Using my new (old) Charbroil electric for the first time

It came out pretty good.  Someone who spent some time in Texas said it was a reasonable facsimile of the brisket down there.

The ceramic briquettes basically sat below the level of the heating element.

I decided not to put water in with the sand.  I did preheat the sand in my oven.

I used a fist size chunk of hickory along with an apple chip foil ball.  They both smoked well & seemed to last about the same amount of time.

I made a 24" x 24" four sided shelter from what turned out to be 1/2" thick Dow Super Tuf-R foil coated polyisocyanate (sp?) foamboard insulation.  It also had a "roof" made from a piece of 1/2" blue foam board.  3 of the sheets were screwed to 2x2's & the 4th side just wedged in under the roof.  There were enough gaps in the stuff to allow smoke to escape.

I made a 5 lb & a 4 lb brisket flats.  I rubbed them down 24 hours prior to smoke.  I used the Basic BBQ rub from the BBQ Bible.  

Salt, brown sugar, paprika, cayenne pepper, celery seeds, black pepper (smoked of course) minced onion flakes.

I think the lack of water in the pan may have caused the stall.  The only other time I have smoked a big piece of meat was another brisket on my Inlaws Charbroil propane smoker with water in the pan.  No evidence of the stall in that piece.

I will try to post pictures of the shelter when I get home.

Don