Butts over Brisket - Follow-up & Lessons Learned

Braddog

Here's the follow-up to my butts over brisket cook from Thursday night along with a few lessons learned.[p]First, a reminder. I'm cooking butts & brisket for my wife's office BBQ. Based on advice gathered here, I put two puts on a raised grid over a brisket flat.[p]Now for the lessons learned:[p]* All of the little pieces of lump settle to the bottom of the bag. Got to the bottom of my first bag of lump (BGE variety) and discovered this. Luckily I had a fresh bag of Royal Oak.[p]* Butts on a raised grid sit high enough in the dome that the dome thermometer probe can touch them. You can only "trust the egg" if you haven't made this mistake. After two hours, my dome temp was till not coming back up to 250. So I cracked the vents a little to help it along. Bad idea. I ended up with a roaring fire and experienced my first flashback as a result. Now, with a show of hands, who else has had a flashback while trying to do a low and slow. Finally figured out my problem, rotated the butts and the rest of the cook went without incident.[p]* And finally, never put your digital camera in the garage at midnight after a flashback and several beers. There's no telling where the thing might end up. In fact, if you see mine please let me know. [p]Feeling foolish in St. Louis,[p]Braddog