First Brisket on new UDS

[BAR "G" BBQ]

Hello Stan41; look me up (Bar "G" BBQ) at the Goldthwaite cook-off on Friday 04/25/2008 if you would care to and I would be more than happy to talk brisket with you. Saturday would also work but gets a little busy until after final turn in.

[Stan41]

Bar G: I will probably go down there either Friday or Saturday. Will say hi if I do.


To all who tried to help me diagnose the problem with my first brisket on the UDS:
I think I have figured out what happened. I have been reading on this forum about the advantages of a heat deflector to make the heat more uniform in the center of the cooker and the outside. I built one like this:

It hangs 15 inches below the cooking grate.
I think that this deflector did its job too well. I think it deflected most of the heat from the center over to the side of the barrel and left the middle relatively cool. Since all 4 of my exhaust holes are near the edge of the lid, the heat just went over to the side and then straight up through the exhausts. Next time I won't be using the deflector.


What do you all think?
Stan

[TX Sandman]

Sounds pretty reasonable. That deflector looks to be about the same diameter as the drum. Maybe a smaller deflector would work better. Any chance you could try another one w/o the deflector?

[Stan41]

Rob: The deflector is 15 inches in diameter and the drum is 22 1/2 inches. I will try another one in a few days and I definitely won't use the deflector next time
Stan41

[Papa Tom]

Yep that sounds feasible so when I make a UDS maybe exhaust in the center and two handles on the edges.

[Stan41]

PT: I kind of like the 4 exhaust holes at the edge. It gives you a lot of control of the air, but if I make another heat deflector I will only make it about 8 inches in diameter. I'm not sure they are even necessary.
Stan

[JamesB]

I have my second UDS setup for 3 levels of grates. I had figured I could use the 3rd, lowest, one to place some sort of water pan or such on it if I decided to do so... I have yet to use pan or anything, but what I did find to help on my last brisket cook on the drum was to use a double folded piece of HD foil on the second great directly under the brisket. It worked rather well.

You can sort of see it here.



James.

[txngent]

Hey Stan. Take a minute and look over this tutor page. It will help you in selecting briskets, but more over it will let you know why you are selecting it. I recommend this to everyone that asks me the hows and whys about briskets.

Brisket Selection and Preparation

[Stan41]

Txngent: Thanks for the link. Lots of good information there. I read every word of it and bookmarked it for future reference.
Stan41

[Stan41]

Here's my latest brainstorm for a heat deflector/shield/distributor. It is made from a sheet of stainless steel 8 in. X 10 in. with 1/2 holes drilled in it. It hangs down 12 inches with a hook hung on the cooking grate. Haven't tried it yet, but it looks it would work better than my other one.
Stan41