, the more I've read up on testing brisket for doneness, everyone agrees, use the probe test and do not rely on thermometer readings. I'll check my cabinet for beef bullion, thanks!


Best,


Jake
Reddick Fla.

 

[Jake Wilson]

Hi Jake,

I just want to start out by saying that I am no expert. That said, I've smoked briskets before and they turned out pretty well for me. Here is a link to one recently: http://tvwbb.com/showthread.php?50692-Over-night-brisket-cook

Thanks Cee!, I'll make sure I read this link when I have more time

I have 2 pieces of advice for you: 1. Don't overthink it. You'll stress yourself out trying to be Oh-Perfect-King-of-Barbecue-Who-Doth-Knoweth-All. Relax and enjoy the process.

~~~good advice, and yes, sometimes I tend to over think various process's, so I won't this time

#2. Make sure you have someone to help you eat all that meat, or that you own a Foodsaver!

Best of Luck,

Cee from South Carolina

~~~yeah, it's almost criminal cooking such a large slab of meat for just my wife and I but we do have a few hungry dogs=...okay, they'll get dribbles. I see where some will separate the point and flat after finished and wrap the point and freeze. If anyone has tips on this, I'm all ears= but burnt ends sound nice too...maybe do some burnt ends and wrap the rest of the point, then freeze...we'll see=


Best,


Jake
Reddick Fla.

 

[Jake Wilson]

Sounds like a solid plan. I actually think that's the most important thing...have a plan and stick with it. As I'm sure you've seen on the site, there are a million ways to do the same thing. Everybody has their own take. My first brisket, I did hot and fast and just used Montreal Steak seasoning, foiled at about 165ish (nice color), and then used a wooden skewer to test for tenderness. Turned out pretty good. There are some things I'd change, but that's all part of this and why we all love it so much!

~~~I'm leaning towards low and slow but I have not started it yet...too busy today, looks like Saturday or Sunday!

The only thin I'll add is that based on what others have said here, I got myself a clay pot base, foil that and used that in the water bowl. I'm not experienced enough to tell you if it makes a huge difference in the product, but for me the cleanup that way is awesome! Wad up the foil, throw out, clean! Sure beats cleaning that water bowl.

Have a wonderful cook. Can't wait to see the pics!

Chris

~~~I've yet to use the water bowl that came with the 18.5, I've used it on my 14.5 but on the larger WSM I wrapped the heat deflector plate (HD Reynolds wrap) and placed it where the water bowl goes when I did up the BBQ'd chicken (1st and only cook on the 18.5). Not sure yet if I'll use the water bowl or not. Decisions, decisions=



Best,


Jake
Reddick Fla.

 

[Jake Wilson]

Hi Jake,

Just a couple of items that will make your life (and this cook) easier and more enjoyable...

Brisket Prep:
There is a triangular piece of white, hard fat located between the flat and point, remove it.

~~~called the deckle?...I think that is what Franklin called it on his brisket video when I watched

While it does continue into the seam, remove only the major, thick part. No need to remove the thinner, inter-seam part. Trim the fat cap as needed, leaving roughly a quarter inch.

~~~roger that, and fat side down

On the meat side, remove as much silver skin as you can. If there are small surface layers of fat (not intramuscular layers), remove them and the silver skin below them.

~~~I'll make sure I touch up the edge on my 8" chef knife before trimming

Very important... 'Mark' the flat before applying rub so that you'll know how to cut the brisket once it's cooked... See 'Marking the brisket', about half way down the page... http://virtualweberbullet.com/brisketselect.html
When trimming a brisket, you want to end up with (as much as possible) a uniform thickness for even cooking.

~~~this is the first I've heard this recommendation, I'll look at the link you provided for more info. Makes sense as it will be hard to see the grain when after it forms a crust

Coals :
Minion method preferred. Fill the charcoal ring to the top and then some, but clear of water pan bottom.

~~~will any harm come to the porcelain if the hot coals touch it, say if coals fall between the ring and the bowl?

ADDED -
Take your brisket directly from the refrigerator to the WSM. The colder it is, the better the smoke ring. Also, when rubbing the brisket, do no apply a non-water soluble oil to the brisket as it will inhibit the smoke ring development.

