The BEST to do is go with your experience, for your food from your smoker.
You tend to get more "overrun" when cooking larger cuts and in a hotter smoker. Example. PR done at 350 vs 225, the 350 will tend to rise hotter.
Since this is a thread for new users, I need to add some information from my perspective, so we can understand what might be happening:
Item #8:
quote:Originally posted by skipro3:
So, why have the fat side up? So gravity will baste my brisket. Why have the fat side down? To protect the meat from the harsh heat source. But since I've now been able to convince myself the meat isn't being blasted by heat other than the start of the smoke,
Hey whatever works for you, stick with it.
Both theories work, fat up or fat down and there is no wrong answer. I've just been cooking them since the 60's so I'm going on a little more experience, but they're just my theories/experience.
1) fat bastes the meat Well, this is a popular theory, actually I'd call it an old pit masters tale (not an old wives tale) similiar to you have to have a SR to have good BBQ. I've never found one food science article that can explain/prove/validate it. It's not the fat on top basting the meat, it's the intramuscular fat that is. At some point during the process, the meat seizes up and it won't let ANY liquid from the outside, top, bastes, mops, etc get into to. I'm still trying to figure out the specifics of that, when during the process.
quote:Originally posted by skipro3:
The heat source isn't on long enough and there is no draw of heat up and over at that time.
To check this theory, I placed a large pan of water in the smoker, put a temperature probe under and another over the water. Once the smoker was up to temperature, 20-40 minutes, the difference between the probes was less than 5 degrees and didn't change as the heating element cycled on and off.
2) blast of heat I'm not sure a pan of water will react quick enough and doesn't similar a piece of meat at all. the issue of the "blast" is the effect of drying out the exterior, too much. Not the variations of temp you tested. The CS is a great unit and the variance isn't the issue, it's the direct temp at issue. Actually there is a blast of heat every time it cycles. And I don't put my brisket in a cold smoker anyway, I want the initial smoke to clear up a bit. Elements come on and the heat rises. It's not an absolute, in the Electric CS's it's not a big variation as it is in the FE or stick burners, but it does cycle quite a bit.
No worries, go with what works for you. Oh and if you start fat side down, don't forget to add time when you open the door.