I want to smoke my first brisket (~16-17lbs) on Christmas Eve, to be ready to eat on Christmas day around 1:00pm. The nighttime temps around here in the winter get pretty low, maybe into the teens or lower. Is this doable on a pellet smoker? Any tips for helping to ensure success? Would an insulated blanket help?

I have no first hand experience, but several of my buddies have the pellet smokers.

You set a temp and the smoker keeps up. I think the only problem you'd have is you'd use more pellets so would have to make sure the hopper stays full.

Some manufacturers sell specific blankets for pellet smokers. You might check for one that fits the model you have. If not Ive seen people just throw those fire retardant welding blankets (fiberglass or felt I think). If not no biggie, it just means your grill will use more pellets trying to keep the temp up.

Very do able and should be no problem at all. A welding blanket over the smoker will help retain heat and reduce your pellet consumption.

You’ll eat more pellets than normal to get to the same temperature but it should be perfectly capable of getting where you need it. Going from 10 to 250 should be the same process as going from 60 to 300.

I’ve found wind to be much more problematic than temperature.

I’ve smoked in single digits before and the smoker just ate more pellets. The key is to have a wireless thermometer in the smoker and the meat. If the smoker temp were to drop below a certain temp then I get an alarm that wakes me up before it becomes a problem. Also, I load the hopper to the brink right before bed.

Put it in your garage.

Garage will get a nice smokey aroma, like manly incense.

Yes, an insulated blanket helps, both with cutting down on the extra pellet use, and helping mellow out the dramatic temperature swings you'd otherwise have when smoking in really cold temperatures.

Just be prepared to refill the pellet hopper a lot more than usual, even with insulation. Especially if the wind is blowing too.

I have no experience with a pellet smoker but plenty of brisket experience. Start early. Plan on having it ready at like 9 am. You can rest it wrapped in foil and a towel in a cooler for 4 hours no problem. This gives you time for any issues. Also set a thermometer with an alarm you will hear to make sure you don’t lose temp. Pellet smokers are prone to issues like clogging that can cause them to fail.

It was 40° outside and the Recteq had no issues hitting 600°. I smoked on a Traeger in the bitter cold. It did okay. As stated before, the wind is more of a PITA than the cold.

quote:

Originally posted by frayedends:
I have no experience with a pellet smoker but plenty of brisket experience. Start early. Plan on having it ready at like 9 am. You can rest it wrapped in foil and a towel in a cooler for 4 hours no problem. This gives you time for any issues. Also set a thermometer with an alarm you will hear to make sure you don’t lose temp. Pellet smokers are prone to issues like clogging that can cause them to fail.

This is good advice. Thanks. Do you think starting at 5pm the day before is too late? Maybe start it a few hours earlier?

quote:

Originally posted by LS1 GTO:
Put it in your garage.

Garage will get a nice smokey aroma, like manly incense.

And enjoy breathing carbon monoxide.

Bought our Traeger about 5 or 6 years ago, and routinely load it up with brisket or pork butts for family holiday dinners. We are in NW Ohio, so winter temps can range from teens to 30s in December. I wrap an old fabric mattress protector around the unit in the winter months, works fine to help keep the heat in.

Upgraded the control a few years ago to Savannah Stoker, was having issues with temp variations and flame-outs with the OEM control. The SS control is great.

Our briskets will usually be about 15-18 lbs. I program the SS control to smoke at 180 degrees for about 7 hours, then it automatically adjusts up to 225 degrees for cook, until the internal temp probe reads the desired temp. The unit can then hold at 160 degrees for a few hours, if I am not able to take the meat off right away.

For winter smokes with the large briskets I will allow a full 24 hours, just to be safe. I much prefer the luxury of getting it done a little early, just keep it wrapped on a tray in the kitchen until meal time. The alternative of trying to push it to temp when things move slower on cold days, and cutting it close to meal-time, is too un-nerving for me. Better safe than sorry, is my motto when smoking to a deadline.

What I can say is that I usually have a 15 lb or so brisket and I trim it down to about 12-13 lbs. I plan on 12 hours at 275. So I think you are good at 5 PM for sure if you trim it. I've also held much longer than 4 hours by wrapping in foil in keeping in oven at 170 for a few hours. Didn't seem to have any ill effects from that.

I recommend watching the meat temp, especially at the stall around 165-190 and see how it's doing. Adjust temps as needed. You can go a bit higher to speed it up or lower to slow it down. Brisket is pretty resilient. I've occasionally had a dry flat but most times it's all great. The difficult part is every brisket is different. But having a good window for resting solves a lot of those issues.

No experience with pellet smokers, but I do have smoking experience in both Alaska and Canada. I had to shovel my way to my BGE many a time, and here is an example from smoking a Thanksgiving turkey while in AK:


I have a BGE so its thick ceramic is like having it insulated (especially since there is a cermaic fire pit, air gap, and ceramic exterior). Lots of guys in the North post about smoking year around with a thin gauge WSM and they use insulation. The steel gauge of a WSM looks to be similar thickness to the pellet smokers I've looked at so fireproof insulation should work well.

One thing that is a factor in the winter is that the wind will increase the heat transfer and you'll use more pellets (for me it was charcoal). The increased heat transfer also means that you're more likely to dry out the meat since your heat output has to increase to match the heat loss despite the temperature at the cooking grate being the same (I control my BGE with a BBQ guru). If you can block the wind with something fireproof, it'll help use less fuel and less likely to have dry BBQ.

I have Recteq as well and it does fine in cold weather. However I did purchase an insulated cover for it, I ‘think’ it helps but I’ve never been sure. We just love the pellet smoker, set and forget and with the WiFi feature I can adjust the temperature at anytime from anywhere.