Hugh Crackman

6 hours ago, Simon said:

How often have you used the WSM? Could it just be a bit of teething pains as it’s your first time doing brisket on the WSM?

Could be, it was my very first cook on the WSM. I had the smoker between 205 and 225. It seemed steady through out both on probe and the factory fitted gauge. The meat tasted well, great smoke ring as I say just a bit dry. 

14 hours ago, The Chairmaker said:

How long total cooking time? How did it probe? Did you put any liquid in the foil when wrapping?

 

 

6 hours on smoke, I did have some apple juice mixed with water in the foil. I'm thinking now that I probably didn't have enough and should used a foil tray 

Hey all, 

I've just gone from a weber Kettle 57 to a 57cm WSM. (Personal opinion) on the kettle I was smoking brisket to almost perfection... so I upgraded to my WSM and we'll completely over done my brisket today, temperatures seemed on point but it came out really dry?! 

So I wrapped the brisket at 165, and cooked to 195 before resting for 2 hours. I used the minion method and spritzer from about 2 hours in (total smoke 5 hours before wrap)... has anyone else had this or got any tips to prevent a dry brisket

Thanks guys, I have a spare basket (I brought the weber ones and I only use 1 of them). Interestingly when i cleaned the Kettle up there was a fair amount of Ash left over which may have blocked the inlet(s). 

I'll also try opening the exhaust fully and 'tweaking' the inlets, I read that tip somewhere else too before I attempted to smoke anything. 

Thanks again 

Hi all, 

Completed my 2nd smoke last weekend, a couple of racks of Ribs (picture taken early on in the cook). Whilst it turned out really well... I'm kind of amazed, I really struggled in keeping it in the temperature rang (216-240 was my aim). Struggled to get up to temp initially, and then struggled keeping it 'down' and then towards the end despite additional coals struggled to maintain 216! 

I'm using a Weber Kettle, with a charcoal basket (weber coals and apple chunks) and I use a foil tray with apple juice for this attempt under the ribs. At the start I had the intakes (3 of) fully open and the top vent 2/3 closed. I played with the inlet flow a few times but inevitable had to lift the lid on occasion to bring it down, losing that wonderful smoke! PS Temperature probe was pointing towards the 'cool end' (no probe in the ribs). 

As I say, they came out really well, but I am baffled as to how!!

Any tips on temperature control? 

So, completed my 1st smoke, 1.8kg Brisket, smoke rub (cumin, cayenne pepper, ustard and garlic granules, paprika laid on top of Coleman's mustard) 2.5 hour cook before I reached the stall and then wrapped and cooked for 3 hours... really pleased with my first attempt... few lessons, temp was really high, started off nice and low but ended up at 130/ 140o at one stage. Probably should of let her sit for another 1/2 hour before wrapping and another hour once wrapped... but she tasted unbelievable... planning my next smoke already a little dry in some places, which I think was due to the temp going high at one stage 

Thanks for the tip, I'll try a small burn tonight to trial temp control, thanks for the tip guys. 

Hey Icefever, thank you very much. Looking forward to my first smoke and having read some items today already have some insightful tips. Looking forward to contributing.

Hey all, 

From Portsmouth area and I am new to smoking. 

First smoke taking place this week, a 2kg brisket on my Weber 47cm Kettle. Gone with a smoke rub after reviewing hundreds and hundreds of rubs on various websites (then I stumbled across this forum - perfect!). 

I'll update this with a few pictures and the outcome of my first attempt in a few days time. 

Not expecting it to be perfect, but I'm already thinking of the next smoke, ribs possibly... we'll see

Cant wait to get smoking.