WSC/WSK E/S6 owners - share your brisket LAS techniques

[Brett-EDH]

If your internet goes down, will you still get alarms on your phone to wake you up ?

In addition to the Signals, do you have a lower-tech temp monitor for low pit temp or high pit temp?

When I do an overnight cook with my TW Smoke X4, I use my TW smoke as a second line of defense.

Signals secondary default is BT connection. i'll run a test from my bed to the E6 to confirm connectivity.

on my last rib cook, the E6 held strong at 249.1 through 3 hours or so of cook. i feel confident doing a LAS on the E6, overnighter. once set, she runs like a train down the tracks. very little variance. and the AJ in the pan will be a substantial temp regulator.

 

[Brett-EDH]

Personally, I think Kamados smoke better at 250 - 265. The quality of the smoke at 225 is poor IMO due to the burn efficiency. Smoke is cleaner and just better taste profile.

question, what kind of wood at that 250-265? i've run the E6 at lower temps and the smoke has been good. i prefer the smaller wood pieces, not shreds, but broken and smaller chunks and more of them in these LAS type cooks.

my CA white oak is very dense and dry. i don't have a hydrometer but this is seasoned wood with low moisture.

if you watch the video, the chunks are at the bottom of the coal, to avoid heating up the cooker and burning the wood versus smoking the wood.

on my last rib cook, i buried my wood chunks and did see a difference of fewer heat spikes due to the wood being below the coals.

question, in your experience are you cooking with lump or briqs? my experience is briqs will hold a more even and lower temp than lump and that lump tends to burn, instead of smoke, the wood on LAS cooks. yes, we're in that rabbit hole.

my other thoughts of 225 versus higher is it'll give me more time to sleep than having to be up and manage a slab of brisket.

 

[Gary London]

a tip I've learned from my BGE, is to have an air gap between the deflector and the drip pan.

When I use a round drip pan I use three pieces of foil crumpled into small balls to lift the pan up a bit. I use four balls with a rectangular pan.

I do not add water when cooking a pork butt on my BGE and when the drip pan is elevated the drippings do not burn.

I've not cooked a brisket, it so I cannot comment on that but I would expect it would be similar.

I've only done a few LAS cooks on my E6 so still learning how to optimise it.

I agree with Dan that an air gap seems sensible between deflector and drip pan.
Using Minion method the centre of the deflector is a hot spot, especially in the first few hours.
The drippings vaporise or the water boils off very quickly when sitting on that hot spot.
I put a couple of bricks on the deflector and the drip pan on top. Only concern is whether I'm restricting airflow around the meat.
I like the crumpled foil idea but I guess the bricks also act as heat sinks.

Latest cook, last Sunday was my biggest and longest. Four boned pork shoulders (actually collar) for street party pulled pork (God save the Queen!)
I foiled the deflector plate and had just one drip pan in the middle - no water.
That much meat created its own steam and compared to the two I had on the UDS they cooked slightly faster and took longer to set the bark. Presumably due to the moisture coming out of the meat.

I used my old CyberQ Wifi and a Pit Viper fan. I found it best to set it at 235f to allow for variations. I wouldn't say it was rock steady but it was always within acceptable range.

I started with a full 4kg (9lb) bag of Weber Briquettes. After 12 hours I did add some more, although it may have lasted long enough. Future long cooks I'll start with more.
I had intended to let it run to the end without wrapping but with people expecting food at a specific time I wrapped to ensure it would be ready.

 

[Darryl - swazies]

Personally, I think Kamados smoke better at 250 - 265. The quality of the smoke at 225 is poor IMO due to the burn efficiency. Smoke is cleaner and just better taste profile.

I agree. I feel lucky that my E6 really likes to cook at exactly 250.......to get there I need to have the bottom vent fully closed and can keep the top about 3/4 to 7/8 open. Not sure why that is but it holds the temp and cooks / smokes good like that.
I have however held 235 for a couple hours before.......opening it up and playing with things brought it back to 250 before I knew it.
I as well as Brett am starting a brisket around 11 tonight.
I feel lucky, mine is a 12 pound point only and about 6 to 7 inches thick.....I think it can handle the overnight.
I am also nervous about the overnight.

 

[Darryl - swazies]

Okay, so found this video which is very much in line with what i was thinking and planning for my cook.

LAS, at 225 overnight, water pan (large foiled tray, and filled with apple juice, not water as in this vid. monitored via my Signals with a low of 200 and high of 250 alarms.

i like the use of the CBs to hold and compress the charcoal along with the buried wood chunks so we smoke and not fire the brisket. i will be cutting up some CA white oak for this cook.

i'm leaning towards a light trimming and shaping of the brisket to ensure more meat protection, as the fat will help keep the meet moist during the cook. i'll be using @DanHoo's method of aluminum isolators under the water pan for even more insulation of the tray to avoid rapid evap of my liquid.

figure i'll be at LAS, 225 for 8 hours which'll get me to 7AM from an 11P start time. after the wrap, i'll increase heat to 275 and cook till done, 199-205, all depending how this packer goes. also knowing the beef will carryover some temp once removed, i might stay at a lower done temp of 199-202 and avoid any mushy parts on the brisket.

