Glad you made it through Harvey. Our thoughts were with you all. Still are.
I learned to smoke meat on my
Weber Kettle using a Smokenator. I still smoke meat on
the Kettle, but don't bother with the gadget any more. I've got a tri tip dry brining as I type that will get smoked on
the Kettle tomorrow or the next day.
Some people build a ring of 3x3 charcoal (three high, three deep) and wood around the edge of their charcoal grate, light one end, put the meat on, and let it go. I'm not that disciplined to build the ring, but it definitely works.
I use two charcoal baskets. Put them side by side against one of the sides of
the Kettle under the flip up part of my grate. If I'm going to do a longer smoke, like you would with the brisket, I'll overfill them with cold charcoal and wood chunks. I'll set the lower One Touch vent about 1/8" to 1/4" open, top vent full open. Fire up 10-12 briquettes in a chimney, then spread them evenly over the cold charcoal. Put the lid on with the top vent opposite the fire, and let it go for an hour. Load the meat away from the fire on the cooking grate and stick a temp probe in the top vent so it hangs down a couple inches so I can monitor the chamber temp. I don't have a therm on my lid.
Depending on what kind of charcoal you're using, a Kettle can run from 5 to 10 hours on one load. If you need to add more wood and charcoal, just flip up the grate and drop it on the hot coals.
Don't sweat temp swings on the Kettle or you'll drive yourself crazy. Set a minimum, like 225F, and don't worry too much about climbing temps. Brisket can easily handle the 50F fluctuations. Heck, it can handle being smoked at 325F if you wanted to save time. You can always use the bottom vent to catch the climbs by closing it down a little. Doesn't take much. You can even use the top vent, but a little experience helps there or you can get stale smoke.
BTW, my wife isn't here right now, but she'd make me say "Gig em Aggies" as she bleeds Crimson and White. She just about divorced me years ago when I bought an orange motorcycle. I'm sure you might feel the same as me when I say I miss that Aggie-Longhorn game!
Post pics of the brisket!
Ray
