Brisket recommendations???

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1chaos52

Smoke Blower
Original poster
Oct 3, 2007
111
10
I bought a brisket flat yesterday to make an attempt at my very first brisket smoke. I am doing this one as a tryout since I plan on making one for a party next weekend and want to make sure I am doing things right before I make one for a ton of people.

Anyway, the brisket is marinating since last night, and I will be starting to smoke it probably some time tomorrow, but that is where I need some recommendations.

The plan is to smoke this and take it with us to my house in Vermont where we are going for the weekend to spend with friends and family. The problem is we are not entirely sure on when we will be leaving so I am trying to time things correctly or at least do things correctly. There is a possibility we will be able to leave around 3 in the afternoon, but may end up having to wait until closer to 6, depending on when my girl gets out of work.

The plan is to smoke then wrap in foil and finish in a roaster oven (I know, blasphemy to some) I was thinking of leaving in the smoker until either 140 or 160 then finishing off in the oven, and cooking to about 180. It is a 7.5 lb brisket, so I am figuring 11.5+ hours.

How would you approach this? My thought is to do it kind of like I have done Pulled pork in the past and cook it to temp then wrap it in a towel and stick in a cooler for the 2.5 hour ride up to VT, but how long will it last wrapped up in the cooler? If I start the night before, the brisket may be done in the morning and that may be too long of a wait. If I start in the morning, it may not finish in time since the 1.5 hours per lb is not always necessarily accurate. I just had a 6 lb shoulder take almost 17 hours.

Any thoughts or suggestions are always appreciated. Wish me luck on my first brisket.
 
My call would be: Get your smoke on it and chill. Finish covered in oven after arrival. No worries that way and it's hot for serving for sure. I'd not think the flavor would suffer much
 
I would start the brisket the night before. When it finishes up the next morning to the temp you desire, wrap it in foodservice film purchased from Sams Club, then foil. Just reheat it once arriving at your destination. Depending on when you plan on serving it, you may have to cook for some time to get it finished. I have tried to many times to cut things close, and many times have not quite hit the temp I was shooting for. Most caterers and BBQ joints use foodservice film to wrap finished product, then reheat. I think the film will not melt up to 450 degrees of indirect heat, and will not let ANY juices out
 
I think you will be better to take the temp to 190*/195* and I would cook it all at one setting.
 
OK, I can do 190-195 and all in one sitting, but will need to start the night before. What temp do you think I should take it off the smoke at, was thinking probably 140 since it probably will not take on much more smoke after that and the ring will be done. Then put it into the roaster for the rest of the time is my plan.

But again, we are probably only talking about this thing being done cooking for 4-5 hours then taking it out to eat, so do you think I should cool then re-heat, or just let it keep cooking itself while wrapped in a towel in a cooler?
 
Your other choice is a high temp cook. Competition cooks like Myron Mixon, Johnny Trigg and Mike Davis to name few cook flats the size you are talking about (7 to 8 pounds) in 6 hours.
Pit temps are 325 to 375 range. First 3 hours in smoke then wrapped in foil for aprox 3 hours. Pull off smoker at 190 internal wrap with one additional layer of foil and place in dry cooler, It will stay hot 4 to 6 hours using these techniques.
 
Plan put your smoke so meat comes off smoker at 3 pm. then wrap and cooler it for the trip. It will still be warm in three hours.
 
first off.......how BIG is the thing..............that helps on WHEN to put it on..............

at the Iowa gathering, we had all four pieces of meat finish in 8 hours.......go finger...........2 ten pound packers, and 2 8 lb butts.......we was planning on it taking till bout 2-3 that afternoon........not being at 170 (when we foiled), at 7AM..........we wrapped in foil, blankets/towels, cooler em, and they were still to HOT to handle, bout 6:30 that nite........11.5 HOURS later........so, it will be fine wrapped up till meal time..
 
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