Brisket First-Timer - A Few Questions

  • Some of the links on this forum allow SMF, at no cost to you, to earn a small commission when you click through and make a purchase. Let me know if you have any questions about this.
SMF is reader-supported. When you buy through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.

pianov

Meat Mopper
Original poster
Sep 26, 2013
184
45
Just east of Tampa, Florida
I've smoked gobs and gobs of ribs, butts, turkeys, etc. over the past 20 years, but never a beef brisket. I'm planning on brisket for my birthday dinner this Sunday. My smoker is an offset masonry stick burner that works very well.

Cook time - From reading other posts and recipes, it seems to me that I need to plan on a cook time of anywhere between about 12 and 16 hours. My guess is that is about as close as one can pin cook time down. Correct? So, if I plan to eat at 4 PM Sunday, I need to put the brisket into the smoker no later than 10 PM Saturday (to allow a two-hour standing time in cooler) - correct?

Brining - I've not read that anyone ever brines brisket. Is that correct?

And the BIG question: Wrap or not wrap? Seems most tales of brisket smoking include some time cooking in a wrap. I don't know if baby-back ribs translate well to brisket, but I have smoked ribs both ways (wrapped and unwrapped) many, many times and I don't wrap anymore at all. They are good when I wrap them, but no better - I actually prefer them unwrapped. Again, I don't know if that has any meaning for my brisket preparation preference, but thought I would throw that out there. I always keep one or two large trays of water bubbling below my ribs, and can do the same with the brisket. 

Do most folks wrap their brisket when smoking? Do I risk having a dry brisket if I do not wrap? If I do wrap, I'd like to try the paper that Jeff refers to in his brisket recipe - "USDA approved natural brown (or pink) paper" - where can one find paper like that?

And if I do wrap once the brisket gets to 160 degrees as Jeff suggests, does it stay in the wrap until completely done?

Gonna make baked beans and potato salad all from scratch to go with it. Am I missing anything?

Wish me luck - I'll need it!!!  Thanks for any input.


 
First I want to say, that is one of the coolest looking smoker set-ups I have ever seen. Classy!

Your cook times sound right for a full packer. If you start your smoke at 10pm, you should have plenty of time for it to be done around 10am the next morning... maybe noon depending on the brisket. It might be done sooner too- you just never know. At any rate that will give you room to spare to put into a cooler wrapped until 4. Sounds like you will be tending your fire through the night anyway.

No need to brine your brisket in my opinion... but there are those that do. At least not unless I am making pastrami in which cure is involved.

Its up to your taste if you want to wrap or not. It will cook faster and get you through the stall if time is an issue. But it will also soften your bark if a crusty bark is what you are looking for, then you may not want to. Using the butcher paper you speak of will be less than if using foil. Me personally, I use foil, because I don't care for too heavy of a bark and I think the braising is a benefit for keeping it moist as possible, However I don't use a water pan.

Once you wrap, yes. It will stay wrapped until serving time. You will feel by the texture (similar to the bend test like you do ribs) when it starts to get soft or you can probe it, but no need to open it up.

Good luck! I'm doing another 17 lb brisket this weekend myself!

Ill stand by for your finished Q-view!

Baked beans and potato salad sound perfect to me... I like horseradish with my brisket, but BBQ sauce for others served on the side.
 
Browneyes:  Thanks for the compliment on my smoker and all the info. One last question about the cut of meat. You mentioned that my cook time for a "full packer" was about right.

What is a full packer?

Below is a picture of what is available at my local Costco. I'm thinking that this is more like half a "packer" or whatever. What type of place would sell a full one? Or maybe I should do a smaller one like this for my first try. There will only be four people to feed. I just like leftovers, and pork shoulder freezes so well.

 
I will bet you will be closer to 9 to 10 hours of cook time for that 7+ lbs. of flat.  But again it depends on the beef. That's a CHOICE grade, so it should be fantastic! A "Packer" is the whole cryogenically sealed brisket and are typically around 10-15 lbs where I get mine. There are basically 2 parts to a whole  brisket that makes up the brisket- the Point and the Flat. You have a Flat only. You will still cook and follow the same procedure for the flat as described. Some people will separate the point from the flat anyway and make "Burnt-Ends" from the point. There is a pretty significant fat seam that runs between the two cuts If you lay your flat on the table, you may find one end is a little thicker than the other. If it is even from end to end for the most part, will make for a more uniform cook without overcooking the one end. Whichever end is thicker is the end you want to be pointing toward the fire (hot side) of you offset, and put your water bowl between the fire and the brisket.

There are some great videos on youtube in how to separate and trim a brisket. Some of them are not so great either, but you will get the idea.

Anyway, good luck with your smoke! IF there are leftovers, yes! They will save and freeze well.
 
Browneyesvictim wrote: "There are basically 2 parts to a whole  brisket that makes up the brisket- the Point and the Flat. You have a Flat only."

​Is either the Point or the Flat regarded as being superior to the other?  Should the "Flat" be expected to have good yummy potential?
 
Yes. The point is regarded as a more tender and juicy cut from the flat. That's not to say the flat cannot become yumaliscious! You just have to give it more love. There is a lot of fat marbled into the point that's more prone to keep it tender and juicy. But the flat can have a very lean but juicy texture when prepared right. The trick is to cook it to the perfect temperature so it's not dried out but still renders what it has to give. I hope I explained that well enough.

