My First Brisket On A 18.5 WSM

[argentflame]

Thank you Aawa for the detailed instructions. I also thank PBE Gummi Bear for answering the rest of my questions and asking Aawa for me.
Read AAwa's email and read it twice. Should have read it 8 more times. I'm dyslexic so I need to read instructions more than twice to comprehend.
Started at midnight and finished around 11am.


Filled the Charcoal ring with 12 lit coals. The charcoal was smoldering in 10 minutes at 350 degrees. Must have put too much lit briquettes.



Put it fat cap up. Read my email again Aawa said fat cap down so I did.









Came out fantastic. Just melt in your mouth. Just a simple rub. Salt, pepper and garlic salt. Very tasty.
Here are my notes. My question is How do I maintain a 225 degree constant from the start.


Put 12 lit briquettes. In 30 minutes the temp was 350. (Was 5 chunks of pecan too much?)By 12am I cannot control the temp down, took out 12 lit briqs and settled down 275. But first 30 mins brisket was cooking at 350 down to 275. 3am temp was down to 225 and internal temp at 153. Checked again at 6am int    Temp was only 154. Read Ren's email again should have foiled by then. Foiled tigthly at 7am and added 10 more briqs. 7:55am temp at 250 and int temp is 163. I wonder if I could reach 190 to 200 by 10 am. Reached 200 at 11am. Let it rest and the brisket was awesome. Thank you Ren and Lawrence for both of your help. Will try again next time.[/font][/size]

[MacEggs]

Looks delicious!

Was it about a 10 pound full packer? Man, I need to do a brisket this summer. 

[argentflame]

Looks delicious!

Was it about a 10 pound full packer? Man, I need to do a brisket this summer. 

Thank you. Yes it is a 10 lb full packer. Funny thing I cooked this for my wife's family from out of town. They like it so much I end up giving 2 of my sister in laws an OTS and an OTG. Then my brother in law is already looking for an SS performer when he got back home.

[edhead35]

Try being more careful with the vents in the beginning. Keep them closed a bit more and open them in small increments over time. Bring the temp up slowly because once your heat is too high it takes a lot longer to get it down. Some thing when the heat is too high, open the lid to let some out but that drives up the heat even more.

[1buckie]

 Good Show, my man !!!!


Looks really juicy & you got a smoke ring all the way around !!!!


 Aawa's certainly the guy to ask......knows his stuff, especially brisket !!!!

[Aawa]

Great looking cook! 

I am glad to hear you had a successful cook even though the road was a little bumpy.  Being able to adapt to the situation is key for bbq!

As for controlling temps on the Weber.  I haven't used a WSM before, so I wouldn't be able to tell you exactly what to do or how many lit coals to start with.  I do know though, that once you get the temperatures stable, they are supposed to hold steady for long periods of time.

As for cooking at 225 degrees.   Don't fight to hard with the cooker to get the temperatures down low.  With time and experience you will know how to setup your cooker up and how many coals to start with to get the cooker to fall into a range of temperature 225-250ish,  250ish-275ish, 275-300ish, 300-325ish  etc.  I can setup a ring of fire on my kettles with a blind fold and have it run between 300-325 without blinking an eye.  If you notice that with your bottom vents slightly open and it settles in at 250-275ish, cook at 250-275ish.  It isn't worth the headache to try to drop the temperature down to 225 degrees.

P.S.  is that afritada or menudo in the picture with the sliced brisket?

[pbe gummi bear]

Nice job, AF. And kudos for passing on the kettles. Kettle  karma will come back for you I promise. Did you have water in the pan? A wsm running on minion will tend to not go past 300 unless your unit leaks. Next time I see you we can check it.

And kudos to Aawa for the brisket advice!
 

[argentflame]

Yes. Aawa. That was Afritada. I also wanted pork tenderloin and rack of lamb but the wife won't let me. So she could cooked pancit and lumpia.
P.S.  is that afritada or menudo in the picture with the sliced brisket?


I do believe in kettle karma. When the temp was at 350 I decided to put water in the pan. Yes please help me check for leaks when I see you.

Kettle  karma will come back for you I promise. Did you have water in the pan? A wsm running on minion will tend to not go past 300 unless your unit leaks. Next time I see you we can check it.


Good advice. I started with all bottom vents open. I will add this to my notes.

Try being more careful with the vents in the beginning. Keep them closed Y bit more and open them in small increments over time. Bring the temp up slowly because once your heat is too high it takes a lot longer to get it down. Some thing when the heat is too high, open the lid to let some out but that drives up the heat even more.

 

Thank you all.

[mike.stavlund]

Nice job AF!  That's a beautiful brisket, you can't ask for much more than that.

I'm also encouraged that you were able to fit a whole packer on the 18.5 WSM, as I'm hoping to try that several times over the summer.  Thanks for all the tips!

[Winz]

No matter how you got there, that is awesome looking brisket!  You are going to be a WSM master in no time my friend.  This is a good article on how to start/control your temp:

http://www.virtualweberbullet.com/fireup2.html#minion

Winz

[Heyjude]

Alvin, when did you get that WSM? Man ytour acqquiring grills and smokers at every turn!
Whats that white powder int he bottom?
Also, do I see a stoker attachment?
AJ   

[argentflame]

AJ the white powder are the ashes from my last cook. I have a Party Q on the attachment. I set the PQ to 225. The problem is when my temp was 350 to 230 the PQ don't have the ability to bring the temp down. But when it goes to 225 the it does a good job of maintaining that temp. I got the PQ for $45 and the owner only used it once. He told me it had a hard time maintaining temp on a 22.5 WSM with 65 lbs of meat. So he end up getting a Digi-Q.

I got my WSM last year November 2013. Here is a link.
http://weberkettleclub.com/forums/trading-post/help-cleaning-up-my-wsm/msg78642/#msg78642

[Cuda Dan]

Alvin,
 Man did you stay up all night to watch you Brisket? It looked great good job!

[argentflame]

Alvin,
 Man did you stay up all night to watch you Brisket? It looked great good job!

Thank you Cuda Dan. Since this was my first time smoking a brisket. I think I woke up around 3am and 6am just to look at the temp in my Maverick. Since I got all these great tips next time it will be better and not worry maintaining the temp.

Next time I would just buy a 9 lb brisket max. It would just fit much better in the 18.5 WSM.