It's the day of truth... just pulled everything out of the smoker and it's all resting in a cooler now for a reveal in 2 hours. I'll try to take some pictures when I get things out again.
First ImpressionsThe butts were literally falling apart. There are a few scraps that are on the ground outside my smoker. Wrapping them in plastic was a challenge they were falling apart so bad. Glad I have big hands.
The brisket had some jiggle, but not as much as I've had on ones the past nor as much as I would have liked. The bark wasn't what I would have hoped for, but it's there. It'll still be light-years better than Dickey's, but I don't see it winning any awards.
I was really surprised by how little liquid made it to the drip pan. I was expecting I'd have to empty the pan somewhere during the course of the smoke. In reality, the pan isn't even close to 1/2 full. I have no explanation for this...
Total smoke time was ~13 hours for everything. I did the first hour @200, bumped it to 260 for maybe a couple hours and decided that was too hot and dropped it down to 225 overnight. Around 5:00 this morning I checked on it and bumped it back up to 260 to finish it off.