Warning: My brisket stalled for 6 hours because I lifted the lid every 20 minutes to peek at it
I used to think opening the smoker to check on my meat was just part of the process, you know, making sure it looked okay and all. But last Saturday I did a 12 pound brisket on my offset smoker down in my backyard here in Austin and it just would not get past 150 degrees after like 6 hours. I was adding wood, spraying it, checking the temp probe, the whole deal. My buddy who runs a food truck came over and watched me for five minutes and he just said stop opening the lid every time you walk past it. He told me every time I cracked that door I was dumping all the heat and moisture and adding like 30 minutes to my cook time. I felt like a total idiot. I closed it up, walked away for 2 hours, and when I came back it had climbed to 175 and was rolling perfect. Has anyone else wrecked a whole day of cooking just by being too nosey with their smoker?