Ok, I think I was expecting the fat to all just melt away. So it’s normal to have a good amount of unrendered fat left over in the pan/pot?

Yes. If you cut it smaller or grind it, you’ll get more. If you wear protective gloves and squeeze it out at the end, you’ll get more.

Is there an advantage to wrapping with butcher paper over foil? I found it a lot harder to probe through paper than foil.

Tallow pot boiling on the grill and very poorly wrapped brisket

I always use paper myself, unless ribs. I have found foil works better for me with those.
More tender and pull back on the bones.

Foil allows less moisture to escape, so gives you maximum tenderness . . . which may or may not be a good thing, depending on the texture you want.

Butcher paper allows some moisture to escape but not all of it. The benefit is that it does a better job of preserving the bark that you built prior to wrapping.

Another option to consider is the "foil boat," where you wrap the bottom and sides in foil, but leave the top exposed. That's a good compromise for some meats, including brisket, and it makes probing with the thermometer easy.

Mike, that's a nice pan that you've got that tallow in. It's not going to be that nice by the end of the day, and you're going to need to use some elbow grease to get it clean. I'd suggest getting a stash of pans like this for smoker use: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07N6NBTB6/.

I like to remove the wrap, whatever it is I'm using at least an hour before done to firm up the bark. That's just how I do it, I don't want really soft bark.

Have you checked out business Costco for those foil pans? I got a 30 pack for $9.99. Hadn’t thought to put the tallow in them. Good idea. That pot in the grill is from my camping cookware. A little color won’t hurt it

That’s a good idea. I definitely lost the rigidity of the bark on this brisket. It was moist though!

So I finally caved and opened up a pack of my smoked cheese a couple of days ago.....
Started off with the xsharp white cheddar --- I was quite surprised how well it turned out knowing how horrid it smelled when it went into the the vac seal - it smelled 'pretty smoky' with a tinge of bitter left.... taste wise - again - a hint of bitterness on the rind with a good dose of smoke --- I would 'almost' say 'too much' - but it worked well with the sharpness of the cheese. I enjoyed snacking on a sliver or two at a time all weekend - a good flavor that just made you want to go back for more, but you know you shouldn't. No real long lasting after taste like before it was vac'd. Pretty happy with the outcome considering that I thought I had trashed the whole batch! I'm certain that the next batches will be much better.

Gonna wait til the weekend to try out the Monterey Jack so it has a full two weeks and the medium cheddar to follow.... I'm expecting them to be on the 'heavy' side of the smoke too. I'm kinda thinking it was good to have the problems that I did on the FIRST batch --- it showed me what heavy/too much smoke tastes like on cheese so that I will keep it dialed back instead of pushing more toward the up end each time.

I bet that cheese will keep improving as it ages, Good to hear it wasn't a loss.

I have two Tri Tips that have been seasoned up since Saturday ready to offset smoke and then sear. They are sitting on the counter slowly coming to room temp before I start them.

It's been a minute since I did Tri tips, thanks to Steve for letting me have a couple from his Meat horde.

Cast iron pans work well in the smoker also

Couple Tri tips fresh out of the Weber. Offset smoked using B&B briquettes.

Ooh those look good!

I sliced up a half of one and vacuum sealed the other pieces.

I really laid the Montreal on thick, it's got big flavor. The B&B briquettes really have a smoke punch too, more than Kingsford. All in all I'm satisfied, but I would ease up on the Montreal next time. Plus it has two days in the fridge seasoned up before smoking.

My lighting and phone camera suck, but it's got a pretty deep smoke ring. You sure can smell and taste the smoke!

Those look delicious! Did she let you try it, or are those already spoken for?