First brisket

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colonelredbeard

Newbie
Original poster
Oct 30, 2014
10
11
So this is my first post here other then the one into roll call. I will be cooking my first brisket starting in the morning. It's a brisket point around 5#. I've been practicing with everything I can get my hands on up untill now and finally found a brisket. They don't seem to be easy to find in the great white north. Right now it is siting in the fridge with a layer of mustard and my own rub (brown sugar, sugar in the raw, pepper, paprika, cumin, chipotle pepper, coriander seed and some maple bacon spice the wife got me for Xmas).
Planning to cook at around 225-250 not sure how long it will take but I'm hoping to get it on around 10am. I plan on using some apple and mesquite for smoke and cooking till about 195 then testing with a toothpick for the proper tenderness.
I'm still up in the air about wrapping or not we will see how I feel tomorrow.
I going to try to get some burnt ends and some slicesout of it.
I will update tomorrow as the cook is going and Definetly going to have some qview for everyone.
 
The key to smoking anything and especially briskets is temp control.  I smoke my briskets at 235 and plan for an hour per pound plus two hours.  I always wrap my briskets in foil at 165 IT taking them to 195-197 before removing and placing them in an ice chest (no ice) for at least an hour and 2 or 3 hours is even better.  Patience is another key for briskets, watch your temps and you will be fine.  Be sure and not skip the resting period.

Good luck and let us know how is turns out.

Richard
 
I'm actually doing more or less the same thing today as you colonel.Everything Richard said is spot on.Consistent temp and patience is the key for sure.And a good instant read thermometer is a must also.If I'm smoking a large brisket with a large fat content I don't always wrap or if I'm using a mop I won't wrap either.Smaller briskets I wrap and will in some cases add some liquid,believe it or not I like to add cranberry/apple juice(100%) it gives it a really nice flavor imo.
 
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Thanks bear. I'm usually pretty good with the temp control but today the snow is flying and we got quite a bit of wind so maintaining a good temp hasn't been very easy so far lol. I have my maverick in there and it reading about 265 and I have all the vents mostly closed. The temp should be coming down soon I hope.

Thanks for the input Norman. It is a fairly thin cut and was trimmed of most th fat when I got it so maybe I will wrap it. But I would like I get a nice bark. I guess I will see how the day goes
 
Be sure and post some pictures so we can see

Gary
 
The brisket has been on for about 7 hours now and it has been stalled at 149 deg for coming on 4 hours. I'm patiently waiting it out but I really thought this 5# brisket would have been done by around now. Ah well still got more then half a bottle of rum here lol. Maybe I'll throw a few sausages on to hold me over till this finishes.
I guess I'll put some pics of how this started. Here is the brisket before I started
And after it got it's rub down Before it went on
And I snapped a pic when I checked the temp a few min ago. I wanted to make sure my probe was actually working lol.
 
Well I didn't post last night no how my brosket turned out but it was late and I had a bit too much rum in me by the time it was done lol.
I ended up taking it out at around 10 pm which made it an 11.5 hour cook. The brisket had a pretty weird cut. Different thicknesses across it and a weird flap around the centre. So the IT was aroun 198-210 depending where I checked. Checking with a toothpick there were part that went in like butter and some that had a little bit of resistance. I then let it sit for about an hour wrapped in foil. I was hoping this would soften up those tougher parts.
Now I wouldn't call a great first brisket. But it def wasn't a complete failure. Some of it was like butter but there still were some tougher parts even after letting it rest. I would have let it smoke longer but I kinda wanted to eat before midnight because I got a couple young girls I have to get up with in the am lol. The bark on it was perfect though. Nice and cruchy. Very sweat with a little heat on the back end. Couldn't have asked for that to come out better.
I think I may try again in a couple weeks. The wife really liked it so it will prob be brought into a re rotation considering we can use leftovers for so many other meals.
Hers the brisket out of it's wrap and ready to be cut up And here's mine and mamas midnight snack
 
Not bad at all, Brisket is one of the harder pieces of meat to get just right, For your first one I would say you did great. What I found if gives you an excuse to smoke another one

Good job

Gary
 
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