"You've lost that smoookey flaaavor"

[deejaydebi]

Guess it also depneds on whether or not you find fat appealing or repulsive.

 

[Dutch]

If your smoker is vented properly, it doesn't matter if the fat cap is up or down. The smoke should be able to envelop the meat. I prefer to smoke my briskets fat cap down as the fat absorbs any heat spikes without sacrificing the meat.

 

[zardnok]

Gotta agree with Dutch on the Fat cap down. I usually trim my briskets to half an inch or so on the fat. Not to worried about getting it "exact". I usually slice diagonals through the fat cap as well before I put it in smoker. The fat cap down helps with heat spikes. Fat cap up is supposed to be juicier meat, but IMO it makes the meat taste greasier.

I do not remove the fat when I slice my brisket. It is easy enough for guests to remove it if they like before they eat it. I usually do not eat the fat and simply scoot it to the side of the plate. My GF can not stand fat, but she is able to simply remove the fat and eat the meat and has no problem.

 

[shellbellc]

I currently have a Mustang electric smoker and I have a vent on top...to answer the one question my wook chips/chunks definitely burns down to just ash, not just charring. I would say that maybe the element wasn't burning hot enough?? In an attempt to increase the heat in my box I've closed teh vent completely. I've found that this caused "condensation" in the vent which dripped a distinctive ring of "drip" in my beans on the top shelf. I'm not sure what that would do inside a smoker without a vent...One question I didn't see asked was what kind of wood were you using? When you're smoking without a vent does smoke escape anywhere? This may explain why your wood doesn't burn down, no oxygen is in there to let it burn...I would think you need some kind of air exchange.