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Smoking First Flat Brisket

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daveinflorida

daveinflorida

Smoke Blower
Original poster
Aug 27, 2013
80
21
Dunedin Florida
So Saturday I'm going to smoke my first brisket. It will be a flat brisket.  I've seen mixed approaches and trying to figure out which is the best:  Put in foil pan, smoke till 160 then cover with foil and remove at 190 or smoke, not in a pan then pull at 165 and then foil and then remove at 190.  So my question is the option without the pan, do you still put a pan down below and keep that juice?
 
Dave,

 you can use a pan underneath it to catch juice but i don't think you will catch a ton of juice because you said it was just a flat and they are the leaner part of the brisket. How big a flat are you cooking?  If its a big one you will get a little juice maybe. Personally i would put it directly on a clean grill surface and smoke till about 160-165 IT and wrap in either foil or wrap in butcher paper (parchment works to about the same effect as butcher if you have none). take it till about 200 degrees. when i freeze or refrigerate and reheat a brisket i put some warm water with a bouillon cube (beef flavored) in pan with the brisket in the oven at 325 degrees for like 20-30 minutes minutes and that will give you some au jus to go with your meat if that is what you are looking for.

Happy Smoking,

phatbac (Aaron)
 
Thanks Phatbac. I wasn't sure if I needed to catch that and then use it later to put on the brisket.  I'll just put a small one down on the bottom so it doesn't get all over my smoker bottom.  Now one other question, I've seen just put rub on it and let rest overnight or get up early and put mustard and a rub and then put it in the smoker for about 6 hours or so.
 
Dave,

 Personally i only use mustard on ribs. I just put some rub ( i use salt pepper paprika onion garlic) in a shaker and coat all sides and let that sit in the fridge wrapped in plastic for about 8-12 hours (overnight). then put it on like that. i don't recommend those sugary rubs for brisket because im of the opinion beef should be beefy not sweet. don't get me wrong i love sweet bbq but if you want sweet BBQ get some pork. if you wanna jazz up your rub with some cayenne or chill powder or something would be good too but i don't because my wife don't like spicy food.

 the point is experiment with what you like

if its a small flat 6 hours may do it. i use IT to determine when i pull a lot of folks use the toothpick test (search for it)

I hope your smoke comes out well.

Happy Smoking,

phatbac(Aaron)
 
What I like to do if just cooking the flat is get the smoker at 275 , toss the flat on there fat side up for just a minute, flip it and season the bottom, then flip and season the top. ( just warming the meat, not browning it) then pay more attention to the crust rather than the temp. When it looks crusty enough, triple wrap it in foil and cook at 250 until its at 201 , then let sit on counter until cool.
 
Ok. Lucked up and found a 5 pound brisket flat for 24.00 on base at MacDill Air Force Base Commissary.  I see it has a lot of fat on one side.  Do I cut that down or just leave it and smoke it fat side up till internal temps are 200 or less?
 
Ok. Here's pics of the flat brisket I found. Need your opinion. I don't think I need to trim any of the fat on this one right? Also, getting mixed reviews on whether to cook in a pan or not. I like the idea of capturing the au jus  but also don't want a sopping wet brisket. It's 4.79 pounds.  
 
DaveinFlorida said:
 
Ok. Here's pics of the flat brisket I found. Need your opinion. I don't think I need to trim any of the fat on this one right? Also, getting mixed reviews on whether to cook in a pan or not. I like the idea of capturing the au jus  but also don't want a sopping wet brisket. It's 4.79 pounds.  
Click to expand...
A brisket flat can become dried out in the smoker, they can be really hard to cook right some times. I always smoke them in a pan sitting in their own juices. I also trim most of the fat off & put it on a rack above the brisket, so as it renders it drips on the brisket. If you decide to foil it, all you have to do is cover the pan. You will get a juicy brisket with plenty of smoke.

Al
 
I like smoking fat cap down @275. When the brisket hits 160 or has a bark I like, I then wrap with butcher paper because BP let's the brisket breathe a little more. Then smoke until the brisket is probe tender in the thickest part. Then pull remove the butcher paper let it sit out for about 5 mins. Foil then let rest in a cooler with towels for 1-2 hours.
 
On the mixed advice...everyone has a method that works them. And no method is right or wrong, you just need to experiment and figure out what works for you.
Myself I just like course salt & pepper.
 
There's no one right way to do it. My smokers have water pans so my air is always moist. I cook a brisket at 230 degrees and wrap it or cover it in a pan at 160 til it reaches 200 degrees. I do trim my fat but not all of it leave a layer so it keeps the meat moist. Thats all easy day. Have fun
 
Ok. Sounds like you smoke it without being in a pan and then at 160, put it in a pan, cover with foil till IT reaches 200 for slicing.  Right? Here's pics of my prep last night.
 
And here's the finished product. Forgot to upload that last night.  Had a terrible time keeping the temp in my smoker up. I ended up using 5 chimney's of lump charcoal just to get it to keep up near 250.  It was also pretty windy here in Dunedin yesterday and the temps started to drop bad around 4 pm.  So I finally got it off at 430. Let it rest for 2 hours.  I'm going to do this again. Lot's of fun and oh so good.
Finished_Brisket[1]

Finished_Brisket[1]

 
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