getting up to temp

DC:
I have done something similar. I do not think anything is wrong with thew smokette.

How large was the brisket you put in? I think the problem occured when you put the brisket in during the middle of the cook. When you opened the door you lost a lot of the built up heat in the oven. The brisket is a big piece of meat and absorbed most of the heat until the two pieces reach equilibrium. I believe that the brisket acts as a heat sink and the two get done around the same time even with the differences. When I want butt and brisket, I put them in at the same time and they usually get done around the same time.

When figuring out times you usually use the largest piece of meat as a gauge but it is done when it is done. Also you should open the door as little as possible. This means not opening the door to just putt the thermometer in. The thermometer should be installed at the beginning of the cook or later if you are mopping or basting.

The important thing is that it all turned out well.

First thing I always suggest is a little fault isolation.

Have you verified that the Smokette is the temp you set it at? This is easy enough to do when it's empty, just to verify the temp.

i took the thermometer from my brinkman and set it in the smoke hole with the setting at 225. after two hours all i could get was 190. i dropped the digital meat probe down the hole and it was reading 260. i'll do some more testing on it. maybe the 250 setting will get me some good temp.

make sure you test the therm. from the brinkman.

Fill a glass with ice and water, let it sit for a little and it should be reading 34 to 36.

I am kinda new at this, but with pork I figure 2 hours per pound at 225. This usually works well with me. I have the smokette and I don't believe it actually heats up to 225 when set there. I think alot of the heat goes out the top with the smoke. Also, to keep from thinking you have to open it to baste or mop, when doing pork or beef, use a rub to start with, then when done, put on a glaze if slicing. If chipping or shredding for sammiches, just a rub works for me.

A while back a was worried that my smokette wasn't working right so I ran a temp check. It cycled from a low of 195 to high 255 at 225 setting. 15min up/30min down. It would depend on what point in the cycle you check it. I try to buy it and cook it within a couple of days, no freezing. But when cooking peviously frozen meat I give it 3day in the refrig to thaw. A solid piece of meat like a butt can have a lump of ice in the middle for days. I think that give us some of the problems we have.