Brisket - 3rd time's a charm. 2.5 lbs smoke

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jonnyg

Smoke Blower
Original poster
May 23, 2015
93
23
Spokane, WA
Just joined SMF a week ago, and I already have had many people reach out to me about the proper methods for smoking a small cut of Brisket. This forum is a great resource!  So want to thank everyone for the guidance.  After getting some great advice, I figured i would give it another shot and document my brisket this morning.  

1st pic:

 - Injected with mixture of beef broth, worcestershire, garlic powder and onion powder.  Let it simmer, then strained it.  then injected brisket

-  applied yellow mustard and covered my 2.5 pound brisket with a mesquite based dry rubbed (A1 mesquite) bought at the store.

- Let it sit in the frig for 7 hours


2nd pic:

- Going in!  At 225-230

- Water pan half full with apple cider vinegar

- 50/50 spilt with wood chips of hickory and cherry wood


Will post updates throughout this process!
 
Update - Hit my stall around 150, riding this out, no foil. 4 hours in, and still a ways to go.
 
Hey Demo,

It climbed to 150 pretty quickly I would say within 2 hours, then the IT was climbing slowly, so I figured I was approaching my stall.  I've been at 168-169 for 2 hours.  But finally broke 170, hopefully here soon the IT of the brisket will start rising a little quicker.  I'm being patient. :)  But just a tad worried that my brisket has been in there for too long for a small 2.5 lbs piece of brisket.  So far I've been smoking for 6 hours consistently at 225-230, no foil.  
 
 
Hey Demo,

It climbed to 150 pretty quickly I would say within 2 hours, then the IT was climbing slowly, so I figured I was approaching my stall.  I've been at 168-169 for 2 hours.  But finally broke 170, hopefully here soon the IT of the brisket will start rising a little quicker.  I'm being patient. :)  But just a tad worried that my brisket has been in there for too long for a small 2.5 lbs piece of brisket.  So far I've been smoking for 6 hours consistently at 225-230, no foil.  
Just ride with it.     Its a thinner piece of meat so hitting 150 in 2 hours is about what's to be expected. And yeah, the stall would have been around 150-160ish.   Temp will start rising again but the rise will be slower than it was in the beginning.   At the start, temp went from 40ish to 150, a 90 degree increase in 2 hours, or 45 degrees per hour.   That will slow down drastically.  You might only see a 5-10 degree increase in an hour at this point. 

As for the time, it's why I pointed out that cook time is based on thickness, not on weight.   Say that you had a whole flat that was twice as wide but the same thickness.   It would still take the same amount of time to cook even though it weighed twice as much.   Don't worry about "X mins per pound".   Just take it to probe tender and you will be fine.  Start checking around the 180 degree mark.
 
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 Demo.  

Yup, I figured.  I cleared out my day, to make sure I can do this correctly.  I'm starting to see the temp climb faster but still at a slower pace, almost to 180, will check and do the probe test then.  Thanks!
 
 
 Demo.  

Yup, I figured.  I cleared out my day, to make sure I can do this correctly.  I'm starting to see the temp climb faster but still at a slower pace, almost to 180, will check and do the probe test then.  Thanks!
Cool.   Yeah, rate of temperature increase slows as you approach the cooking temp.  It's all about thermal equilibrium. 
 
Here you go Demo!  I had a quick errand I had to run took me an hour, and actually when I left the house i was at 172 IT, and hour later I came back, now I'm at 170, and even saw it drop down to 169.  Man its really slow with the IT in the 170's.  Trying to stick it out though.  Didn't adjust my temp, kept it fairly consistent from 225-233

 
It's been an hour Jonny, how's the brisket doing ?

Hahahah, what timing.

Just keep riding it out.  If you want to speed things up a bit, increase the chamber temp a little.  Won't hurt it at all.  FWIW, I usually run at 275+.   I used to be anal about exact chamber temps, now a days, I don't worry as much. 
 
