Primo Smokers and brisket help

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Primo Smokers and brisket help

Postby tri3forme » Wed Jul 05, 2017 9:37 am

Was helping a buddy smoke a brisket on his Primo smoker yesterday and although the brisket was probe tender when we pulled it, the bottom was a bit crispy. We had a water pan that covered the entire bottom of the brisket and smoked at 250, fat side up. Do ceramic users smoke their briskets fat side down? My buddy has ruined 4 briskets prior to the one we smoked yesterday and all of them had severe charring on the bottom but he never used a water pan either. I figured that a water pan sitting on the hot plates would eliminate this problem but there was still some undesired 'firmness' on the bottom of the brisket. Any tips you successful ceramic smokers have that would get my friend's brisket up to par would fantastic...
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Re: Primo Smokers and brisket help

Postby Okie Sawbones » Wed Jul 05, 2017 11:49 am

Does he have the ceramic heat deflectors? I never cook without heat deflectors unless I'm doing pizza.
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Re: Primo Smokers and brisket help

Postby AgChef » Wed Jul 05, 2017 11:53 am

He needs to get an oven thermometer and place on his grate to see what the actual temperature is at grate level. I've never cooked on a ceramic cooker but I'd venture to guess the temperature at his grate level is hotter than what his thermometer is reading. That's more than likely why it's getting overcooked and crispy on the bottom.

On my stick burner there is almost a 50 degree difference at grate level from my thermometers so I have to adjust for that. If I want to cook at 250, I dial my pit thermometers in to read 200.
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Re: Primo Smokers and brisket help

Postby tri3forme » Wed Jul 05, 2017 2:21 pm

Okie Sawbones wrote:Does he have the ceramic heat deflectors? I never cook without heat deflectors unless I'm doing pizza.

Yup....used the heat deflectors. That's what the water pan was sitting on. What's your setup when you smoke a brisket and do you smoke fat side down?
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Re: Primo Smokers and brisket help

Postby tri3forme » Wed Jul 05, 2017 2:24 pm

AgChef wrote:He needs to get an oven thermometer and place on his grate to see what the actual temperature is at grate level. I've never cooked on a ceramic cooker but I'd venture to guess the temperature at his grate level is hotter than what his thermometer is reading. That's more than likely why it's getting overcooked and crispy on the bottom.

On my stick burner there is almost a 50 degree difference at grate level from my thermometers so I have to adjust for that. If I want to cook at 250, I dial my pit thermometers in to read 200.


I brought my thermometer with me and had it on the grate. He found out that the built in gauge was reading 50 degrees low. Thought the water pan and accurate reading temp would fix his problems. They minimized his problems but did not eliminate them.
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Re: Primo Smokers and brisket help

Postby Chasdev » Wed Jul 05, 2017 3:48 pm

I've run into the same thing on mine..grate and dome temps were 250 and the drip pan which was 2 inches under the cook grate went to 350 on an overnight cook.
I woke up at 3 AM and the internal was 210 with the bottom getting crispy, and it should have cooked into the next late morning..really has me scratching my head.
It may be related to how big you let the fire get before placing the meat and closing the lid.
There seems to be a condition where the fire gets too hot which overheats the diffuser but the excess heat does not move to the upper half of the cooker so your temp probes don't report the overheat.
It may be that the heat's getting stuck or blocked in the lower half, perhaps the diffuser needs to be level with the gasket surface and the meat needs to be on the top rack to get the thing to breath..
I've switched to a 16 inch drip pan from a 20 to allow better air movement from bottom to top.
I'm running four temp probes now..one taped to the dome probe tip, two on the cook grate and one under the cook grate.
Still not sure what I did wrong or if these things just want to run hot.
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Re: Primo Smokers and brisket help

Postby Okie Sawbones » Wed Jul 05, 2017 4:32 pm

tri3forme wrote:
Okie Sawbones wrote:Does he have the ceramic heat deflectors? I never cook without heat deflectors unless I'm doing pizza.

Yup....used the heat deflectors. That's what the water pan was sitting on. What's your setup when you smoke a brisket and do you smoke fat side down?


There isn't much fat when I'm done trimming, so that is out. I don't use a water pan, so that is out. I always inject my briskets. I cook at 275F, with my temp probe clamped on the grill grate. I pay no attention to the dome thermometer. I use a Digi-Q DX2 to keep the temps constant. I use lump charcoal with hickory chunks. I place the brisket on a rack inside an aluminum steam table pan. I've never had a problem.

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