Planned this for the long weekend - wanted to see how it would handle a long cook full of meat.
Two 8 lb pork butts
15 lb prime grade packer brisket
Brisket was trimmed and rubbed with Wiviot's brisket rub from Low and Slow 2
Butts were poked with a potato nail and a mix of rub was applied (souther succor and magic dust) the day before. They were dusted with additional rub before hitting the grill.
Fired the grill up. I loaded it up full and left room for three good size chunks of wood - two oak and one pecan
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[URL=http://s1095.photobucket.com/user/okmiller/media/bbq/07F9F25B-B8CC-4036-A372-6485159A75E3.jpg.html]I turned the lighter off after 8 minutes and shut the lid with the rapid fire fully open and lower full open. Once the temp got around 180 I closed the top to a third and bottom on smoke setting. As others have pointed out, you must take care not to light too much up especially with a full load of fuel. Meat hit the grill at 5 am. Brisket on extended rack fat cap down, and butts on bottom. I used two maverick's to monitor temp (733 for both butts and 732 for brisket and bottom grate temp. It took about 30-40 minutes to get it ready.
At 7:20, I flipped the brisket far cap up. I figured the fat cap up and pork butts on the bottom would help to cook the brisket more evenly.
9:00 AM - one butt 158 and brisket 163.
Other butt 154 and grate temp 226. I kept the grate temp around 225 for the first part of the cook. This thing is rock steady.
11:20 - rotated brisket and flipped butts
12:00 pm - pushed grate temp to around 250
Fired up the 26 kettle to cook up some baked beans - used the recipe from low and slow (wiviott). Rendered some brisket fat for sauce later. Lunch was a hit dog
2:00 pm - brisket hit 195 and it was removed and tented in foil
Beans done - they simmered indirect in a CI Dutch oven for several hours.
Appetizer - Gorgonzola stuffed dates wrapped in bacon. Used a little rub to season.
Butts came off at 4:30 - internal temp hit 203
Brisket before slicing
Point was removed and sliced up the flat
Pulled pork and sliced brisket. The brisket was incredibly tender with a nice peppery bark. Pork was good as well, but everyone was really digging the brisket.
Plated up
This was my first whole packet brisket - I think I did ok on it based on the reviews.
Took pics the next day for charcoal left. Looks like maybe 40% or so left for a 12 hour cook with 30lbs of meat. It could have gone longer.