Brisket and Butts 24 hour smoke

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jmusser

Smoking Fanatic
Original poster
Jan 11, 2020
421
550
Started with Prime Costco brisket 12.67#
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Trimmed a little too heavy. Took 4.5 pounds of trim off...
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Solution. Bacon is always the solution.
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Rubbed down with Killer Hogs and injected with beef stock

This thing took forever. 24 hrs at 230-250*. Pulled the point earlier for some burnt ends. I was amazed at how much this flat shrank!
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Did a sliced corner which made easier to cut when done.
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Pulled at 205 and let rest. Never got fully probe tender for me. Not too dry but not super juicy. Maybe from too much trimming. Good bark. IDK if cold and wind effected things inside smoker? Bacon got putt in smoked meatloaf. MMMmmm. Never wrapped anything.

Pork Butts- Bone In
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Butts came out excellent. They stayed in for the 24 hour ride. No wrap. Prob best ever ones. SoFlaquers finishing sauce.

All in all a good experience, just a marathon cook session.
 
Last edited:
I've run 24 hours at 225 on my pellet spitter, and the result was not good enough to make want to do it again.
I would suggest however that you pan and wrap it at 180 with 1/2 cup apple juice in the pan and pull at 195 then rest in a 170 degree oven for two hours.
These days I've switched up to hot and fast.
350k for 6 hours, usually less and I must say I like hot and fast better.
It's easy to overcook with hot/fast so I pull at 190 and rest in a covered pan in the oven to let it carry over cook and cool down.
 
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It sounds like you overcooked it, as soon as it hit 195* and didn't start to probe semi easily that is your sign that it needs moisture. You should've double wrapped it tightly in unwaxed butcher paper or foil with a few cups of beef broth. Even though you over trimmed it those Costco prime briskets normally have plenty of intramuscular fat and collagen to keep it moist. I'm not sure why you used bacon on a brisket when you had several pounds of pure white beef fat in that massive pile of trim that you could've laid on the brisket for the first few hours of the smoke. Honestly next time try a hot and fast smoke I like 275-290 degrees it's way faster, and they stay super moist. You didn't mention what type of cooker you used or I missed it.

Pellet cookers suck for brisket (in my opinion) if you are looking for that blackened, deep smokey TX pit style of brisket. You won't get it on a pellet grill you'd be better off with and offset smoker or a U.D.S or even a weber kettle using lump charcoal and chunks and or small splits.

You can make pretty good brisket on a pellet cooker, but they just don't kick out that awesome TX pit style brisket that most people are striving for.

(It must have something to do with the forced air fans that run those things, but I'm really not sure.)

The nice thing about brisket is even when it is a little dry or over done it's still awesome for street tacos or chili. Trust me I've screwed up more than my fair share of them, and it really got under my skin until I dialed them in a little better, still not perfect though. You can render down a little of that white fat and pour a little over the slices before you reheat them or vacuum seal them it will help it moisten a little.

Keep at it you'll get it next time.
Dan
 
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I've run 24 hours at 225 on my pellet spitter, and the result was not good enough to make want to do it again.
I would suggest however that you pan and wrap it at 180 with 1/2 cup apple juice in the pan and pull at 195 then rest in a 170 degree oven for two hours.
These days I've switched up to hot and fast.
350k for 6 hours, usually less and I must say I like hot and fast better.
It's easy to overcook with hot/fast so I pull at 190 and rest in a covered pan in the oven to let it carry over cook and cool down.
I appreciate the insight. I have certainly not mastered the brisket. Try #3 on the Bradley. Figured I had lots of time so didn't matter. I have foil and paper but didn't think I needed. Still working on process. Packers are mostly too big to fit my smoker.

This one wasn't bad or super dried or crumbly. Was still good as slices and burnt ends. I had some SV Chuck Roast liquid gold that I warmed up too moisten it.
 
It sounds like you overcooked it, as soon as it hit 195* and didn't start to probe semi easily that is your sign that it needs moisture. You should've double wrapped it tightly in unwaxed butcher paper or foil with a few cups of beef broth. Even though you over trimmed it those Costco prime briskets normally have plenty of intramuscular fat and collagen to keep it moist. I'm not sure why you used bacon on a brisket when you had several pounds of pure white beef fat in that massive pile of trim that you could've laid on the brisket for the first few hours of the smoke. Honestly next time try a hot and fast smoke I like 275-290 degrees it's way faster, and they stay super moist. You didn't mention what type of cooker you used or I missed it.

Pellet cookers suck for brisket (in my opinion) if you are looking for that blackened, deep smokey TX pit style of brisket. You won't get it on a pellet grill you'd be better off with and offset smoker or a U.D.S or even a weber kettle using lump charcoal and chunks and or small splits.

You can make pretty good brisket on a pellet cooker, but they just don't kick out that awesome TX pit style brisket that most people are striving for.

(It must have something to do with the forced air fans that run those things, but I'm really not sure.)

The nice thing about brisket is even when it is a little dry or over done it's still awesome for street tacos or chili. Trust me I've screwed up more than my fair share of them, and it really got under my skin until I dialed them in a little better, still not perfect though. You can render down a little of that white fat and pour a little over the slices before you reheat them or vacuum seal them it will help it moisten a little.

Keep at it you'll get it next time.
Dan
Thank Dan! Appreciate the assistance. I have a Bradley Original 4 rack. I think I will go higher heat next time. Didn't realize how bad I trimmed in and worried. Beef was frozen already. Bacon was available and dual purpose. Part of the flat did probe pretty decent but it was the thin end.

I guess I need to figure out the balance of time x heat x moisture. Figured more room for error here. Thought I figured out the probe feel on a few racks of short ribs. Briskets are just such a big chunk to experiment with. Although past mix ups have made good chili and tacos for sure. Onward and upward!
 
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