This does not bode well....

[Jerry P.]

Brisket on at 11:30. I'm doing it high heat so I thought I'd cock the lid a tad to get the heat up. Unfortunately, there was alot of smoke when I assembled and I didn't get the grill grate on correctly. Brisket falls into foiled water pan. I almost died of smoke inhalation disassembling and reassembling the cooker. Wish me luck.

 

[Gary H. NJ]

It's all part of the fun. I've done that at 3AM with water in the pan. Argh!

 

[Craig Castille]

Lesson learned.

I don't assemble until the fire is ready.... I load the meat on the grates while still apart.


It's easier for me to fiddle with meat placement without the smoke in my eyes. lol

 

[Jerry P.]

Yep, lesson learned for sure.

Craig, I have a brand new 18 WSM and I'm using the stock therm on the lid. She's sitting at 335*. Sound right?

 

[Dave/G]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by Jerry P.:
Brisket falls into foiled water pan. </div></BLOCKQUOTE>
You knocked some sense into that brisket. It will be better now that it knows that you are in control.

FWIW, maybe you'll like and maybe not, I bring the grate in the kitchen and put it over a cookie sheet just in case of dripping. After I prep the meat, I place it on the grate and take the pan and grate with meat on it outside to a little folding tv table. I have the middle cooking section off to the side ala Craig without the lid on. Place the grate on the tabs, put the lid on and then assemble. I'll admit that it would be nicer if those tabs were longer. I never cook too much at one time to make lifting the cooking section a problem

 

[Craig Castille]

335 is perfect.

A little lower or higher is fine too.

I'll foil at about 2.5 hours....sometimes less

Best of luck.

 

[Tom R (doughboy)]

If everything went perfect and according to plan every time, it wouldn't be any fun! Take luck!



What happend to you is another reason I'm happy I don't use water.

I fill the ring (however much I need), fire up the chimney, prep the meat, dump the chimney into the ring and assemble the smoker (dropping a few good size chunks of wood.

Then I go inside, put the mop together, finish prepping the meat with some last minute rub or whatever...

By the time I'm ready for the smoker, it is ready for me with some nice sweet blue smoke.

open the lid, pull the top grate, put the meat in, put the top grate back on, drop the meat on... replace lid. Less than 20 seconds.

 

[Brad Benski]

My routine follows this typical flow:

1. Trim Meat and inject/marinade
2. Clean out smoker
3. Add charcoal
4. Start chimney with "starter" briquettes
5. Season meat
6. Dump Chimney into smoker
7. Assemble components and add meat.
8. Adjust dampers for final temp.

 

[Jerry P.]

Foiled at 2:15. Temp read around 155-160 in the thickest part of the flat. Smells like a giantic steak!

 

[Paul H]

Jerry, I did that once with a whole chicken. It took a bath in my water pan that was full.

 

[Jerry P.]

Brisket is off the smoker and resting after 4:20. Now sitting on my kitchen counter for an hour rest. Hopefully, it's edible

 

[Jerry P.]

Brisket turned out pretty well for my first try. The wife and next door neighbor both raved about it. I must be more of a pork guy since I thought it was OK but nothing special. I really like the high heat method.

 

[Brad Benski]

Jerry, congratulations. They'll only get better each time you cook them as you become familiar with the process and start to figure out what you like from a taste preference. Like you I prefer Pork Butts.

Here's a quick pict from my Brisket done today at 250. 8+ hours from cutting the crovac until service.