First Brisket goes on the Traeger tonight

[Smoking Audi]

Going after our first brisket tonight.

Trimmed and seasoned last night, got a good portion of the hard fat out of it and trimmed the fat cap best we could. Really did not need a lot of shaping as we had seen in a bunch of the how to trim videos. We thought our knives were fairly sharp but trimming the brisket told us that we need to sharpen on get a sharper knife. Our set is from Pampered Chef.

Aiming for around 7pm tonight and let it smoke until we get up in the morning and go from there to see when to wrap. Probably go fat side up so the fat melts into the brisket. The advise seems to be 50/50 on fat up or down with valid reasons for both. I have apple in the hopper right now from our last pork tenderloins, so I will empty that out and load with maybe a combo of oak and hickory. I have read and watched videos that Cherry would be a good add but I do not have any at the moment so we shall just see how it goes.

Probably go around 200 F for the overnight and increase in the morning depending on the IT. Wrap it in butcher paper and finish it off tomorrow.

Pics of the brisket in the fridge are attached. Sorry still in the cling wrap so not the best of pictures.

Guessing is 14 to 15 lbs still. Yeah we went big for our first. Yay????

We seasoned with ST Elmo’s

Seasoning | St. Elmo Foods

stelmofoods.com

 

[DemonPit]

That's how I do it. Put in overnight at 200*, then wake up about 7-8am and turn up to 250*. I'll have one going in tonight or tomorrow. Except mines a monster at 20lbs (pre-trim), and mostly the point.

 

[Smoking Audi]

Just went on. Gonna run it at 180 over night. Mixed oak and hickory.

 

[JckDanls 07]

No injection or anything ? Which is a good thing... No worries about getting to 140` within the 4 hour range ...

Carry on ...

 

[JLeonard]

Looking good thus far.....I'm up all night I want hourly updates. Who are you to sleep on your first brisket.

Jim

 

[babydocsmoke]

I'm with JL unfortunately. When I've got the smoker running overnight...I don't sleep well.

 

[boomcannon]

Fat side down always worked best for me on my pellet. Fat side up on my WSM. I just always figured that I should use the fat side to shield against wherever the heat is coming from.

Get yourself a good boning knife. Mercer and Victorinox make a great product that is inexpensive. And it’s always easiest to trim the brisket when it’s super cold.

Good luck!

 

[Smoking Audi]

Trimming wise, it was straight from the fridge so we thought it would be cold enough. Knife wise we will have to look into sharpening or getting a better knife.

We were not sure fat side up or down and the “experts” on the videos were mixed on up or down as well. We decided fat up with the idea that the fat would drip into the meat as it rendered and cooked.

And finally nope, not gonna stay up with it. Will turn in between 12 and 1 and then get a good sleep and be up 7 ish

 

[indaswamp]

I'm in the car for the ride....take some really great pics! I'll check back in in the morning...

 

[Smoking Audi]

6 AM and I am up to check.

153F

Turned the pit up to 225, gonna check in 30 to see how junior is doing

 

[JLeonard]

Looking good!

JIm

 

[boomcannon]

She’s a beaut, Clark!

 

[Smoking Audi]

8 AM and 167F.

I have to say that with a pellet smoker, cooking a brisket has been no where near as difficult as I had feared it would be. The pit runs +/- 20F and just keeps going. I am sure if I was on charcoal or running an offset it would be much harder to keep temp and I probably would have needed to stay up and monitor more closely

 

[Smoking Audi]

Seems to have stalled about 172F. Wrapping soon with butcher paper. A bit over 14 hours now.

 

[Winterrider]

Looks great at this stage.
Future overnight smokes, A digital pit temp thermometer with high and low alerts will certainly give you peace of mind.

 

[indaswamp]

^^^^^^^Excellent advice! I use one as well.

 

[Smoking Audi]

Been wrapped and back on the grill for a bit over an hour now. Increased the temp to 275. Probe is reading 183F.

Trying to decide at what temp to pull and toss in the cooler. Looked at the Traeger app and recipes range from 195 to 204F when done and pulled.

Thoughts?

 

[indaswamp]

Go by feel....probe the flat... the point will be tender. Probe a lot everywhere, but pay special attention to where the point and the flat meet as this should be the thickest part of the flat.

This is also another reason to put the fat cap up when cooking in a smoker where the heat rises vertically as the flat runs under the point on the opposite side of the fat cap.

You can use the temp probe or a small diameter skewer...or a long tooth pick.

 

[indaswamp]

I start checking @190*F. Temps will start rising faster once you hit about 185*F.

 

[Smoking Audi]

Probe tender so it’s pulled now and in the cooler. Overall it was 200-205

Daughter just came home and offered her smells.

Her : that smells really good, why couldn’t you take up smoking before I went vegetarian. I might not be an effing vegetarian if you did.