Question for reverse flow owners or anyone who has an opinion.

[Kade]

I’ve always cooked briskets fat side up. Now I’m running a reverse flow (Shirley Fab). Better to cook fat side up or down? Does the plate make a difference? Thanks in advance.

[Stlsportster]

I always cook briskets and butts fat towards the heat. Therefore down in the reverse flow Lang and in the bottom heat Pit Barrel.

[sudsandswine]

I usually still cook fat side up on mine, unless I'm cooking on the bottom shelf close to the reverse flow plate due to the radiant heat, then I'll do fat side down.

[pjtexas1]

I cook fat side down. Even in my RF insulated cabinet where the heat comes from the top.

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[Norm]

I don't trim very aggressively and cook fat side down.

[m-fine]

Fat side up. There is still more airflow over the top and gravity carries the rendered fat down. The heat coming off the RF plate is not the same as heat coming off a charcoal fire so you don’t need to protect the bottom side unless you are cooking at extra high temps.

[PatAttack]

Fat down until 160° or the color is right. Wrap and back on smoker fat side up until probe tender.

[SmittyJonz]

I do Fat Side Down - I cook in Verticals but would do the same on any smoker........

[BarneyIX]

I cook on an reverse flow offset stick burner and for my briskets it's always fat side down the point orientated towards the fire box the flat away. In all honesty, its probably not as impactful as it may seem.

My general idea is to use the fat to protect the meat from the heat and create a wedge like shape oriented towards the flow of the smoke. I'm fairly certain, in my case it's 100% mental but it gives me a false sense of control!

[SmoothBoarBBQ]

Really do some testing in your cooker with bread or biscuits. Arrange them all over the cooker and smoke at about 300° for 20 minutes or so. This will show you exactly how the heat is impacting the food you're putting on the grates. I used an entire loaf of bread and spread it out over the racks of my Johnson Smokers RF cooker and everything cooked pretty evenly, but the bottom sides of all the bread (on the bottom shelf) definitely were a bit darker than the top. For this reason I do my briskets fat side down, but in all reality I have never noticed a single bit of difference doing it fat side up... just superstition I guess.

One thing I do like about going fat side down is I never have to worry about the meat sticking to the food grate.

[smoke ninja]

I'm a flipper but it spends more time with fat cap towards the heat

[mowin]

I'm doing one now. I always did fat side up, but this one is fat down. Curious to see if I notice any difference.

[kingjman]

Recently read a theory on fat side down:
- melting fat juices won't rinse off the rub(which I don't buy, I spray ribs w juice w o issues)
- presentation

[m-fine]

Never had my rub rinse off. In a RF stick burner, you should get a pretty solid bark that isn’t going to rinse off with a hose.

[ncmoose]

I used to do fat down in BGE, now fat up in RF stick burner

[OklaDustDevil]

The radiant heat coming off the plate at the bottom shouldn't be anything like the direct heat coming up from a vertical cooker, unless you're cookin at really high temp's. So I predict it won't matter which way you do it.

I've always cooked fat side up in the hopes the rendering fat will self-baste the meat. But of course I've read the fat won't really mix with the water in the meat. And in all my efforts to baste meat while smoking, the baste always seems to roll straight off and down into the cooker (so I never baste anymore). Thus, again, my prediction is it won't make much difference in your cooker.

[Kade]

I'm doing one now. I always did fat side up, but this one is fat down. Curious to see if I notice any difference.

Curious as well. Let me know what you learn. Thanks.