first brisket and first time useing a backwoods

[ufo8mycow]

I have just finished building a backwoods style water smoker and I will be cooking a brisket for tomorrows dinner. I have made quite a few pork butts and ribs on my UDS but I have no experience with a water cooker, a backwoods or a brisket so I am in need of some advice on cooking times.

The brisket I picked up is an 10.5 lbs (10 lbs after trimming) choice form restaurant depot and I will be using a mix of kingsford and royal oak lump usually smoke at around 250 with my UDS  so that is what I was planning for tomorrow but I need t know how long I should expect it to take. I have herd that water cookers cook quite a bit faster but I could be wrong. I know it is done when it is done but what time should I start it for dinner at 5-6

 

[beuler]

12 hours,,,,1 1/2 hours per pound..cook at 220.....until 190 internal temp. Wrap it around 165 and continued till 190 sliced, 200 pulled.

 

[mchar69]

Spatch a few chickens on the uds  for back up.  Could get dicey.

1.  you built a smoker and never used it to learn it - or season it.

2. No experience w/ brisket (my first I ruined, tongue leather nasty, YUK!)

As a host, I nearly always have a backup plan anyway.

Good luck.

 

[ufo8mycow]

 
12 hours,,,,1 1/2 hours per pound..cook at 220.....until 190 internal temp. Wrap it around 165 and continued till 190 sliced, 200 pulled.

I was wrong on the weight it was 10.5 lbs so does that mean I should throw it on at around midnight and it should be done at about 3:00 and rest for a couple hours

 
Spatch a few chickens on the uds  for back up.  Could get dicey.

1.  you built a smoker and never used it to learn it - or season it.

2. No experience w/ brisket (my first I ruined, tongue leather nasty, YUK!)

As a host, I nearly always have a backup plan anyway.

Good luck.

The wife said she wants brisket for the maiden cook and she was the one that approved the finances for the build so this time she is the boss. I seasoned it yesterday and I am only cooking for the me the wife and kid tomorrow (im planning lots of leftovers) so if it doesnt turn out it wont be the end of the world.

 

[ufo8mycow]

well I have it lit and it is very slowly coming up to temp I am still at 180 after an hour of warmup. Is this normal for a backwoods

 

[ufo8mycow]

 So I headed to restaurant depot to pick up a brisket and since she said she wanted me to make up some more pork shoulder to make breakfast sausage I got some butts while I was there and I would use one of them for pulled pork.

So for the cook I went with a 10.5 lbs brisket and an 8.5 lbs butt. I rubbed the brisket with a salt pepper garlic mixture and used some big bald bbq rub that my brother in law made up last week.

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• ufo8mycow
• Feb 16, 2014

I then got the cooker fired back up at about 11:00 so I could throw them on at 12:00 but she took forever to get up to temp so i didnt get the meat on until about 1:30 am

here is a pic after the foil in the morning

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• ufo8mycow
• Feb 16, 2014

The butt was cooked to 200 and the brisket was at 195 and they were both done at exactly the same time at about 1:30 pm when i brought them in to set in the oven at 170 until dinner time.
After an hour or so I seperated the point from the flat for burnt ends and refoiled and put the  flat in the oven. I cut the point into cubes and added some ken davis sauce in a pan and put them back on the cooker for a couple hours.

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• ufo8mycow
• Feb 16, 2014

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• ufo8mycow
• Feb 16, 2014

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• ufo8mycow
• Feb 16, 2014

The brisket was great but I think I could have gone a few more degrees  the first few slices were really tender but towards the middle it wasnt as tender, not tough but not what it should have been but the flavor was great. All in all I think it turned out really well for my first brisket and my first time with a water cooker and my first time on a non UDS smoker.