jcbaker123
New member
Good afternoon to all from Gulf coast of Florida!
Recently new owner of an SI #3. Over the years have used and owned an assortment of stick and charcoal burners and had good success with them, but was intrigued w/ the SI after reading reviews on Amazon. I've lurked around a bit on the forum and everybody's excitement and passion for their BBQ pushed me to bite the bullet and buy a SI for myself.
A few mistakes I've made so far that hopefully other newbies can read this and shorten their learning curve. #1 your water pan needs to be small. Water pan size and location are critical. Smaller is better and needs to be along side the burner plate on the bottom. I tried a much larger pan on a rack over the wood box. I couldn't get the internal temp of my brisket over 170 after 24 hrs in the box. What I ended up with was a gray mushy lump of expensive dog food to show for my efforts. Some further investigation and help of fellow SI forum contributes helped me to understand the water pan was acting as a energy suck and not enough energy/heat was being transferred into the brisket. Because the SI units are so tight, little additional humidity is needed to achieve a moist flavorful result.
#2 wrapping in foil the shorten the plateau/stall doesn't really help w/ SI. LEAVE IT NAKED
Thanks again to those who have aided me in my quest for BBQ bliss and I look forward to continuing to learn and helping others.
My best to all!
Justin
Recently new owner of an SI #3. Over the years have used and owned an assortment of stick and charcoal burners and had good success with them, but was intrigued w/ the SI after reading reviews on Amazon. I've lurked around a bit on the forum and everybody's excitement and passion for their BBQ pushed me to bite the bullet and buy a SI for myself.
A few mistakes I've made so far that hopefully other newbies can read this and shorten their learning curve. #1 your water pan needs to be small. Water pan size and location are critical. Smaller is better and needs to be along side the burner plate on the bottom. I tried a much larger pan on a rack over the wood box. I couldn't get the internal temp of my brisket over 170 after 24 hrs in the box. What I ended up with was a gray mushy lump of expensive dog food to show for my efforts. Some further investigation and help of fellow SI forum contributes helped me to understand the water pan was acting as a energy suck and not enough energy/heat was being transferred into the brisket. Because the SI units are so tight, little additional humidity is needed to achieve a moist flavorful result.
#2 wrapping in foil the shorten the plateau/stall doesn't really help w/ SI. LEAVE IT NAKED
Thanks again to those who have aided me in my quest for BBQ bliss and I look forward to continuing to learn and helping others.
My best to all!
Justin