~~~~I'll make sure I do this, thanks, and it would probably behoove me if I put the rub on it (as simple as I want to make it, being only salt and pepper, at this point...) then re-refrigerate, so the brisket is cold as possible, but we'll see, it really doesn't take much time to salt and pepper it, taking it out of the fridge, seasoning it, then placing on the smoker grill for the start

Following the cook :
After removing the foiled brisket from the WSM, open the foil package to vent the heat. Vent until the brisket reaches approx 170 degrees internal. You can then re-wrap and hold without the possibility of overcooking it due to thermal carryover.

~~~~I've been reading where you want to do this to stop the cooking process, to avoid over doneness. I'll make sure this gets done

Save the Au Jus from your foiled brisket package. De-fat it, thin with some water and use as a 'sauce' for your brisket slices. Slices of brisket will dry out fast. Applying Au Jus helps with the lost moisture. You can even dredge each slice, as it is sliced, in the Au Jus. Then plate.

~~~My first cooking job in an upscale restaurant as a young'n, I was working the lunch shift and we made a lot of French Dip sandwiches, so I'm familiar with the process. Admittedly, haven't done this since we cooked standing rib roast Friday nights at the Baltimore Oyster House on Big Pine Key Fla. in the mid 80's. We kept the au jus in a #10 pound can on the grill, warmed. If a customer wanted his serving medium rare or better (all of the cuts except the ends were rare), we'd dip the meat in the au jus can to heat it to the desired doneness

When slicing the flat, use the slice you made earlier ('Marking the Brisket') as a guide as to where to begin slicing. Slices should be in the 1/4" range, about the thickness of a #2 pencil.

Wishing You a Very Pleasant Cook and an Enjoyable eating experience !

~~~on the thickness of each slice, I recall Franklin mentioning this in his brisket video, and him referring to restaurants where the brisket was over done, they'd serve thicker slices to compensate=, or thinner slices if the meat wasn't quite done. Again, thank you and everyone for the well wishes...I'm really looking forward to this eating experience. My wife and I are very casual so I see us eating slices standing up in the kitchen as I slice them=



Best,


Jake
Reddick Fla.

 

[Jeff Langer]

Here is a brisket cook I did not to long ago where a bunch of great advice was given!

http://tvwbb.com/showthread.php?52333-Little-nervous-about-this-weekends-cook!&highlight=nervous

 

[Bob Bass]

Hi Jake,

Normally, the briskets we get are already missing the deckle. If your's is intact, remove it as per Franklin's video. The triangular piece of fat I noted is shown in Franklin's video starting at 4:28.

 

[Paul Pearson]

I have only smoked one brisket so far, but learned you want to put the fat cap down. I did mine with the cap up and the bottom 1/8" of meat was hard and overcooked.

 

[Monty House]

If it were me, I would plan on being ready to eat until 18-19 hours after I put it on. I keep my temps down.....225-235 at the grate (which is around 200 at the lid for my 18.5). Keep water pan filled. If you're filling the ring with briquets--especially if it's an overnighter--my strategy is to cut off the vents (except maybe for the leeward vent to be open 1/4-1/3) when the temps get to about 200 at the grate (175 at my lid). With a full ring, my temps don't drop precipitously overnight. In the morning, I can always put more heat to it, but, in the meanwhile, I've been slow cooking a brisket and allowing the smoke ring to build.....all the while I can sleep relatively peacefully without worrying that my temps are going through the roof. (In my vernacular, a full WSM ring = Saturn booster rocket, i.e., temps can be hard to control when the whole thing is rocking & rolling.)

I like to walk out in the morning and see a brisket that is pre-stall (140's or 150's internal). If I see that, I usually have a decent cook.

Good luck to you, and keep us updated!

 

[PeterD]

Gotta add a couple of things here. First off, charcoal. If you're using blue-bag Kingsford, its ash residue is thick and, left to its own devices, it will choke off your fire eventually. It's too thick to all fall away from the lit briquettes on top of the charcoal grate and harmlessly into the bottom of the bowl below. If that's your fuel of choice then be prepared to carefully and gently knock the legs after about 12 hours, or what I do, open up the door, insert a stainless steel garden hand-rake (about 18" long) and agitate the coals slightly. Your goal is to get as much ash away from the viable briquettes. For cooks longer than 12 hours, I'd suggest you use Competition Kingsford if you can find it. Costco and BJs have it up here in NJ, but I'm not sure about your part of the world. It's slightly spendier but its ash is powder fine and drops away easily with no additional effort required.

You may also need to top up with unlit charcoal on that long a cook. Go to a hardware store and buy a 5 foot length of 4" or 6" metal ducting. Put one end into the firebox and slide fresh charcoal down it like a chute. Putting a handle on it is even better.

I agree 100% with the idea of marking your cut direction. I cut a tiny piece off when I'm prepping. Never fails.

For huge briskets that are too big for the smoker, rather than waste all that good meat trimming it down for your cooker, find three garden-variety clay bricks. Wrap 'em up in tin foil, and stack them 2-1 on the cooking grate, then drape the brisket over top of the bricks. By the time you're ready to foil it, the brisket will have shrunk enough that it will fit between the handles in all probability.

But ask yourself this. If time is not tight, why bother foiling in the first place? Why not just let it cook on its own until it hits about 195 internal (and passes the jiggle test)? You'll get bark to die for if you do that. The tradeoff is that it takes longer to cook this way, and you run the risk of drying out the end of the flat. That downside has been my nemesis since my first brisket cook 4 years ago, but the thicker parts of the packer are indescribably superb this way. I've never once gotten a good result with hot and fast in five tries, so I've abandoned it as a cooking method unless I'm in an unghodly hurry and have to do one last-minute.

 

[Colby R]

Perfectly ok to forget to add wood the charcoal adds quite a bit of smoke flavor all alone but throw in 3 or 4 chunks and you're good to go

 

[Jake Wilson]

]

If it were me, I would plan on being ready to eat until 18-19 hours after I put it on. I keep my temps down.....225-235 at the grate (which is around 200 at the lid for my 18.5). Keep water pan filled. If you're filling the ring with briquets--especially if it's an overnighter--my strategy is to cut off the vents (except maybe for the leeward vent to be open 1/4-1/3) when the temps get to about 200 at the grate (175 at my lid). With a full ring, my temps don't drop precipitously overnight. In the morning, I can always put more heat to it, but, in the meanwhile, I've been slow cooking a brisket and allowing the smoke ring to build.....all the while I can sleep relatively peacefully without worrying that my temps are going through the roof. (In my vernacular, a full WSM ring = Saturn booster rocket, i.e., temps can be hard to control when the whole thing is rocking & rolling.)

I like to walk out in the morning and see a brisket that is pre-stall (140's or 150's internal). If I see that, I usually have a decent cook.

Good luck to you, and keep us updated!

