I started a brisket cook yesterday at around 5:45 PM in preparation for the upcoming newsletter and had some surprising results that I wanted to share on the
WSM..
I poured a full 18 pound bag of charcoal Briquettes into the ring. I then poured on a full chimney of lit charcoal on top of that to set it up for a long minion style cook.
I filled the water pan with about 2 gallons of cold water since it was fairly warm outside.
Placed the brisket on the lower rack with 12 links of boudin on the top rack..the plan was to have the boudin for a late evening dinner then move the brisket to the top rack.
It was a slow start, maybe it was because I added cold water or maybe it was because there was so much charcoal in the ring but I could not seem to get it above 205°F with all of the vents open for about the first 1.5 hours.
I wasn't complaining since that is perfectly fine and cooking slow at the beginning just allows more smoke permeation and that is always a good thing for me.
After about 1.5 hours it started coming up a bit and I was able to adjust all of the vents down to about 30% open to maintain 225°F.
As planned, I removed the boudin at around the 2.5 hour mark and we had boudin with eggs which is a traditional breakfast but we had it for a late supper.
At that point, I moved the brisket to the top rack quickly and replaced the lid. I did not remove the lid again until 3:30 AM when I removed the brisket at an internal temperature of 190°F.
I decided to let the
WSM just continue since I wanted to see just how long it would hold a good temperature.
With the influx of air while removing the brisket the coals had gotten very hot and I had to adjust the vents down to only one of them open about 25%. I watched it for about 30 minutes and decided that this was going to hold my 225°F.
I went to bed at this point.
I slept later than planned and did not get up until 8:45 AM so I quickly dressed and ran outside to find the
WSM at 170°F.
Now I don't know at what point that it dropped below 200°F as that would have been how I would have measured it but I am guessing that I got at least 13-14 hours out of that thing.
To me this was very impressive.
Oh.. I forgot to mention.. It was very windy last night.
I will be trying the same sessions again soon using lump charcoal to see if I can get the same results or even better.