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Haha. Appreciate it Demo.  It really does look good and smells awesome.  But is it normal to drop like that (2 degress IT, after the stall period) for an hr?  Going to raise it up to the 240's.  I've been spritzing the brisket every other hour, to keep it moist, is that ok?
 
 
Haha. Appreciate it Demo.  It really does look good and smells awesome.  But is it normal to drop like that (2 degress IT, after the stall period) for an hr?  Going to raise it up to the 240's.  I've been spritzing the brisket every other hour, to keep it moist, is that ok?
Yeah, the temp could drop a bit even after the stall.  Sometimes you might get a 2nd stall that lasts a while.  It's still evaporative cooling.      Spritzing comes down to personal opinion.  Some people swear by it, others refuse to do it.  It will prolong your cook time and can cause some temp dips for two reasons.  One, the added moisture cools the meat.  Second, in order to spritz, the door has to be open and you are losing chamber temp the entire time.  So, your cooker has to recover and build the temp back up.  Not right or wrong, just "it is what it is".
 
OK thanks for the tip. Starting to see the temp rise, and adjusted my chamber temp to 245. Will probe test it at 180ish. Will keep ya posted.
 
Just hit 181, and tried the probe test. Had a little bit of resistance poking through the brisket, however, pulling the probe out, had more resistance.  Will check in another 15 mins.  I feel like I'm very close to the tenderness that I'm looking for.  
 
 
Just hit 181, and tried the probe test. Had a little bit of resistance poking through the brisket, however, pulling the probe out, had more resistance.  Will check in another 15 mins.  I feel like I'm very close to the tenderness that I'm looking for.  
You're getting there.  Just have to be PATIENT !!!! 
biggrin.gif
   You want to stick the probe in at a couple of spots on the thickest part of the flat. 
 
Smells and looks great.  Bark looks good.  Ok, so I was probing every 15 mins starting at 181, and I think I got the probe to slide off hardly without any resistance at 197 degrees IT IT.  I'm going to do what you recommended Demo, let it sit under tin foil for 20 mins, then wrapping the brisket after that and was going to do that for an hr. Am I on the right track?  Can't wait to cut into this bad boy!

JonnyG 

 
 
Smells and looks great.  Bark looks good.  Ok, so I was probing every 15 mins starting at 181, and I think I got the probe to slide off hardly without any resistance at 197 degrees IT IT.  I'm going to do what you recommended Demo, let it sit under tin foil for 20 mins, then wrapping the brisket after that and was going to do that for an hr. Am I on the right track?  Can't wait to cut into this bad boy!

JonnyG 

Hmm, kind of concerned that you "think" you got the probe to slide off without resistance.   At any rate, it should be really close at minimum.   Yeah, vent off the heat for 20 mins then, if you want, wrap and hold until ready to eat.   If you want to start slicing then, go ahead.  Just be sure that you slice AGAINST (across) the grain.   In case you aren't sure about it, the grain appears to be running from the bottom left corner up to the top right tip.  You want to slice across that. 
 
I never really understood what done would be like for a brisket, since this is my first go around utilizing the probe technique.  It really seems tender.  When I was bringing it back in the house, it was wobbling...haha, if that makes any sense. In about an hour or so, I'll cut it open and share with you the finish product. I'll be sure to cut it against the grain.  House smells amazing! 

JonnyG
 
 
I never really understood what done would be like for a brisket, since this is my first go around utilizing the probe technique.  It really seems tender.  When I was bringing it back in the house, it was wobbling...haha, if that makes any sense. In about an hour or so, I'll cut it open and share with you the finish product. I'll be sure to cut it against the grain.  House smells amazing! 

JonnyG
Wobbling makes plenty of sense.  That's actually how some people tell when the brisket is done.  You push against it and it snaps back and kind of jiggles.   When a brisket is dead on and you poke it with a probe, it's kind of a "light bulb" moment.  The probe just goes in smoothly with no effort at all and comes right back out the same way.  It's almost like you are just dipping the probe down into water or perhaps something just a bit denser such as jello. 

Anyways, looking forward to seeing some pics.  If you would, get a nice close shot of the face of some slices.
 
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