Friday Night at the Brisket Cook

The friendliest place on the web for anyone that enjoys cooking.
If you have answers, please help by responding to the unanswered posts.

Cliff H.

Master Chef
Joined
Mar 18, 2006
Messages
6,143
Location
Jonesboro, Arkansas
The last cook didn't go so well so I decided to get back on the hoss. I picked up a nice 12 lb packer at Sams.

I took a couple of steps back for this cook. I removed the ECB Charcoal pan that I filled with a whole bunch of sand and replaced it with the wsm water pan filled 1/3 with sand.

I had the brisket rubbed with the last of the TX BBQ Rub Brisket Blend that I had and it just looked like it wasn't enough, so I shook on a health dose of WRO. I am hoping that the two go well together.

As I was placing the brisket on the grate one side slipped off and the whole $%#^%&$ took a nose dive into the foiled water pan. I caught my breath and got it rearranged.

It all went on by 8:30 cuz I want plenty of time to get the wsm settled in. The temps are running a bit on the high side. 270 in the dome. I'll take it.

 
Looks good so far.

I always have a problem whenever I use sand seems to run too high. I stick with the water unless I am doing chicken and then I always use sand.
 
Sound like you are off to a good start.....I've never had an issue with sand and high temps...I just shut stuff down early before the temp gets to high...
 
Diva Q said:
Looks good so far.

I always have a problem whenever I use sand seems to run too high. I stick with the water unless I am doing chicken and then I always use sand.

Danielle,
The trick to using sand is to control your temps early while they're climbing. Typically you should make your bottom three vent adjustments from 100% open to 75% closed around the 200* mark and that should settle the WSM in around 250*-260* dome range. That depends two on how many lit coals you intially start off with. I've gotten into a habit of closing my bottom three vents down to 75% closed when the dome hits 185* and I start of with 10-15 lit coals. That brings the temps up really slow, but they are rock solid stable for the entire cook and that's typically the only adjustment I make!


Cliff that brisket is gonna be killer! I think the 1/3 full Weber Pan will give you great results, that's how I load mine.
 
Temp kinda acted crazy on this cook but its all good. At 2:00 am the dome temp was 295 so I took minor evasive action. At 4:00 am temps were down to 198 and falling so I took minor evasive action again. At 6:00 am, temps were over 300. I made one final adjustment and an hour later the internal temp was at 160 so it all went in the foil.

The adjustment I am speaking of were taking the vents from 1/8 closed to 1/4 closed or some combination of the two. Never a major adjustment.

I think I have some unwanted air getting around my vents or door. One of the daisy wheels is very loose and I have no idea how to tighten it up since it appears to be pop rivited in place.

This brisket smells and looks 100% better than the one last week. :D


 
This brisket has to be the best I have done so far. Very good flavor.



I had so much lump left that I decided to do a few chickens



When they came off I put the point back on for some burnt endz later on. ;)
 
Cliff H. said:
This brisket has to be the best I have done so far. Very good flavor.



I had so much lump left that I decided to do a few chickens



When they came off I put the point back on for some burnt endz later on. ;)

Cliff that brisket looks amazing!!! Very nice job!!

On the vents, mine have been bent and damaged over the years. Take a rubber mallet and form the whole thing to contour with the bottom. Then just bend the little tabs back with your fingers. Bend the door with your hands until it fits good, after a couple cooks it'll produce enough gunk to make a decent seal.
 
I put the point back on the pit for three more hours in an attempt to make burnt ends. I think I was supposed to foil the point but did not. I then cubed it up and put it back on the pit for another hour. All this cooking today and I have not once added lump to the wsm since 8:00 pm last night. That is 20 hours and it is still holding 230.

 

Latest posts

Back
Top Bottom