~~~I'm a couple of weeks late getting back to my thread...needless to say, I've been a busy boy

Okay, my cook went 15 hours, so about an hour a pound, and it went hotter than you describe for yours here...mine ran 250 for the most part. I can see the logic you use here....I'll post pics (lots of them=

Oh!, I used a pit blower to cook this one

Okay, guess what=:-(...flickr is at it again...IOW, I'm unable to get the photo url's correctly...I've asked them for help

FWIW, I've been a flickr user for a long time...it's not like I don't know what I'm doing, I do, it's their site and the tools aren't showing up

I'll get back to this thread when I can post pics because I took a lot of pics and I want to post them and use the pics to describe the cook

 

[Jake Wilson]

okay...I think I have the photo dealeo sorted...I did a restart=...here's the above pic, lookin a little better

So what I did here was to cook this brisket in my 18.5" WSM...I hung the controls of the pitmasteriq on the 14.5" WSM...that is all

In the right, or to the right of the 18.5" WSM, on the concrete block, I placed the Maverick transmitter and a jack for power to run the pitmaster

the pitmasteriq is kind of slick....this was the first time I used it, but I stayed up all night through the cook. Guess you could say A), I couldn't sleep, or B)...I was having a good time=

I wanted to start off using a sharp knife so I had to get it that way

I'm using a DMT brand (diamond metal technologies) Duo-Sharp hone...this is their 8" model, 8" in length, and 3" in width. There is two sides to this hone. The red side is 600 grit and the blue side is 325 grit. When the edge has chips in it, if I let it go that fdar, I'll take it to the 325 grit side which with a little work, will remove the chips

BTW, I hold the knife at around 22 degrees from horizontal. If you hold it perpendicular that is 90 degrees, go half of that and you have 45 degrees, half again is about 22 degrees

So I started out at the heel and will pull it along the length of the hone

About half way + (almost to the tip of the knife) With the DMT hones, all you add is some water to the hone, and the nice thing about the Duo Sharp, the surface is broken up as you see, IOW, the entire surface is not continuous diamonds...there are holes or perforations which allow metal from your blade to fall into, and hold water, but at one end it is solid in the event you have a small tool you want to sharpen and you don't want to get caught up in the perforations

As you can see...I'm using a different hone now. BTW, the knife I'm using to trim this brisket is an 8" Chef's knife. this particular knife is a decent knife...German made, stainless

This hone is a Belgian Blue Whetstone, AKA BBW. The BBW hone sharpens by raising a slurry from the hone itself. In that slurry is garnets, rhomboid shaped particles that are fairly hard (about 65 Rockwell hardness, IIRC)

