question about pizza then brisket

DIAD · April 2014

So I am finally going to try that brisket that I got the other day. I am going to cook it overnight Friday into Saturday. My question is that we are going to have pizza's on Friday night. How do I cool the egg down from 600+ to 250 without waiting all night? Do I load the egg for the overnight cook first? I would hate to cook pizza's, cool the egg, remove the lump, re load the egg for the over night....
I am planning to serve the #12 brisket around 5pm on Saturday. Was thinking of getting it in the egg around 11pm on Friday. Once the brisket goes into FTC I will probably turbo some ribs too.

Thoughts on loading the egg and how to cool it in a reasonable amount of time?

As always...Thanks so much!

grege345 · April 2014

What time you havin pizza?

DIAD · April 2014

I would think around 6 or so

Egglegal_Alien · April 2014

That's a strange and tough combo but...

I think I'd use as much lump/wood as I regularly use for pizza, then when pizza night is done, use an ashtool to move lump around so all the ash from pizza cook falls beneath the grate and scope it out with the ash tool into a METAL bucket (no plastic or other flamable material, as some "ashes" can turn out to be embers).

The way I cool the Egg down when I must is: I close bottom draft door and leave the metal cap on with the dasy wheel opened just a little... then, every 10-20 mins: burp, open dome for some 30 secs and close again, until I reach my desired temp.

Once you get down to 225-250, add extra lump/wood to "bank the fire" and smoke... monitor until stable at 225-250, from there it's your regular brisket cook.

Hope this helps, cheers

nolaegghead · April 2014

you're going to have to reload lump after pizza. I always burn through plenty of lump with pizza.

Finish the pizza, close vent, put on cap. Wait about 45 minutes. Fire should be out, or out enough. Add more lump and it's like a new cook.

Even if you didn't stop to reload, you can put a brisket in at 600, no problem. Just set the vents in the right range. It's not going to make much difference in the cook time overall. That brisket is cold, and it'll ramp down fairly quickly with a big chunk of cold meat in it. Like dropping an ice cube into a cup of tea.

grege345 · April 2014

Maybe this will help. I had my egg runnin at 400* on the money for an hour for tonight's dinner. @7:00 I shut it down (vent ,lid) 40 min later it's 275. Ambient temp is around 55 degrees.

coffeeguydenton · April 2014

I think that if you shut it down at 6 pm, by 10 or 11 it should be cooled enough. Even if the egg is still hotter, the fire should be dead. Just set it up and re-light the fire and set your vents like you normally would.

pescadorzih · April 2014

The last time I did a brisket, I also cooked pizzas prior. I let the egg cool down for about 1 /2-2 hrs before putting the brisket on. I have an XL and I loaded it up in the beginning. After a 16 hr cook, I still had some lump left.

DIAD · April 2014

Kind of bummed out. My wife told me that it is next Friday that I get to do my first brisket. I must have messed the weeks up. Oh well! I get another whole week to think about it and dream of how much fun it is going to be. Like most have suggested it will cool down enough and I will make a decision on whether to add more lump or not. As Pescadorzih said above, I have an XL and I'll just load it as much as possible. 16hours should be plenty I think.

On another thread someone suggested the Cutlery and More sale on knifes. Here is a picture of my new knife.
I LOVE THIS SPORT!

nolaegghead · April 2014

The lump burn rate is very dependent on the temperature you're at. I cook pizzas very hot, around 700F, and I will go through a large packed with lump in about 3 hours. XLs hold a massive amount of lump and unless you're cooking extremely hot for a long time, you'll probably be ok. Take a look at what you have left after the pizza and before the brisket, because you don't want to run out of fuel in the middle of any cook.

NPHuskerFL · April 2014

@nolaegghead‌ agree with above statement. However, I would caution the fact on airflow blockage due to ash etc from a pizza cook (especially if you do them at high temps like I do <& sounds like you do also>). Personally I pull the ceramic guts out & shop vac before I do a big overnight because the last thing I want to worry about or second guess is a lack of airflow or running out of lump. But, I've also never done pizzas and then straight to a brisket hours later. Thoughts?

nolaegghead · April 2014

I'm more likely to clean out the old ash and give the egg an angioplasty before a pizza cook than a low and slow. To maintain 250F-ish temperatures, you only need a small fire and that doesn't need much air flow. It's like heating an igloo with a candle when you compare it to a nuclear pizza fire.

I think lump loading and how you light it for a low and slow (not to go out) takes some thought, it's like stacking dominos for a rube goldberg, you want a path for the fire to burn. If you build this on top of a bunch of ash from a previous cook, not ideal, but it's not going to choke it too much.

You can get really lazy if you have a stoker, that will power air into the burning lump through a sea of ash. I used to use mine all the time and burn 2 bags of lump before I cleaned it out (maybe a slight exaggeration).

Cowdogs · April 2014

NPHuskerFL said:

@nolaegghead‌ agree with above statement. However, I would caution the fact on airflow blockage due to ash etc from a pizza cook (especially if you do them at high temps like I do <& sounds like you do also>). Personally I pull the ceramic guts out & shop vac before I do a big overnight because the last thing I want to worry about or second guess is a lack of airflow or running out of lump. But, I've also never done pizzas and then straight to a brisket hours later. Thoughts?

The XL has a huge fire bowl and grid, and the holes in the grid are also very large. I have never had airflow issues with XL like I had with the large.

nolaegghead · April 2014

@Cowdogs - I agree, not having an XL, I've heard there's no need for an aftermarket grate because they "breath" very well. That said, I have a large and have the high-que on it.

SmokeyPitt · April 2014

DIAD said:

Kind of bummed out. My wife told me that it is next Friday that I get to do my first brisket. I must have messed the weeks up. Oh well! I get another whole week to think about it and dream of how much fun it is going to be. Like most have suggested it will cool down enough and I will make a decision on whether to add more lump or not. As Pescadorzih said above, I have an XL and I'll just load it as much as possible. 16hours should be plenty I think.

On another thread someone suggested the Cutlery and More sale on knifes. Here is a picture of my new knife.
I LOVE THIS SPORT!

Nice looking knife! Which one is that?

question about pizza then brisket

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