I just now got finished trimming and seperating a whole packer so they can be handled differently and because my smoker is not big enough to do a whole brisket at once. (Jealous!) The flat is what you would think of as sliced brisket. But the point is typically separated either before or after cooking.
 
Last edited:
Excellent! Thanks for the great explanation of Point and Flat parts of the brisket. I know that just because Costco doesn't have the Point of a brisket, that other source don't. Is it common that most any good butcher shop would have both cuts of brisket? Or perhaps it is just hit or miss - some will have it and other won't?

Thanks again for all your input. Really helps.
 
Dam! That's an expensive brisket.. mine are like $3.59 a lb.. lol .

Good luck to ya all. [emoji]128526[/emoji].

Later I saw it was a flat.
 
Last edited:
Piano- I think its hit/miss where you find whole packers, Most of the time they are cut down in the 7-9 lb size range for retail. It is worth learning to be able to recognize the cuts apart in a package that is just labeled "brisket" that could be either. The best places I would say to check in your area for packers are retail restaurant supply outlets. Out here there is a chain called Cash & Carry, but they are only here on the west coast. I dunno what you have in your area around East Tampa. There is always Costco, Sams Club and even Wall Mart. Looks like the one you got is Kirkland which is a Costco name brand. They should have both ends as well! I have even seen whole packers there. Does you Costco have a large meat processing area where they trim/cut/package in store? Ask someone in the meat dept if they will sell you the whole cryovac brisket just the way they get it in or just the point if that's all you want. It is also worth calling your local slaughterhouses. Out here they also sell retail beef and custom cuts to order- just as you would from a meat market butcher.

With all that said... you may find you can get chuck roast for less money that you can by brisket in some areas. If you pick up a chucky, you can prepare it the same way as you would prepare the point, you might find is even better! I am a believer that this is true. The flat is better for slicing across the grain in about pencil thickness slicess. If you get a point or try a Chuck roast, you smoke it then cube it up and braise, then finish caramelizing with BBQ sauce to make "burnt ends" which are a common favorite around on these forums.
 
one thing id add is sometimes these big box stores  dont know their butt from a whole in the ground.  ive seen packer briskets labelled as flats before... whats the whole thing look like ?
 
Here is a good example. It happens to be the one I am smoking this weekend. As you see it is just listed as "Beef Brisket" Not "Packer", but I know what it is, as it is the whole untrimmed thing!


I picked up a couple of these for the freezer when they were on sale in their Hot Sheets at $2.68 a lb. Chuck Roast was running $2.89 a lb (not on sale) when I picked these up. I can pick through the bin of them, and find the ones with the best marbeling and the flat end is not too thin. This one was had crazy fat marbled into it and a lot of thick Deckle fat  There is a lot of trimming to do on briskets of this extra fat and silver skin. There was probably a good 6-7 lbs total I trimmed off on this one. So you do pay for a good amount waste when buying a whole brisket. But I get to trim it the way I want, and not left to the discretion of the butcher in how thick of fat cap is left on, size, shape, etc... One of these days I might be able to build or buy a nice offset smoker to fit a whole brisket. I tried once in my old Charbroil Kettle (RIP). I never could keep control of my temps for low and slow with that thing at the time. Now its a big rusted out heaping pile by my garbage cans!
 
Okay, bought my brisket today:



As you can see it is a whole brisket with the flat end on the left and the thick pointy end on the right. 13 lbs. total before trimming. I'll do like Jeff suggested and trim fat cap down to about 1/4 inch thick. Other than following his recipe and keeping the thicker point end toward the hotter end of the smoker, is there anything else I need to be aware of?

The thick point end is so much thicker than the flat end. If, after 10 or 12 hours the thin flat end is done before the thick point end is done, should I slice off the part that is done? I don't want to kill it by leaving in on two, three or four hours longer than needed - or is it okay to leave it?

Thanks again! 
 
Outstanding!

I recommend going on YouTube and type in the search bar Aaron Franklin Brisket. There are two videos on what and how to trim a whole brisket. Also about how to deal with the difference in the thickness you are asking about. Of course there are other videos folks have posted on how to separate the point from the flat.
 
nice!   yeah look into youtube has some great" how to trim briskets" videos  the Aaron Franklin one is good. have fun its an adventure!  im doing a brisket myself tonight  so im getting ready to do it  enjoy the experience !
 
Started the fire at 10 PM last night, brisket on shortly after midnight - and all is well!

At 8:30 AM brisket looking good - IT 165. Time to wrap.


All wrapped and wired and back in the smoker. Wow, I put one temp probe in the middle of the point end and another temp probe in the middle of the flat end. The probe in the point didn't go in like soft butter, but it sure went in very easy. When inserting the probe in the flat end, it felt like I was trying to shove it into a slightly porous block of rubber. I guess I shouldn't worry too much about the flat end cooking a little quicker than the point - it probably needs that heat to get however tender it eventually may.......


Potata salad made yesterday, cooled and waiting for the big event!


Corn waiting in the wing.


9:00 AM - time to start the beans after an overnight bean soak!


FWIW, I love bacon, but don't like to pay high prices. I found these "bits and pieces" some years ago at my local Winn Dixie grocery store. Half of it is decent-looking strips and the rest is smaller or thicker - and it's also just about the best tasting bacon I have ever found. And best of all, it comes in a 3-pound package for $6. Can't beat it! Mariah is the brand name.

 
SmokingMeatForums.com is reader supported and as an Amazon Associate, we may earn commissions from qualifying purchases.

Latest posts

Clicky