that should be enough to get me to a 4 hour rest. so 7A-11A should get me to done, which'll make this a 11-12 hour cook plus rest time.

any final thoughts before this goes down Sat night?

here's that video:

I can confirm the tin foil isolators work like a charm, I honestly cannot understand why I didn't think of it myself.
tried on my beef rib cook 2 weeks back.
So like I said before I am doing overnight brisket starting tonight too.......good luck to you Brett.
I hope for minimum paper wrap on this cook.....I am aiming for ultimate bark.....basically so it looks like charcoal itself.
Seen some really nice cooks look like that.....it basically looks like crap, but the end result and the sliced meat is awesome.
My cut is very thick so as much bark and spice as I can get on the outside will only compliment the rest of the meat.
I hope to get a minimum 12 hours cook on it ( so 11am or so ) and hopefully be most of the way through the stall...maybe a 174 or something with the color I hope for.....wrap...then it seems to stall again for an hour.....then hopefully cook until around 3 or so at a higher temp and hit that 202 - 204 mark.
Its the game plan anyways. Cooler for 3 hours eat at 6.

 

[Brett-EDH]

I agree. I feel lucky that my E6 really likes to cook at exactly 250.......to get there I need to have the bottom vent fully closed and can keep the top about 3/4 to 7/8 open. Not sure why that is but it holds the temp and cooks / smokes good like that.
I have however held 235 for a couple hours before.......opening it up and playing with things brought it back to 250 before I knew it.
I as well as Brett am starting a brisket around 11 tonight.
I feel lucky, mine is a 12 pound point only and about 6 to 7 inches thick at around 12 pounds.....I think it can handle the overnight.
I am also nervous about the overnight.

My plan is to start the brisket Saturday night, 11PM. Costco was out of briskets yesterday so I’m on a hunt for one today.

My Costco did have pichana though. I bought a twin pack of that for fun.

 

[Darryl - swazies]

question, what kind of wood at that 250-265? i've run the E6 at lower temps and the smoke has been good. i prefer the smaller wood pieces, not shreds, but broken and smaller chunks and more of them in these LAS type cooks.

my CA white oak is very dense and dry. i don't have a hydrometer but this is seasoned wood with low moisture.

if you watch the video, the chunks are at the bottom of the coal, to avoid heating up the cooker and burning the wood versus smoking the wood.

on my last rib cook, i buried my wood chunks and did see a difference of fewer heat spikes due to the wood being below the coals.

question, in your experience are you cooking with lump or briqs? my experience is briqs will hold a more even and lower temp than lump and that lump tends to burn, instead of smoke, the wood on LAS cooks. yes, we're in that rabbit hole.

my other thoughts of 225 versus higher is it'll give me more time to sleep than having to be up and manage a slab of brisket.

My plan Brett is to use 4 or so palm size split chucks of wood in my cook, as buried as I can get them as the temp does spike when the heat hits it.
My first few attempts threw me off a bit and I didn't realize at first why the temp would spike 20 degrees or so.
I plan on using 3 hickory chunks and possibly 2 peach chunks.
Also I have 3 bags of Weber briq's....I use lump when smoking too but in this case of sleeping and the straight up consistency I get with the bricks I plan on loading the fuel tank with all bricks as tight as I can get them and then the wood in there of course.

My cook starts tonight hopefully around 11.......get it done in the dark.......start getting things going around 10, and get it on in an hour.
The dish is the brisket, 2 rotisserie birds at 4 pounds each, ceaser salad, pasta salad and smoked brown beans....I have a pound of homemade pepper bacon I plan on smoking too for the salad.

Nice pick up on the picanha....
I have about 8 in the freezer, just fell in love with tri tip.

 

[Brett-EDH]

Had to drive to a few towns over to another Costco but I scored a fattie brisket! The butcher asked what time he should come over.

 

[Brett-EDH]

I've only done a few LAS cooks on my E6 so still learning how to optimise it.

I agree with Dan that an air gap seems sensible between deflector and drip pan.
Using Minion method the centre of the deflector is a hot spot, especially in the first few hours.
The drippings vaporise or the water boils off very quickly when sitting on that hot spot.
I put a couple of bricks on the deflector and the drip pan on top. Only concern is whether I'm restricting airflow around the meat.
I like the crumpled foil idea but I guess the bricks also act as heat sinks.

Latest cook, last Sunday was my biggest and longest. Four boned pork shoulders (actually collar) for street party pulled pork (God save the Queen!)
I foiled the deflector plate and had just one drip pan in the middle - no water.
That much meat created its own steam and compared to the two I had on the UDS they cooked slightly faster and took longer to set the bark. Presumably due to the moisture coming out of the meat.

I used my old CyberQ Wifi and a Pit Viper fan. I found it best to set it at 235f to allow for variations. I wouldn't say it was rock steady but it was always within acceptable range.

I started with a full 4kg (9lb) bag of Weber Briquettes. After 12 hours I did add some more, although it may have lasted long enough. Future long cooks I'll start with more.
I had intended to let it run to the end without wrapping but with people expecting food at a specific time I wrapped to ensure it would be ready.

i'm still quite amazed the Queen has been on the throne for 70 years now! my feet fall asleep after 15 minutes and i walk sideways thereafter for at least 10 after getting back up. cheers to our brethren across the pond!