Issue with Cold Weather Smoking

[Tasty Animal Slayer]

Hi Guys,
I'm smoking a Brisket for the first time in Colorado and unable to get the smoker up to 200f at a elevation of 4700ft.  The current temp outside is 22f and I have it cranked to the max.  Inside I have two small pans of water and a 13lb brisket.  The max I've seen is 163.  I'm concerned if I can't get the temp up that the fat won't render. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks

 

[DivotMaker]

Welcome aboard, Tasty!  Is this your first smoke in your SI?  We have folks in your neck of the woods who don't have a problem.  Unless you are monitoring the box temp constantly, you may be seeing it on the low side of the temp swing (it will do that).  The altitude may play a factor, but maybe our other CO folks will chime in on that.  I'd just leave it on max, and watch internal temp.  It may take longer, but it will get done.  Merry Christmas!

 

[Tasty Animal Slayer]

Thank you for the input, I actually may have found a solution with adding a ice chest to each side to add some R value.  Now I'm up to a steady 200f...

This is my first Brisket, but had some Salmon, bratwurst, and Ribs...

Needed some practice for 150lbs of elk brats that we will be making next week. 

Happy to be aboard....thanks again

 

[DivotMaker]

Good deal!  Now that you're here, adding a first name and town to your signature line is common, and welcomed!  We like to know who our new friends are! 8)

 

[smokeasaurus]

I am at almost 6000 ft in elevation and I have cranked my #3 on in 23 degree weather. With the insulation and solid construction, you will have no worries...............

 

[SuperDave]

Hope everything turned out well.  With a full brisket in your #2, I'm going to speculate that the difficulty coming up to temp was as much due to the meat blocking the heat as anything.  Last Christmas, I smoked my prime rib in the snow at 4,300 feet and no temp problems.  I've smoked in 70 degree temps and had smoker reaching temp problems when I've had the rack too full for air flow. 

 

[NDKoze]

I don't have elevation here in ND, but I have smoked during -20F weather with no issues maintaining 235F in the box.

You mentioned having a couple of water pans. Are they on the floor of the smoker up against the smoke box? Or up on one of the racks? If they are on the racks, that would cause your problem. I usually only use 1 water pan, but place it on the floor of the smoker resting right up against the smoke box.

Putting any type of pan on the racks causes a heat sink and usually is a big no-no with these smokers.

 

[smokeasaurus]

another good tip is to fill your water pan with hot water. This way it will start steaming sooner during the cook  8)

 

[Tasty Animal Slayer]

Hi guys,
i wanted to give an update on the Brisket and thank every one for the advice.  I'll bet I had two issues going was the water pan on the rack and the heat was so large it kept my temp prob lower than expected.  I will need to try your suggestions on the next brisket.  I was very surprised how easy is was to cook a brisket that was moist and awesome to eat.

  I have actually had a much steeper learning curve cooking bratwurst. I make 80lbs last week and it they are hard to gage the best point to pull out of the SI to freeze and vacuum seal for later cooking on the grill.  I probably should make the meat to fat ratio more like 50/50.  What'd to keep them healthier for my kids ;D

I added a couple photos

Thanks again

 

[NDKoze]

The brats look great! But, that is a lot of brats at one time with some of them on that second shelf being stacked. I think you may be better off if you did this size of a batch in two smokes.

50/50 meat to fat ratio seems pretty high. When I do my venison sausage, we use 60/40 pork to venison which probably ends up being closer to 70/30 meat to fat ratio and is plenty of fat. Just make sure that your meat is very cold when you grind and stuff as you don't want the heat from the blades to start melting the fat.

For sausage that you do not mean to cook all the way through we usually do about 2 hours at 180. For more smoke flavor, you could try to smoke longer at a lower temperature.

For cooking the sausage to an eating temp, you will want to use a Jerky Dryer. Otherwise you just end up steaming the meat as there is just too much moisture in sausage that you need to get out of there.

Let us know if you have any other questions. This actually might be better to start a thread in the sausage section with more specifics if you are having issues.

 

[DivotMaker]

Great-looking brats & briskey, Casey!

 

[Tasty Animal Slayer]

Thank you guys for your advice, you are right with way too much meat per load.  I lowered and had much better smoke thoughtout.

I will jump over to the Sausage tread  to learn more.

Thanks again

 

[BedouinBob]

Casey, you shouldn't have any problems with temp control at altitude or low temps outside. I am in the Springs (6500 ft) and don't have a problem with either. Did bacon earlier at 200 deg and no problems. The only thing you may notice is cooks taking a little longer than the flat landers but even that is not appreciable.

 

[Pork Belly]

Cold or hot weather, I never watch the box temp. I will look at the internal meat temp randomly but don't obsess over it.

Cold day and a big hunk of meat will always take awhile to get rolling.