Best setup for kettle overnight smoke with (or without) Smokenator?

[hominamad]

Hey everyone - going to be doing my second attempt at a brisket on my kettle this weekend and trying to get some ideas about the best setup. The first time around it came out good, not great. I didn't have the smokenator at the time and it was a pain struggling with temps (was also a lot less experienced then).

Now I have a smokenator and a bunch more smokes under my belt and trying to figure out the best way to arrange the thing. The longest I have smoked with it was around 5-6 hours. It was easy to maintain temp but I still had to tend to it quite frequently to add water to the pan, shake ash off coals, etc. to keep it going - all things that will stop me from getting any sleep.

Does anyone have any good insights or clever ways to set up so that it needs the minimal amount of attention? If I could go 4-5 hours at a time and maybe wake up once during the night that would be great.

PS - I will be sleeping with my wireless Maverick next to my bed.

Thanks~!
H

[jsperk]

Take out the smokenators water pan and fill the whole cavity up with charcoal. Minus a small amount so you can fit in the 12 or lit coals. Then you can use like a regular loaf pan on top of the smokenator where the small one goes, only this one will sit down in. U can use any type of bigger pan.

[deguerre]

Forget about the little water tray. Instead, place a disposable aluminum pan next to where the coals are and fill it with water instead. Since it'll be sort of underneath the brisket it'll act like a drip pan too.


On edit...looks like that was just said.

[aawa]

The ring of fire method will get you nice stable temperatures for long periods of time on the kettle. I did this with a couple of briskets before I built myself a UDS.

[Bludawg]

Originally Posted by aawa

The ring of fire method will get you nice stable temperatures for long periods of time on the kettle. I did this with a couple of briskets before I built myself a UDS.

^^^this^^^

[hominamad]

That's a great idea. Definitely going to try that. Also was wondering if it would be better to place the lit coals all on one side rather than spread along the top. Seems like that would make it burn slower but haven't tried yet.

[aawa]

You just place the lit coals at one end of the ring. The ring will follow the trail till it gets to the other end of the ring. Make sure to leave space between the starting end of the ring and the back end of the ring so you don't light both sides.

[hominamad]

So ring of fire method would be in place of using the smokenator I suppose? And then would I just use fire bricks as a divider/heat reflector?

I actually was asking about using smokenator and placing lit coals all on one side instead of spread out.

[aawa]

You use the ring of fire method without the smokenator. I don't use a fire brick to seperate the ends. I just leave a small gap. I do put foil in the middle shaped like a bowl, and then fill that with a little bit of water so it acts as a drip pan so the fat doesn't drip into the bowl.

here is a good thread on how to set it up with lump charcoal.
http://www.bbq-brethren.com/forum/sh...d.php?t=160741

If you do it with briquettes, just do a 2x2 snake around the charcoal grate.
http://i984.photobucket.com/albums/a...hawn3/ring.jpg

[jsperk]

Either one works great. I have used both. I had the smokenator before I learned about the ring of fire. I never dumped lit coals on just one side of the smokenator. You could give it try it that way.

[bacchus99]

Ring of fire will burn a loooooooooong time. Excellent setup. Your food is pretty close to those 12 lit coals but i've never seemed to have an issue with it.

[hominamad]

A large packer brisket can just barely fit on the grate - wouldn't it be a problem with the meat sitting too close to the lit coals on the edges and getting dried out, etc?

[El Ropo]

I cooked a 12 lb brisket using ring of fire method averaging around 275 to 300 for the entire cook. It lasted 9 hours (when the brisket was done) and still had another hour or two left if I hadn't snuffed out the fire.

Keep in mind, I always cook nekkid, no foil or butcher paper, so the brisket could of been done sooner had I wanted to wrap with foil.

[BBQfirefighter148]

Here is how I set up mine with two brick and aluminum pan.

[hominamad]

That looks great! So do you have a "half ring of fire" under there?