First brisket not so hot

uncbbq

I started a brisket last night on my medium at 11:00 pm. Stabilized at 230 dome for an hour and went to bed. Woke up at 6:30 at dome at 120, meat at 136. Fire seems to have burned down the middle and not caught the edges. Refired with the MAPP torch, and am easily up to 230 dome again. Meat temp on the rise. I figure since the meat temp only got down to 135 I'm OK for food safety. Any thoughts about this from those more experienced? Thanks in advance.

Elder Ward

uncbbq,
My guess is you will eliminate center burns by loading lump more orginized and mainly once you get a fist full of coals burning use tongs to spread several pieces of them around the entire area on top of the lump pile.
EW

EddieMac

For low-n-slow cooks..I've encountered "fire issues" a time or two..And since this isn't a Ron Popiel.."Set it and forget it" countertop roasting oven....You just can't expect to leave it alone for 6 or 7 hours and realistically expect everything to be alright....I don't have a BBQ Guru yet....So I check mine every 2 or 3 hours during the cook....I might end up sleepy....but the meat turns out how I hope that it will.......[p]That's just me.....[p]Ed McLean....eddiemac
Ft. Pierce, FL[p]

uncbbq

Elder Ward,
Thanks for the info. I did build my fire carefully in a clean firebox, but the fire was somewhat central initially. Next time! The brisket is coming up to temp now, so we'll see how this works with an intermission. It looks and smells great, by the way. Now if I can just chew it!