In my area near Boston, it's hard to find brisket, so when I saw a 6 pound flat for $4.99 a pound, a spent the $30 to give it a shot. Here's a pic after a little trim:
Here's another pic after resting with a rub for 4 hours:
I fired up my MES 30 to 225 degrees, filled my AMNPS with hickory pellets, and put the brisket on the third shelf down at 10pm. I put a piece of foil a few inches about the AMNPS, a foil wrapped brick in the water pan, and a tiny aluminum loaf pan with water on the top shelf. Then came bedtime.
The next morning when I checked the IT, it was right at the stall temp of 160 at 5:30am, 7.5 hours into the cook. Even thought it was still dark, I noticed I was no longer getting any smoke from my AMNPS, which surprised me since it was filled up the night before. Here's the proof when I finally opened up the smoker later in the day:
I'm not sure how long the smoke lasted since I was sleeping, but I'm curious if anyone would have any ideas why it wouldn't last at least 7.5 hours. I place the AMNPS on the rails to the bottom left of the smoker. Too much air entering through the wood chip chute that was pulled out a couple of inches?
I decided not to wrap the meat because I was afraid it would speed up the cooking time too much (it wasn't even 6am and I wasn't going to eat until 5pm. What I didn't expect was the length of time it took the meat to get to 200 degrees. A total of 18.5 hours for a 6 pound brisket flat. Everything I read made me expect 1.5-2 hours per pound, and I ended up with a little more than 3 hours of cook time per pound. Wasn't a big deal since I took the meat out at 4:30pm. Definitely glad I started the night before. Next time I'm going to wrap in butcher paper when I hit 160 degrees, but maybe I should cook at 240-250 degrees?
Here is the meat when I finally opened the door:
At this point I wrapped in foil to rest for a little over an hour.
Here are a couple of pics when I sliced it:
And here it is plated:
For my first brisket, I'd say it was a little dry. The bark had lots of flavor and just enough crunch. When i reheat the leftovers, I'll definitely use a sauce. The wife liked it and thinks I'm being too critical but it seems like I'm like a lot of people on this site, and are up for the challenge of trying to perfect what they cook.
I'd love some feedback on how I can get my AMNPS to smoke longer and my brisket to cook shorter.
Thanks!
Here's another pic after resting with a rub for 4 hours:
I fired up my MES 30 to 225 degrees, filled my AMNPS with hickory pellets, and put the brisket on the third shelf down at 10pm. I put a piece of foil a few inches about the AMNPS, a foil wrapped brick in the water pan, and a tiny aluminum loaf pan with water on the top shelf. Then came bedtime.
The next morning when I checked the IT, it was right at the stall temp of 160 at 5:30am, 7.5 hours into the cook. Even thought it was still dark, I noticed I was no longer getting any smoke from my AMNPS, which surprised me since it was filled up the night before. Here's the proof when I finally opened up the smoker later in the day:
I'm not sure how long the smoke lasted since I was sleeping, but I'm curious if anyone would have any ideas why it wouldn't last at least 7.5 hours. I place the AMNPS on the rails to the bottom left of the smoker. Too much air entering through the wood chip chute that was pulled out a couple of inches?
I decided not to wrap the meat because I was afraid it would speed up the cooking time too much (it wasn't even 6am and I wasn't going to eat until 5pm. What I didn't expect was the length of time it took the meat to get to 200 degrees. A total of 18.5 hours for a 6 pound brisket flat. Everything I read made me expect 1.5-2 hours per pound, and I ended up with a little more than 3 hours of cook time per pound. Wasn't a big deal since I took the meat out at 4:30pm. Definitely glad I started the night before. Next time I'm going to wrap in butcher paper when I hit 160 degrees, but maybe I should cook at 240-250 degrees?
Here is the meat when I finally opened the door:
At this point I wrapped in foil to rest for a little over an hour.
Here are a couple of pics when I sliced it:
And here it is plated:
For my first brisket, I'd say it was a little dry. The bark had lots of flavor and just enough crunch. When i reheat the leftovers, I'll definitely use a sauce. The wife liked it and thinks I'm being too critical but it seems like I'm like a lot of people on this site, and are up for the challenge of trying to perfect what they cook.
I'd love some feedback on how I can get my AMNPS to smoke longer and my brisket to cook shorter.
Thanks!