I smoked a med sized (13lbs probably 12lbs after trimming) choice brisket today and figured that the 590 definitely has a hot side and a cooler side. Typically, I have issues keeping the flat and the point cooking evenly, flat was always 15-20° hotter and sooner.
Today (12AM) started out no differently with the point heating up slowly and the flat heating faster, had the flat towards the drip bucket drain and the point about the middle to left of center of the smoker.
I thought about it around 6AM after I wrapped it and resumed the smoke and I determined that left side of the smoker where the temp probe seems to be the hot side and my guess is that its due to the slope of the drip pan, higher on the left & lower on the right. Heat rises and the slope of the drip pan seemingly forces heat to the left side of the smoker.
To test, I moved the point of the brisket to the far left which had the flat over the fire pot. Doing this had both ends of the brisket heating up within 5° of another the remainder of the cook and the brisket turned out perfectly.
The above is when I moved it and you can see the 2 graphs getting closer together over the remainder of the cook. Typically these two plots are 15° apart.
This was a choice brisket I bought on sale and didn't expect much from, bought 2 and the first one was only so so but had the temp issue. This one was excellent, juicy and not a bit dry as you can see with the paper which is wrapped the same as I normally do which is about 4 rotations.
No pics of the finished brisket, wasn't expecting it to turn out so good, once I realized it how well it turned out, it was gone
Today (12AM) started out no differently with the point heating up slowly and the flat heating faster, had the flat towards the drip bucket drain and the point about the middle to left of center of the smoker.
I thought about it around 6AM after I wrapped it and resumed the smoke and I determined that left side of the smoker where the temp probe seems to be the hot side and my guess is that its due to the slope of the drip pan, higher on the left & lower on the right. Heat rises and the slope of the drip pan seemingly forces heat to the left side of the smoker.
To test, I moved the point of the brisket to the far left which had the flat over the fire pot. Doing this had both ends of the brisket heating up within 5° of another the remainder of the cook and the brisket turned out perfectly.
The above is when I moved it and you can see the 2 graphs getting closer together over the remainder of the cook. Typically these two plots are 15° apart.
This was a choice brisket I bought on sale and didn't expect much from, bought 2 and the first one was only so so but had the temp issue. This one was excellent, juicy and not a bit dry as you can see with the paper which is wrapped the same as I normally do which is about 4 rotations.
No pics of the finished brisket, wasn't expecting it to turn out so good, once I realized it how well it turned out, it was gone