Long Night with the WSM Brisket

[allribsmatter]

Morning Fellas and Smokey Ladies,

Setup: Minion Method: 18lbs of kingsford with 5 small chunks sitting on top touching hot coals. Started with 20 hot coals in middle. Top vent wide open. Bottom three vents at 15% open (1/8 inch).

So I'm on my third or fourth cook with my new Weber Smokey Mountain 22.5. This is my first smoker. So threw on a 15lb brisket at 9pm last night after starting charcoal around 8pm. Went to sleep around 10:30 with temps hovering around 235F. Woke up to my thermometer alarm at 12:30am with temp hitting 280F on top rack. I sit there in bed staring at thermometer in disbelief and end up saying F-it and try to go back to sleep. Lay there awake for 20min look over at Temp and it's 330F !! WTF. I get up to make sure my house isn't about to burn down and go shut one of the three vents entirely. Temps start to come down so I go back to sleep. By then internal temp was already 157F.

Wake up at 4:30am, temp is at 162F and a nice 223F on top rack. I wrap in foil, return meat to WSM and go to sleep.

Wake up at 7:30am, temp is at 193F and 219F on top rack. I do probe test and meat doesn't seem close to done. I'll probe every 90 minutes or so from here.

So what is going on with my smoker??

How is this going to affect my final done temp?

I figure higher temps could mean higher internal temp for tenderness?

I think it's time for a beer!

Cheers

Dan

 

[dirtsailor2003]

Sounds orettt normal for a new smoker. The higher temps won't hurt your brisket.

On my 18" WSM I usually have one of the lower vents open and the others closed when doing long cooks. Top vent wide open always.

With only 3-4 cooks on that smoker it's still not even seasoned yet. The more you smoke with it the more funk will build up and it will become more stable during longer cooks.

 

[allribsmatter]

Thanks DirtSailor,

Ya I'm thinking some grease got on fire or something. Maybe some water boiled over causing steam. I started with 3G of room temp water and I could have taken that long to start boiling. Still doesn't make a lot of sense, but I guess all that matters is amazing meat.

Dan

 

[SmokinAl]

The new WSM's always run hot for the first few smokes, until they get some buildup on the inside.

I've smoked brisket from 215 to 280 & the only difference I could see is the hotter setup took less time to cook.

Al

 

[allribsmatter]

Thanks Al,

The crazy spike in the middle of the night had me very confused. Don't think I'll be sleeping with my thermometer for the next cook. Nothing gonna replace experience that I have yet to gain.

Dan