I decided to start the year off right with my second attempt at a packer brisket! I picked up a 10 LB prime packer from Costco on Monday and decided today would be the day. I trimmed it up Wednesday night (I could still use some work on my trimming game lol) and put it in the fridge, ready for an early start this morning.
I woke up at 6AM today and got the 22.5 WSM fired up with some RO briquettes, and put in some white oak chunks for smoke flavor. While it was coming up to temp (275) and waiting for the smoke to clean up, I injected the brisket with some beef broth and a little worcestershire sauce, then gave it a 50/50 kosher salt and course black pepper rub.
The brisket hit the smoker at 9am, and got a spritz of beef broth after the first two hours, and then once an hour after that. It actually cooked faster than I expected, and really never seemed to hit a stall. By 11am at the first spritz I probed it and it was already at 152! Based on that I decided not to wrap this one and I let it ride until it hit 195 at the thickest part of the flat. By that time the point was already jiggling like Jello, but the flat still wasn't probing as tender as I wanted so I let it roll until 200 when I checked again. On hind sight, I should have pulled it at this point, but I let it go to 205 which it hit by 3:45pm. I decided to pull it at this point, fearing if I let it go any farther the flat would be too dry and the point would fall apart when slicing. That turned out to be a good call.
Once off the smoker, I double wrapped it in foil, then two towels, and into a cooler for a 3 hour rest. Dinner was just a little later than I planned, and I finally sliced into the brisket at about 7:30pm. The flat was super tender, but maybe just a tad over as a slice broke when I gave it the over the finger fold test, and just a little bit dry (pics of the flat look dryer than it really was). The Point was SUPER juicy, but did not shred when sliced so I was really happy with it.
Over all, while my brisker could still use a little work, it was better than my first attempt and I was very happy with it. And, I think I know what adjustments I need to make next time so already looking forward to the next attempt.
And now for the pics....
I woke up at 6AM today and got the 22.5 WSM fired up with some RO briquettes, and put in some white oak chunks for smoke flavor. While it was coming up to temp (275) and waiting for the smoke to clean up, I injected the brisket with some beef broth and a little worcestershire sauce, then gave it a 50/50 kosher salt and course black pepper rub.
The brisket hit the smoker at 9am, and got a spritz of beef broth after the first two hours, and then once an hour after that. It actually cooked faster than I expected, and really never seemed to hit a stall. By 11am at the first spritz I probed it and it was already at 152! Based on that I decided not to wrap this one and I let it ride until it hit 195 at the thickest part of the flat. By that time the point was already jiggling like Jello, but the flat still wasn't probing as tender as I wanted so I let it roll until 200 when I checked again. On hind sight, I should have pulled it at this point, but I let it go to 205 which it hit by 3:45pm. I decided to pull it at this point, fearing if I let it go any farther the flat would be too dry and the point would fall apart when slicing. That turned out to be a good call.
Once off the smoker, I double wrapped it in foil, then two towels, and into a cooler for a 3 hour rest. Dinner was just a little later than I planned, and I finally sliced into the brisket at about 7:30pm. The flat was super tender, but maybe just a tad over as a slice broke when I gave it the over the finger fold test, and just a little bit dry (pics of the flat look dryer than it really was). The Point was SUPER juicy, but did not shred when sliced so I was really happy with it.
Over all, while my brisker could still use a little work, it was better than my first attempt and I was very happy with it. And, I think I know what adjustments I need to make next time so already looking forward to the next attempt.
And now for the pics....
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