Big cook what to do?

[kcquer]

My 'dera and I have been asked by a friend to help him cook some briskets for a school function. How many briskets (full packers) can one expect to do per load in the beast. This friend is an experienced smoker just needs another cooker and my help gettin the 'dera going. Any pitfalls I should look out for? thanks, scott

[Jorge]

I've done four at once a couple of times.

First thing is to make sure you have your racks set so that they don't interfere with the door latch. Sucked to be me at 4 AM pulling brisket out and then putting it back in because I didn't account for how thick the brisket was in advance.

I place the brisket in the smoke box from bottom to top based on how long I expect each to cook individually, with the longest cook time being at the bottom. Some people like to rotate the racks. I just put the biggest toward the bottom to take advantage of the extra heat.

Second, make sure you let your meat sit out a bit before putting it into the beast. If you do 4 large briskets straight from the fridge, that's a lot of cold meat.

Third is fire management. It takes me longer to bring the smokebox up to temp, but once things are going it is also more stable (60 lbs of brisket at 140 help bring things back up to temp after the door is opened and closed than 15 lbs).

Those are the biggest things I've had to deal with. All of the same principles apply that you use doing a single brisket. You just do more of it, and have to be prepared to do it more quickly and often when it comes to wrapping etc.

[BBQchef33]

and not to note the obvious, but zigzag them things best ya can so ya get some circulation. I've done 4 in the dera too, but Im one of them that kept rotating top to bottom.

[Mark]

Think about time management too. Obviously you want the brisket to be ready on time. Weather is a big factor in that. So get plenty of rest and start early. You can allways wrap and cooler it but you aint gonna speed things up.

[tommykendall]

I've done 18 (dreamin!!). You might get 5 if you go in the 9-11# range.