And yet another butt over brisket

The previous smoke was for the purpose of convincing my neighbor to go with something off the smoker for their after race party. No convincing was needed after she had some of my ribs. She said "Yes, brisket and pulled pork would be fine." So I got another 10 pound brisket and a pair of butts to smoke. My pan is to smoke overnight, starting about 10:00 PM. That should pretty much have the meat done by noon (provided I drop the temps a little bit.) Then I'll foil and put in a cooler to hold the meat until I need to prepare it for serving. that should duplicate the results I had with the previous smoke. I'll hold the meat in Dutch ovens and serve in a Sterno fueled chafing dish.

Outside temperature is about 66°, sky is dark and wind is pretty flat (reported at 3 mph.)

See previous post. I'm using the same rubs. The only difference is I have the rub son by 10:00 PM so they have a couple hours to marinate before they go in the smoker.

Again, I'll be duplicating the smoker setup and smoking woods I used last time. Hot coals on the Minion lay at 9:35 and the cooker closed up. Top vent full open and one bottom vent full open. I'm going to let it settle a bit before putting meat in. OK, by 9:40 the grate temp reads 261° and I think that's settled enough! Brisket will go on the bottom with the meat probe and butts will go on the upper rack.

time	temp	comment
9:45 PM	261°/205°/? (grate, dome, meat)	Meat on the smoker.
10:00	264°/200°/56°	Close the single open bottom vent to about half.
10:43	266°/220°/95°	Closing a little more.
11:28	269°/220°/128°	Closing a little more - barely open now.
5:25 AM	155°/150°/150°	Need more fire! Open one bottom vent full and fan the coals a bit.
8:00	194°/?/153°	Added some charcoal.
10:22	240°/?/167°	Repeated charcoal additions are finally having the desired effect.
11:19	271°/240°/177°	One bottom vent back to half open.
12:22	285°/245°/182°
12:30		Pork feels done - off to rest!
2:15	278°/°/190°	Beef coming off now.

It worked well again. The entire smoke was consumed at the party and I had to dip into my reserves for a few more pound of beef and pork.

What to do differently next time - don't let the temperature drop as much overnight. Of course the drop was better than a runaway smoker.