Well my first smoke I have to call a success! Moist, tender, and smoky.
Took 8 hours for a 5lb brisket, would have been less had I not had to leave for 3 hours. My temps fell whilst I was gone
There are some things I will do differently.
The exhaust issue is OK but needs work. The stacks are 2". During warm up I experienced what one member said that the temps are high and hard to control. I reached my temp and couldn't throttle it back down to stabilize. I completely blocked one of the stacks and was then able to regulate temperature fairly well. I believe the proper equation of intake vs exhaust is 1:1
My fire basket is too small. The result of this is slow starting, poor temp control, very little smoke at temp, small smoke ring. As you can see there is a non-existent smoke ring. while you can smell it and taste it you cant SEE it. There is enough room for a long burn with the basket at its current size, I shut down with half the basket full. The larger fire basket would let me put in more wood and make more smoke. I think.
I had no apple juice for foiling so I used hornsbys hard apple cider, seemed to work good.
I want a different wood. I used mesquite because that is what was available. Its good but not my style.