When I sharpen the blade on the BBW I keep the angle at 22 degrees but I move the edge in a circular pattern, sort of a squash circle or an oval circular pattern. I'll count how many circles I do from one end to the other then I flip the blade and do the same amount of circles on the other side

here's both of the hones along with my 10 X loupe I like to look at the edge of the blade (on both sides) so I can monitor progress. BTW, the small piece of BBW you see is the slurry stone. I wet both of them and rub together to create slurry. If I wanted to, I could wet the BBW hone and create slurry using one of the sides of the Duo Sharp hone but that would roughen up the surface more than I'd like, what with the two Duo Sharp grits I have

Some say the BBW is about 6 to 8 K (K= thousand) grit but you can't really measure the grit of a natural hone using synthetic hone grit ratings

meat side of my 15 lb brisket

the fat cap-

nice horizontal view of the flat on the left and the point to the right...a sharp knife makes this fat easier to trim, and having the brisket cold (just out of the fridge) helps trimming also

this is all of the fat I trimmed...IMO, there wasn't much fat to trim

for my rub, I decided to go with Montreal Steak Seasoning, mainly because it was the freshest rub I had on hand

 

[Jake Wilson]

Some of the equipment I used with the smoker...

the water was placed in this container to make it easier (for me) to pour into the bowl, so I wouldn't be so apt to spill it=

The small chunks of wood is some Hickory I bought in a bag at Home Depot, and the pliers are used to remove the can that's used to contain the hot coals I place in the middle of the unlit coals, Minnion Style...I have a pic of that too

my chimney stoking

so I used a metal can (no top nor bottom) placed in the center of the unlit coal then poured my chimney stoked coal inside of the can, then removed the can with the pliers. I've used this set up to achieve the Minnion Method several times...I like how it works, in that the hot coal slowly lights the surround coal, slowly, so the fire doesn't get too hot too fast. Of course the water (in the bowl) helps to monitor or keep in check, the amount of heat the meat is subjected to also, and I have to add...using the pitmasteriq was really neat how it would blow air into the pit to keep the fire going, regulated as it will, or does

I've done more cooks in my n00b career with the WSM's (I have and use two) using only the vents to stoke the fires...you don't need to blow your pit but it does offer some advantages, namely it keeps an allotted amount of air, or a constant amount, so long as you have it set up right

I kind of wondered before I used it, how it might work. Well let me say, it was intuitive to use. this particular model (the 120), has 4 or 5 air settings, or fan speeds. The lowest setting the maker calls automatic, is a very small opening to get air to the pit. Each succeeding graduation lets more air into the pit, and the higher setting are fan forced, so if you want to stoke it up right quick, just turn the air (fan) setting up and it will blow air into the pit like crazy, but you don't want to keep that up for long or the fire will get hot too quick

I tossed few chunks of wood on the coals, but what you don't see is some hunks of oak I buried amongst the charcoal, so more wood will light off as the fire burns

my Maverick's receiver, showing the initial fire and food temp

I took a few of these pics at night, relying on the flash of my Surface Tablet to light up the scene. Notice the cold white smoke coming out of the pit

here's white cold smoke coming out of the pit

this is what the brisket looked like after 12 hours

I messed up the alarm I ahd chosen for the food temp. Eventually I had to get some sleep so I set the food alarm on the Maverick, I thought at 170 degrees, but I mistakenly set it for 177. I was out cold (sleeping) but the Maverick beeped until I woke up, and when I saw the 177 degrees on the screen, I knew I had to rouse myself up from the golden slumber I found myself in=

I took this opportunity to check the meat by probing it. the probe had to be forced into the meat some

If you look closely you can see three probes in this pic. the hooked shaped probe in the meat is the Maverick food probe. Next to it is a wood skewer with an alligator clip...that is the pit temp for the blower, then on the grill is the pit temp for the Maverick thermometer

Interestingly, I would see different temps between the two pit thermometers. Sometimes they would be dead even, then at other times I would see as much as 20 degrees diofference

I believe I mentioned earlier this cook went at 250 degrees for the most part, for 15 hours. Next cook I'm lowering that temp to 225 (target)

obviously, the end of the flat, it's dried out quite a bit, but it tasted good none the less=

so I took the brisket indoors (the kitchen) and wrapped it in heavy duty foil, and I poured some of the beef broth from the can into the foil before closing it

back in went the food temp probe and the skewer through the foil for the pit temp probe