1st Brisket attempt

[newb]

OK, after reading, reading and reading some more, I have decided to give my first run at a brisket. I've successfully smoked some butts, fatties, abt's, ribs and yard birds so the time has come to graduate...

My first attempt is a 5.5# and I'm figuring on starting tues at 6AM for a 6PM mealtime....I'm guessing this should give me plenty of time and allow ~2 hrs in a cooler.

Plan:
8-9 Hrs at 225-230
Jeffs Rubb (Unless someone else suggests somethin better)
2 hr Cooler
Hickory and some Cherry

I will provide ongoing Q-View but here is the raw meat. I can easily see the grain but toothpicks will be used.

Any and all input from you masters is welcome! Even B4 I start!

Fat Cap side:



Nice grain:

 

[waysideranch]

Sounds like you have it covered. Good luck. I guess a couple of cool ones might help.

 

[agmeyer]

As a former Marine (66-69) I always like to save time. I've only done 6 briskets so far and got lucky the first time. I almost got rained out on the first on; so I had to double foil it and finish it in the oven after 6 1/2 hrs of smoking. I can't imagine how it could have turned out better; so I've been doing the same more or less.
Some one suggested smoking the briskets ahead and putting them in the fridge or freezing them for later. I now do them in pairs so I have one to fall back on. When they go on sale, I stock up on them. Also, on the fat cap; if you like to leave it; cut through it in a 1 in checkerboard pattern. That allows the rub to get through the fat and into the meat. Semper Fi from Sedalia, MO.

 

[newb]

AG - Semper Fi right back at ya bud.

Texas -
I plan on mopping every hr or so. Thanks for reminding me to post that....any good mops u wanna share?

Also, my pull at 175 is t foil till 185 then it's in the cooler...sorry I didn't clarify....

 

[walking dude]

fingers crossed that you don't have a speed racer briskett, like we had this weekend..........NO STALLS at all........

 

[tybo6]

Glad to see I aint the only DEVIL DOG that got bit by the smoke bug (Desert Storm).
On my last brisket smoke I rubbed mine and wrapped it in seran wrap and refrigerated bout 24 hrs before she went to smoke..I laid it out bout an hour or so before goin on to try to come up to bout room temp
I also have been tryin various mops.This last one I used a plain ol Tuscany House Italian Dressing......Simple and it was top notch.
Trust me when I say u are gonna try a hundred different things and think about a thousand...........Just relax,pop a top,and it will come to ya I promise.Good luck and happin smokin
SEMPER FI

 

[newb]

Allright ladies and gents...here we go...were starting...

This is the beef with the seasoning...Wood is 90% Hickory, 10% Cherry, the baggie is Jeffs Rub and that Citrus Grill stuff is AWSOME....Try some on your yard birds and on Roma stuffed tomatoes....YUM....anyhow, here it is:




Here is the seasoned pic Fat Cap UP:



Here is the seasoned pic bottom:




And here it is ready for bed time....only ~9 hours till smokin time:

 

[bishop916]

looking good man. niters!

 

[newb]

Here we go....

Here is my highly redneck-e-fied smoker doin it's best for tbs:



And here is the star of the show (Hopefully)

 

[babyback]

Looking good so far. Keep the pictures coming!

 

[richtee]

Allright... yer not getting away THAT easy... is there a post on that contraption? If not... I'm interested in the exhaust setup.. :{)

 

[newb]

Well here we are at 3 hours into it. Temp is at 133 and I think it may be there for a while or climb real slow from now on.

Rich - What would you like to know?

 

[newb]

Update: 5 hours in and I'm stalled at 135 so no speed racers here Walking...

My fancy dancy smoke chute ran outta umph so I had to fire up another batch....got it going again though.

 

[newb]

Almost 10 hours now and only 150. Hope it takes off soon or it might be lunch tomorrow... :)

 

[walking dude]

whats your smoker temps running at?

 

[newb]

fairly steady at 230.

 

[walking dude]

when i do brisketts, i like to run 250, so it don't take so long

10 hours is a long time to be only 130....for no bigger than that flat was

 

[newb]

Tell me about it....and thusly I pulled it, foiled dumped my mop on it and into the oven at 250 cuz I'm afraid it would be dry if I kept it in the smoker.

 

[newb]

Sorry for the delay all...

So as I said, I pulled it wrapped and put in the oven for a couple hours at 250 and it came to 185. I left it wrapped in the foil and into a cooler it went for an hour. Wish it could have sit longer, but that was all I got.

Here it is after the rest:


Here it is sliced:


Although it looks extremly juicy, it was somewhat dry. It was edible but I think I can do better. The small tip was bad though...I had to throw it away..about 1/4 pound.

Anyhow any suggestions on how to make it a little more moist next time? I have heard of smoking it in a foil pan, but doesn't that take away the amount of smoke it can take in?

one down, more to go and hopefully improve.