Eric - thanks for all your timely advice and thoughts. I had a water pan in the chamber, and temps stayed around 235-240.....but a little spiking before it settled down. Like I said in my earlier Post it got to 160 IT in 4.0 hrs...that was too fast for 7 lb flat...Next time, keep temps down to 225...seems to be a bit harder to keep lower temp since I made a charcoal basket, but that might be the key.
Next time I get something to initial IT too fast would it be better just to pull it and let it finish resting or just crank the temp down to 200 and slow finish it?
Brats in beer were great too. BTW - can you leave the meat "resting" too long in foil and blankets in a cooler? I assume the blankets are too keep the moisture in, so it shouldn'tr cause dryness right?
Keep Smokin'
Tom
You're most welcome...always glad to help when I can. It may seem odd, but washed sand or gravel instead of water in the pan does a great job at stabilizing chamber temps with vertical smokers. I get far less temp variances with a dry pan loaded with a thermal mass. A foil pan or other catch for drippings will allow you to use the sand/gravel repeatedly. Some of the added benefits of a drier smoke chamber are better natural moisture retention in the meat, and a crisper, more well-developed bark with no-foil smokes. Also, you'll use less fuel with sand or gravel than with water in the pan. The only drawback to a dry smoke chamber is less time for smoke reaction with the meat. I found a solution to this issue by adding some water to the foil drip pan I place on my gravel and just let it evaporate out and run dry after about 1/3-1/2 of the expected total smoke time. Finding the right amount of water for the temps your running and desired time you want it to last is the only real challenge, but you can always pull the drip pan and dump it into a container and put the dry drip pan back in over the sand/gravel when you want to switch to a dry smoke chamber. Not that tough to manage at all.
For the flat reaching finished temps quickly, yes, it can effect tenderness quite a bit...not enough time in the melting temp range for the connective tissues in the muscle, so the outcome can be a tougher sliced meat, even if it's not dried out. If temp control is an issue, and the smoker just doesn't like to run @ 225* but likes to be closer to 250*, and internal temps reach 140* fairly fast, I would drop it back to 200-210* if it will settle in that range. This should get your meat to pass through the mid 150's to mid 160's range a bit slower and allow the meat to get more tender. Brisket is one of those cuts that really does benefit from low and slow, so if it comes up to temp too fast, it just won't get tender. If it hits finished temps quick, a longer foil/towel/cooler insulated rest to allow internal temp to come back down slowly through the melting point temps will help some, but it's no guarantee that it would be as tender as it would be if it passed through this temp range slowly when cooking....slow going up through the 150-165 temps, and slow coming back down will give the best overall finished tenderness. Once you get down to 140* get to slicing and eating, or get it chilled quickly for safety. BTW, I have been known to leave my temp probe in the meat while foiled to rest, then there's no guessing how the resting is progressing, or if it will be getting into the danger zone (40-140*) before you will get it served or chilled for reheating at a later time/date.
Just be sure to get through the 40-140* temp in 4 hours if the meat is injected or otherwise tampered with. Keeping it as intact whole muscle meat gives you far less restrictive cooking guidelines to follow, so I don't inject marinade/broth into brisket...well anything I cook low & slow, for that matter. A 225* or higher smoke chamber for the first 1 to 2 hours will generally be considered a safe temp to start at, then you can drop back a bit to slow things down more if you think it will help produce tenderness with a smaller cut such as a trimmed brisket flat. A full packer? 250* won't hurt much, but the flat will always be done before the point, so we separate and rest the flat when it' done, and do whatever else we want to do with the point (cube and double-smoke into burnt ends (awesome treat, when done right), finish @ 180-185* for slicing or 200* for pulling (and yes, pulled point is GREAT eating).
Now, with a swap in the water pan to gravel or sand, that temp control issue may become a bit less of a hassle and become more manageable (it takes more heat to overcome the evaporative cooling effects of water), and hopefully this will allow you to dial it in where you want to smoke at more precisely. I'd definitely grab some at your hardware store or home center and give it a try...you'll only be out about 5 bucks to find out. I like pea-gravel myself over sand...maybe it's just me, but with the larger water pans I have, I can load about 2/3-3/4 full of gravel, have room for a foil drippings catch and have plenty of thermal mass for temp control. With sand, it's a smaller particle size, so the volume per pound is a bit less because it settles in tight with no gaps, but it's easier to wash the gravel in a pan with running water from a garden hose to be sure it's clean before I season it in the smoker prior to the first dry-pan run. For your horizontal offset, you could even use bricks under the food grates for thermal mass...this will change the flow through the smoke chamber in most cases, giving hot.cold spots, so get to know your grate temps whenever you make any changes to the internal configuration of the smoker. If you already had used a water pan, this won't change tempo variances much at all if it's placed in the same area, so using sand or gravel in the same pan would be the easiest for you to get a handle on later.
Uh, I guess I kinda dumped a lot of additional info on ya there...I do that sometimes, but knowledge gives you the power to control your meat's destiny...LOL!!!
Stay with it...every smoke is a learning experience, so take the knowledge each one gives you and continue moving forward. It gets easier with each smoke, and before long, you'll be smoking with much more confidence in your skills and ability to control your smoker. Again, try the dry water pan with sand or gravel...it could change your whole experience next time you toss some meat on the grate.
SMOKE ON!!!
Eric
