3 briskets on the 32" Big Bad for a hard 6pm deadline — basic setup, what do I need?

[GeorgeFromOz]

G'day all,

Cooking 3 whole briskets on my 32" Big Bad for a 6pm Saturday 19 September service — biggest single cook I've lined up on it (only ever done one at a time before). Starting basically bare-bones: stock main grate, no thermometer, no charcoal or wood on hand yet. Hoping to get the kit sorted well before I light anything, rather than find gaps on the day with a fixed serve time to hit.

A few things I could use a steer on:

1. Cooker behaviour, 3 briskets vs 1 — does that much extra thermal mass make it steadier once it settles, or slower to recover from any dip? Does it take noticeably longer to come up to temp with that much cold meat going in? Anything that surprised you going from one brisket to a full load?
2. Fitting three in — main grate alone, or would you use the half/warming grate to keep them from touching? Is a drip pan + foil enough for indirect with this much meat above it, or worth a ceramic heat deflector for a load this size?
3. Thermometer — I've got none at all right now. Assuming I want dome temp plus a probe per brisket, so I can catch one lagging early against the deadline rather than find out too late. What's working well for people — built-in Tel-Tru plus something like a Meater Plus for the meat side, or other gear you'd recommend?
4. Charcoal and wood — still reaching for Dennis's cocochar for a cook this size, and roughly how much for 3 briskets over a long cook? Chunks or chips, and what wood, for beef specifically?
5. Fan controller, worth it here? — I've seen the threads warning these can fight themselves or burn charcoal faster than needed on a KK, with no real upside on a single-brisket cook. Does a hard deadline and 3 briskets change that, or still skip it?

Appreciate any input — happy to be told I'm overthinking a bit of this.

Cheers, George

[C6Bill]

First, you don’t want to be putting cold beef in. Let the beef warm up a little before throwing it in the KK. For briskets I’ll take them out of the fridge before going out to start my fire. And I usually do a good 3 hour heat soak before a low and slow.

As far as fitting them you could put two on the main grate and one on the upper grate above them

You don’t really need three probes, I’m not a fan of MEATER, they always disconnect on me. Thermoworks has a new wireless setup that people seem to love. Get a Thermopen One for checking them and move them around as needed. Thermoworks also has a good controller/fan combo that is really popular, Billows. Fireboard is also popular. I did not like my Fireboard pro when I first got it, I was seriously overthinking it by trying to setup Programs, once I just set a temp and alarms I really like it.
 

if you can’t get cocochar just get the best you can find locally. I’ve been using B&B as it is what I have access to, it is fine. As far as wood the KK coffee wood chunks is great for beef, or Texas Post Oak from FruitaWood. 
 

I don’t know where you read those things about controllers but I’m sorry, that just isn’t the case. That is just my opinion so take it for what it’s worth. I use one on every low and slow. If setup properly they are a great tool that will make your life easier. I’m not as young as I used to be, I like to sleep at night. 
 

Depending on the size of the briskets you are probably looking at a 10 to 13 hour cook. And factor in at least a 4 to 6 hour rest (FTC) 

 

So think about starting the fire around 9 PM, get it stable at 235 degrees, briskets on at midnight. Wrap at 8 or 9 AM and finished between noon and 1 PM. Then into the cooler. 
 

And honestly I would get all of this stuff together asap and throw a couple pork butts in and have a practice cook. Pork butts are really hard to screw up. Briskets are easy to screw up and they are not cheap. 

Hope that helps.