First Brisket attempt

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Ricardo's

Newbie
Original poster
Feb 14, 2020
22
27
For everyone that was interested in how my first Brisket smoke went. I made some notes as I went. I will try to make them make sense.

I intended to prep the meat Friday night but we ending up going out for the evening and getting home about 10:30. That actually ended up being a good thing. At the time I was a bit frustrated. I was hot to trot to get this started and even as it was I think I started it too early. I think in hind sight I should have put it on about 1:00. I made a few mistakes but overall everyone liked it so I think I’ll call it a win.

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The brisket started out 12.25 lbs, it was pretty flexible with the fat on the bottom being the only hard part. The fat cap was fairly soft. There was good marbling throughout, but not crazy. Tried to hack off as much of the fat cap as I could. Aiming for ¼”. I went thru to the meat a few spots and about ¼” in others. Not very good at this, I think it’ll take some practice. Rubbed it down with Rudy’s BBQ rub and put it in the fridge.

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10:45pm set the grill to 250° when the meat went on it was 258° inside. The meat was 39° at the thickest point.

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11:15pm I set the grill at 225° at this point, not sure why. After a bit the grill cooled down to 215° (I noticed the outside temp. was 16° at this point)

2:55am grill was at 220°, meat was at 144°

5:38am Grill was at 228°, center of the thickest part was 169° I took it off at this point and wrapped it in butcher paper. Back on the grill and set the temp up to 250°

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9:15am Thick part is at 188° thin end is 196° grill is still set to 250°

9:40am meat temp was the same. dropped the grill to 225° (had to go out for an hour and a half and was worried it’d be done when I was gone)

11:30am meat temp was the same again. Raised the temp back to 250°

12:00pm thin end is 205° thick end is 196° the grill is fluctuating from 235° to 265° not sure why. (do you think I was watching it to much?

12:40pm Thick end is finally at 205° thin end is at 210° the thermometer slides in and out effortlessly now. took it out and wrapped it in foil and let it rest.

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1:15pm I think got distracted with lunch and shouldn’t have left it this long. Anyway thick end was 175° wrapped it in towels and put it in the cooler.

2:45pm checked the temp again and it had cooled off to 155°. To be honest it was probably perfect at this point. But we weren’t eating till 6:00 oops. Left it wrapped in towels and put it in the oven. It was off but warm from some other baking we had done.

3:50pm checked the temp again. It was at 150° unwrapped the towels. (still in butcher paper and tin foil) but it in a warming drawer at 170° (lowest it would go)

6:00pm turned the oven off. just waiting for the guests!

6:30pm sliced and served! Yay! It’s still steaming and juicy! J

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For the record the rest of the menu was: Stuffed Jalapenos peppers, Seasoned Fries, veggie tray with hot cheese dip, corn and avocado salad, pork and beans with peppers and bacon, fresh bread, sous vide/grilled chicken breasts (in case the brisket flopped :P ) and of course brisket.
 
Man that’s a good job whether it was your 1st or 100th brisket!! On top of that WOW , heck of an overall spread of food!
 
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Well that's a mighty good looking brisket. Yep, I too would take a slice of that for sure. I think you did a fantastic job. I find wired (or blue tooth) thermometer to be beneficial in monitoring the IT without opening the door. What's the old saying? If you're lookin', you ain't cooking'.......

Congrats on a very nice brisket.
 
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Thanks everyone for the kind words.

I find wired (or blue tooth) thermometer to be beneficial in monitoring the IT without opening the door. What's the old saying? If you're lookin', you ain't cooking'.......

yes i agree, and also it was down to 12° outside. which seems specially cold at 2 o'clock in the morning! i'm just hoping i win one from inkbrid on the 23rd :emoji_laughing::emoji_fingers_crossed:
 
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seems like a smooth first! Man my first was a flat and it was WAY messier of a cook. Mostly me not knowing enough.

Nice work!
 
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