My Newbie Mistakes.

[Kansas City Kid]

Hi All,
  I'm new to the OBS world and I have only posted a couple other times. I smoked 2 briskets for Christmas and just thought I'd take a second to share some of my mistakes so other new people may learn from them.

  Although my end briskets came out really good, I made some errors along the way. 
My first mistake was letting the water bowl run dry around the 3 or 4 hour marker. I'm not sure when it went dry, but at the 4 hour marker I had a dry bowl full of hot puck ash. I refilled it but I worried the rest of the day if I had dried the brisket out or not. So make sure you keep an eye on that water bowl.

  Second I had two thermometer probes going. One for internal meat temp and one for smoker temp (because I was told not to trust the door thermometer)  The One I lowered through the top vent to take the internal temp was actually resting with its tip touching the meat.  It took me two hours to figure out why the cabinet temp was only 20 degrees higher then the cold meat.  Once I got the probe in its own space all worked well (and was dead on with the door temp)

  This third one still baffels me. I stuck the probe in the meat from the very begining. The temp climbed as it cooked but seemed to come to a standstill around 150 to 160 degrees. (well not a stand still but got very hard to get it to climb any higher after 150).  I took a second probe and stuck the meat in several other locations and they were all around 170 or 180.. For some reason the thermometer in that one particular spot we just very stubborn. If I had waited for that one spot to reach 190 I would have had brisket crumbs instead of slices.   So if your internal temp stalls or is not climbing after a while, you might think about re-sticking it with the probe.

Like I said, in the end my brisket came out pretty good but deep down I feel I could have done a tad bit better.

[Artmiester]

KCKid,
I posted on your "some questions" thread earlier but this is a little different. I think you want your meat probe to be centered in the very thickest part of the cut for finishing and not touching bone.
Is your OBS a 4 rack or 6? I've found on my 6 rack DBS that placing the end of the probe about an inch above an inverted rack on the second shelf from the bottom, 2 squares in and 3 back from the right front corner, is just about perfect for overall cabinet temperature. This is near exactly opposite the digital sensor on the DBS but assume this would work equally well for the OBS. Slow is the name of the game here and patience is a virtue much desired. Smoke on!  ;D ;D

[Habanero Smoker]

Thanks for posting your experience. As far as the meat temperature stalling, do a search for "plateau". That will explain what was happening.

Also the water in the boil is not meant to provide moisture to prevent the meat from drying out. It is to extinguish the pucks, and to prevent the possibility of the grease that has collected in the drip bowl from catching fire.

I find that it is best to place the cabinet probe in close proximity below the meat on the bottom rack.

[SmokinHotMama]

Coming straight from a newbie, thanks for your post!  It is really ncie to hear all the mistakes that people make so we don't make them ourselves!  I'm sure that we will make our own mistakes on the way and I will be sure to let you know about them!  Thanks again!   ;)