Pre-First brisket request for advice

[jerimiah]

I received a Bradley digital smoker for Christmas and immediately joined the SMF. I had a chance in early January to smoke a 9lb pork sholder and a wonderful rack of ribs. I then went out and bought a 10 lb brisket point and was so excited to try it out. Then old man winter decided it was time to pay a long term visit and for the past 5 weeks we have not had temperatures higher than 15 F. The brisket went into the freezer and FINALLY came out to thw yesterday as this weekend will be above freezing. As this is my first briket I figure it is easier to ask for advice PRIOR to cooking so here it goes:

NIGHT BEFORE
I am injecting the brisket with my own concoction - 1 litre of apple juice with a 1/4 cup of soy sauce and 4 cloves of crushed garlic (already made and sitting in the fridge). I then plan to rub it down with a mix of brown sugar, garlic powder, onion powder, mustard powder, cayanne and paprika. Wrapped up and left in the fridge overnight.

Cooking Over Night
I plan to take the brisket out a couple of hours early to bring to room temperature. Into the smoker at 220F around 10:00 pm with a water pan. Smoking with apple wood for 8-10 hours and left in the smoker until it reaches 200F (digital thermometer). I plan to mop the brisket with the left over injection juice every couple of hours. I figure 12 hours give or take so I am leaving myself a lot of play room.

D-Day
When the brisket reaches 200F I plan to take it out of the smoker, wrap it in tinfoil and a couple of towels and put it into a warm/dry cooler to sit for a couple of hours. Homemade BBQ sauce on the side (hope I find a good recipe before the weekend). Serving with baked potato or macaroni and some vegetables.

ALSO - When the brisket comes out of the smoker to sit I plan on throwing in a batch of ABT's to give them a try as the forum has me salavating for these as well.

What are your thoughts? How can this plan be improved? I am open to any suggestions that will make my first attempt successful!!

I will take pictures all the way through the process and plan on doing my first Qview this weekend.

Thanks for the input!

Jerimiah from Canada

 

[bronxbbq]

I think your solid. I would use mesquite and hickory for beef but that's my call. Brisket is all on how you want it. What rub/wood and temp. I think your well on your way to good eating.

 

[meat hunter]

I think your off to a great start. Everything I have read says to me that you are going to have a great smoke. Apple wood is a good wood, as is Hickory or Mesquite, with Hickory being my choice of the two. Apple produces a good mellow smoke. Hickory and Mesquite can be overpowering if too much is applied so use sparingly if you do.

Make sure to take some pics of this smoke. I know it will turn out great. Don't forget to check your temps, both smoker and meat every now and then. Look forward to seeing the end results

 

[gunner69]

Everything looks good to me save for the amount of time you leave it out of the fridge to come up to room temp I don't know that I would go past an hour out of the chill chest but thats just me... If you want to try something new check out the Cherry/Chipotle sauce I posted earlier I think it would go great on Brisket if cut with a little Apple Cider to turn it into a finishing sauce rather than a thick BBQ sauce.

 

[jerimiah]

OK. Its seems that I may need to foil at 170F and pull it around 190F to sit if I want to slice it instead of pull. Also it has also come to my attention that I need to go straight from fridge to smoker due to concerns about food safety.

Tomorrow I am going to focus on finding a BBQ sauce to put on the side (if necessary) and start working on the ABT cooking temp/time. Im thinking I will probably start cooking this brisket on Friday night so the prep work will need to be done on Thursday. The advice I am receiving is GOLD!! I greatly appreciate everyones input by PM and post. Feel free to keep the advice coming! I promise lots of pictures this weekend.

Jerimiah from Canada

 

[bassman]

One thing I do different is to pull it a 160-165 and wrap in a double layer of foil along with a quick spray of apple juice. Take it to 195 and wrap in towels to rest in the cooler. That way you're not losing the juice and the meat has a chance to re-absorb some of it while in the cooler. Good luck on your brisket.

 

[flyfishjeep]

Looks like a great game plan, but make sure you keep an eye on your temps. The first brisket I did I foiled at 170 and then brought it up to 200. It seemed to loose a little bit of the bark crunch when I did that. On the second one, I let it go without foiling and it had a much better bark. Plenty of juices even without injecting it. I use an MES so it should be similar results. Good luck and let us see a Qview!

