Smoking two 8 # Briskets need some time advice

pooyie · May 24, 2014

I have to have two briskets smoked and delicious for party on Sunday. I have smoked a 10 # brisket and it turned out well but never tried two at the same time. I plan to cover them in rub on Sat morning and let them sit until about 7 PM Sat night. Put them on at that time at 225 and hope they are at 190 IT by 3PM on Sunday. I intend to smoke it heavy for the first 4 hrs and then evry few hrs add a few more chips. Any suggestion would be appreciated.

Thanks
Pooyie

pooyie · May 24, 2014

I should have said I am using a 40" MES.

gary s · May 24, 2014

Hey I got a brisket and pork shoulder on right now, Check out what I am doing and see if it helps Same Forum, mine is titled "Saturday Brisket and Other Stuff.

Gary S

boykjo · May 24, 2014

Do not heavy smoke......You should always run TBS through out the whole smoke or the first 4 to 6 hrs

pooyie · May 24, 2014

Thanks guys
Will take your advise. Slow and easy.
My biggest concern is time management. Don't want finish too soon.

boykjo · May 24, 2014

finishing too soon is OK. You can foil, wrap in a towel and place in a cooler for hrs before serving and it will stay hot

pooyie · May 24, 2014

Cool. Now I can relax and enjoy the party.

demosthenes9 · May 24, 2014

boykjo said:
finishing too soon is OK. You can foil, wrap in a towel and place in a cooler for hrs before serving and it will stay hot

pooyie said:
Cool. Now I can relax and enjoy the party.

Yep yep. You can hold them in a cooler for upwards of 6 hours. If you need to hold even longer, put them in a 150 degree oven.

BTW, I see that you mentioned taking the briskets to 190. It's better to cook them until they are actually done

They might not be ready at 190. Use the probe/poke test to see if they are ready. Using a temp probe, skewer or toothpick, poke the brisket in different spots at the thickest part of the flat. It should go in with very little resistance, like a knife through butter or whatever. This might happen at 190, or 200, or 205. Would be a shame to smoke 2 briskets for all that time only to pull them 1 hour early and have them come out dry and chewy.

gary s · May 24, 2014

You can wrap them and keep them in the cooler for several hours, won't hurt a thing. This will do a couple of things for you, It lets the juices re-distribute and the temp will actually rise a few degrees more. You will probably be surprised how much better it is than just slicing it as soon as it comes off.

Mine should be coming off around 6:00 or so.

Gary S

brooksy · May 24, 2014

If you cooked one and it turned out good then you are in good shape because there is no difference in cooking two ;-) Just do the same stuff twice. Monitor both temps like you normally would and cook them like you did your last one.

pooyie · May 24, 2014

Will do. I plan to have the temp probe in the thickest part of the meat. Will check around. Always worry about the tip getting dried out.

pooyie · May 25, 2014

Ok Early birds. Woke at 6 and both briskest showing 187. Nearing that magical number. So my timing was off. I misunderstood that if one brisket takes approx. 1.5 hrs/ lb. to cook at 225 that two briskest would take much longer because the meats would take up more heat from smoke. Nope.
If one takes 10 hrs then two take ten hrs. I guess that was what I was looking for as far as time. But it is the big duh! I should have known this from cooking in an oven.
These guys will have to go in a cooler. Hope they will last until 3:00 or so when company shows up.

On a side note, Any Veterans out there....Thank you for your service as we remember all who gave the ultimate sacrifice for our country.

alelover · May 25, 2014

Just double wrap with foil. Wrap in towels and throw it in the cooler. It will be like butter at 3 PM.

boykjo · May 25, 2014

YEP.......... what alelover said

pooyie · May 25, 2014

Well, I'm not sure why but after checking the my brisket that was at 190. I took it out and started probing it to insure that it was uniform in temp. I took it out so that the smoker with the other one still cooking would not loose too much heat. Probing showed while some areas were at 190 others were in the 186 range. So back into the smoker but I switched positions. More cooked on the 2nd to top rack and the lesser cooked moved up to the top rack.

Now both are showing to be in the lower 180s. Did I screw up the cooking process? And will this result in dryer meat? I know I sound like an ole woman wringing my hands with worry but...

gator · May 25, 2014

I always have good luck running my Brisket at 250 degrees and figure 1 hour per pound. Half way through I wrap in foil and shoot for an internal temp of 195. I also inject & rub while the coals are getting lit.

boykjo · May 25, 2014

Keep smoking like your doing. Tooth pick it when it gets back to 190. Tooth pick should slide in with no resistance. do this instead of probing all over the meat for temp.. If you have resistance tooth pick it every 5 degrees

brooksy · May 25, 2014

Don't freak out. Everything will be OK. Can't wait to see some pics of the final product. Because remember NO PICS NEVER HAPPENED!

pooyie · May 26, 2014

Thanks for all your help guys.

Here's my Postmortem: (first Sorry for no pics, way too busy and just forgot!)

Took the briskets off at 9:30 AM (this makes thirteen hrs @ 225). he internal was 192. Double wrapped in foil, wrapped in towel and then wrapped in a thicker Beach towel in the cooler. The guys stay there until 3:30 PM when I pulled them. Man were they good. I think maybe the tip was a little dry but great flavor and the thicker the meat the juicer it was. Meat texture was firm but easily cut with a fork. PHEW! When I was slicing everyone was grabbing for the bark piece. Lucky we didn't have a few fingers in our mix. Add a little BBQ sauce and really good. I stomach was aching yesterday afternoon from eating a big pile of brisket. We ate 1 and 1/4 of the two 8 # briskets. Not sure what the after cook weight was but plenty for the 12 people eating.

two 8# briskets cooked 13hrs ( pretty close to 1.5 hrs/ #). Really appreciate all the advice and reassurance. Next time will definitely post the evidence!

alelover · May 26, 2014

Glad it all turned out well.

Smoking two 8 # Briskets need some time advice

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