Another Brisket Post

[ron50]

I haven't posted in a long time but I need the moral support of the group, lol.

Our daughter is visiting with her boyfriend this week and his favorite food is smoked brisket. He's a good kid so I went out to Costco a bought a 16 1/2 pound whole brisket to throw on the WSM. It's been such a long time since I've done a brisket that I had to look up some old brisket threads and even found one I posted back in 2009!

I'm using B&B Lump Hardwood with hickory for the fuel and some chunks of hickory and cherry for the smoke. I trimmed it and cut off some of the thin part of the flat and got her down to about 12- 13 pounds. I went simple with a basic salt and pepper rub dry brine overnight.

Used the minion method and got the WSM to a steady 240 degrees and added the brisket. Temp spiked up to 290 and took me 20 -30 minutes to get it back down to 260 which seems to be its happy place for now.

I''ll probably take it to about 165 IT, wrap it in foil and then finish it up in the oven.

Here's the brisket before it went into the WSM. I'll try and provide some Q-View along the way.

Ron

 

[texomakid]

I'm in!!! I'll always watch a brisket being smoked!

 

[Jim_C]

Should be some nice brisket. I have not cooked a brisket as yet. Mostly because it take 12-16 hours, and, it's just the two of us and that's a lot of meat. I had not considered using the oven to finish. Depending on how long it takes to get to 165 the oven may provide a good way of finishing the brisket overnight at a consistent temperature.

"Used the minion method and got the WSM to a steady 240 degrees and added the brisket. Temp spiked up to 290 and took me 20 -30 minutes to get it back down to 260 which seems to be its happy place for now."

One of the ah-ha moments for me on the learning curve to smoking was the concept of the smoker telling me what range it wants to settle down at for any given day. Based on the type of protein I'll accommodate the smoker rather than fight it if I can. After-all.......one of the other ah-ha moments was realizing I didn't need to be exactly at 225 or exactly at 250. A 50 degree range works just fine for smoking.

 

[sandyut]

Im in for sure, that looks like a great start!

I would get too worried about spiking temps. I run my briskets at 275 for the full cook. I much prefer a hotter faster cook, end product will be just the same.

 

[ron50]

Should be some nice brisket. I have not cooked a brisket as yet. Mostly because it take 12-16 hours, and, it's just the two of us and that's a lot of meat. I had not considered using the oven to finish. Depending on how long it takes to get to 165 the oven may provide a good way of finishing the brisket overnight at a consistent temperature.

"Used the minion method and got the WSM to a steady 240 degrees and added the brisket. Temp spiked up to 290 and took me 20 -30 minutes to get it back down to 260 which seems to be its happy place for now."

One of the ah-ha moments for me on the learning curve to smoking was the concept of the smoker telling me what range it wants to settle down at for any given day. Based on the type of protein I'll accommodate the smoker rather than fight it if I can. After-all.......one of the other ah-ha moments was realizing I didn't need to be exactly at 225 or exactly at 250. A 50 degree range works just fine for smoking.

Yes the smoker has a mind of its own. My first WSM liked to always settle in in the 225-240 range. This one more 250 - 275.

 

[ron50]

Im in for sure, that looks like a great start!

I would get too worried about spiking temps. I run my briskets at 275 for the full cook. I much prefer a hotter faster cook, end product will be just the same.

You are right. Smoked meats are forgiving and will wind up great using a wide variety of temperature ranges and cooking methods.

 

[ron50]

2 1/2 hours in:
Smoker Temp at 260 degrees

Flat portion - IT 111
Point - IT 121

 

[ron50]

4 hours in:

Smoker temp 262 degrees

Flat - IT 143 degrees
Point - IT 146 degrees

Gave it a light spritz for moisture.

 

[zwiller]

In for this and rooting for ya!

Mostly because it take 12-16 hours, and, it's just the two of us and that's a lot of meat.

chopsaw gave me the idea and it's GENIUS. Take whole packer and cut into 4 parts. Make corned beef with the flat end, make pastrami with point end, smoke the 2 center pieces with both. Takes 6-8hrs... OMG no other way as you are essentially using the best part of the brisket for each method.

 

[ron50]

5 hours in
Smoker temp - 257 degrees
Flat - IT 151 degrees
Point - IT - 157 degrees

The WSM just holds the temperature so well. Bark isn't as dark as I thought it would be at this time. I'm wondering if that is because there is no sugar in the rub. Usually I have the opposite problem.