 

[3montes]

Sounds like a good plan Jerimiah. Do you plan to slice or pull your brisket? If you plan to slice I would pull it 180 or so foil it, towel and put it in the cooler to rest for at least a hour. If you want to pull it take it to the 200 mark and do the same with foil towel and cooler.

Also watch your temp probe placement in the brisket. Make sure you do not leave the probe stuck in a fat cell or lump in the brisket. This will give you an erroneous reading. Happened to my first brisket.
Good luck and look forward to the qview.

 

[jefmker]

Looks like you have a pretty good game plan. I've got one of those Bradley smokers and one thing about them is they are pretty air tight and keep alot of moisture in the smoker. I've done the wrap at 160 on the Bradley before and not wrapped it. Either way it will stay pretty moist. One suggestion if you don't want to wrap it in foil is cook the brisket in an aluminum-foil pan. Basically the brisket will sit in the pan with the juices from the meat. I've done it this way with the fat side down. Will get differences on this opinion of fat side down but that seems to work best for me when using the aluminum pan as the rub on top of the brisket will stick and stay on the meat.

I agree with those that said to pull it off at 190. It seems to be any higher the brisket gets a little harder to slice as it is some what 'over cooked' and the brisket just falls apart when slicing it. I do a lot of BBQ competitions and one of the tests the judges do with brisket is the 'pull' test. They grab the slice of meat and pull it apart, if they can pull it about an inch and half and it breaks then we've achieved the proper 'tenderness'. If it doesn't pull apart its undercooked and if it pulls apart before the inch and half its overcooked. Pulling the brisket off when it reaches 190 gives us the best chance to pass the pull test and achieve the correct tenderness.

Enjoy and good luck

 

[disbe81]

200 is good if you are going to pull it or shred it. If you want to slice it, i would recommend pulling at 190-195. You could also foil at 170 then take it to 190-195.

 

[pineywoods]

Looks like you've gotten some good advice on the brisket. The ABT's are pretty easy 225-250 for smoker temps is what I usually do and smoke till the bacon is done to your liking usually 2-3 hours. Some people cook them at even higher temps

 

[reichl]

Good Luck! Its not as difficult to smoke brisket if you have a good gameplan. And ABTs are always a good addition

 

[jerimiah]

Final question before the big day

I verified the Brisket Point is 9.26 lb. Given I am taking it out at 190F what is the "General" opinion on cooking time? I want to have it out of the smoker anywhere between noon-3PM (giving myself lots of room) so I need an estimated start time. I had planned on 10PM the night before but I dont want to hit 190F at 7:00 am in the morning. I have seen 1 hour per pound and up to 1 1/2 hours per pound. I dont mind starting in the middle of the night to get the right finish time!

Jerimiah from Canada

 

[pineywoods]

My guess would be 1.5 hours per lb plus resting time plus a little extra in case time. If it finishes early you can hold it in a warm dry cooler foiled and wrapped in a couple towels for several hours with no problem. Don't use your wife's good towels tho

 

[scubadoo97]

Yes I would shoot for 1.5 hrs per lb. If it's done early so be it. I have stalls that lasted way longer than I expected. Always better to plan for a longer smoke. It can rest for quite awhile wrapped in foil and towels in a cooler and be pipping hot a few hrs later.

 

[flyfishjeep]

I just finished smoking a 11 pounder for the super bowl party. It was on the smoker by 4 am sharp and it finished 13 1/2 hrs later once it finally hit 195. Once I put it in the cooler wrapped in foil and towels it didn't get taken out until 7pm. It was still too hot to handle.
If I had to guess I would say get it in the smoker anywhere from 10pm thru midnight and set your temps between 225-240 and let-r-rip. I wouldn't worry about it hitting 190 by 7am unless your probe is in the wrong spot.
You will more than likely want to set your alarm clock every couple hours to check the temps and spray it if you choose, and add fuel. Either way you will have a good dinner ahead of you.
Always remember that a thread is almost worthless without a Qview!

 

[jerimiah]

Im still not sure if I am doing this on Friday night or Saturday night but I plan to start the Qview post when the brisket comes out of the fridge for the injection and dry rub. Should I start a new thread or jsut continue this one?

 

[pineywoods]

Since this thread is titled Pre-First brisket I would say go ahead and start a new one but thats just my opinion

 

[flyfishjeep]

^^^^^^ = what he said!