Here goes nothing!

[TNJHubert]

So today I bought a 9.1lb brisket flat. One end seems to be thicker than the other, not sure if that's normal because I've never cooked one. I want to smoke it in my masterbuilt 30. I've been reading through the forum and there's so much info it's a little overwhelming. I want to eat it for dinner Saturday at 5ish, don't want it shredded, just sliced.

How long do you think I should smoke it starting with? I know you go by temp and probing, but what am I looking at, 12/14 hours to start with?

Ive read your pull it and wrap it then place it back in, around what temp should I do this? Do I wrap it tight or tent it and add liquid? I'm assuming I keep water in the pan at all times.

Lastly, for now, I don't have one of those amazing mazes, and they don't sell them here. So I'm guessing I have to fill the tray every 30 minutes, unless someone has a better idea. Also, what temp do I smoke it at?

I think I'm done, thanks ;)

 

[TomKnollRFV]

Try closer to 20 hours at 250f is my estimate based off my experiences.

Do not add water to the pan, you do not need to wrap <my time estimations are based on not wrapping>..as for rolling smoke? You can just roll smoke as long as you want to be awake, 4 hours is enough for people to go 'man this is great smoked'. Unless you -really- want to spend half a day every half hour feeding in wood chips.

So you might want to start it at 7 PM Friday and in theory done by Saturday around 5 PM. Rested and all.

 

[TNJHubert]

Try closer to 20 hours at 250f is my estimate based off my experiences.

Do not add water to the pan, you do not need to wrap <my time estimations are based on not wrapping>..as for rolling smoke? You can just roll smoke as long as you want to be awake, 4 hours is enough for people to go 'man this is great smoked'. Unless you -really- want to spend half a day every half hour feeding in wood chips.

So you might want to start it at 7 PM Friday and in theory done by Saturday around 5 PM. Rested and all.

Oh wow. 20 hours? That's a long time, haha! How long rested? Just from the time it's like Jell-O to eating time?

Edit to add: Will it dry out with nothing in the pan?

 

[TomKnollRFV]

Oh wow. 20 hours? That's a long time, haha! How long rested? Just from the time it's like Jell-O to eating time?

To be fair I just rest stuff a half hour. The 2 hour rests etc never work out, things get done and samples are needed..

Most of my pork butts are 8-10 pounds and take 16-20 hours on average, the briskets I did were all packers and took closer to 30 hour so.

Thing is with brisket; you can finish it early, slice it, and just reheat it in an oven at like 200f with some beef broth to keep it from drying out, just as good as fresh if you ask me.

 

[TNJHubert]

To be fair I just rest stuff a half hour. The 2 hour rests etc never work out, things get done and samples are needed..

Most of my pork butts are 8-10 pounds and take 16-20 hours on average, the briskets I did were all packers and took closer to 30 hour so.

Thing is with brisket; you can finish it early, slice it, and just reheat it in an oven at like 200f with some beef broth to keep it from drying out, just as good as fresh if you ask me.

Well I guess it'll be a long night!! Not sure if I want to now hahaha

 

[TomKnollRFV]

Well I guess it'll be a long night!! Not sure if I want to now hahaha

Don't bother staying up all night. I tend to do every thing overnight. Most of my pork butt don't even go on till Midnight. MES will keep the temp and you can sleep. Get up and check temps <or if you got some fancy alarm thermal probe, it can go off if it hits the desired temp>

 

[TNJHubert]

Don't bother staying up all night. I tend to do every thing overnight. Most of my pork butt don't even go on till Midnight. MES will keep the temp and you can sleep. Get up and check temps <or if you got some fancy alarm thermal probe, it can go off if it hits the desired temp>

Smoke with the fat cap up or down? Should I just do basic spog?

 

[TomKnollRFV]

Smoke with the fat cap up or down? Should I just do basic spog?

SPOG works fine; I tend to buy any rub I see on sale, but good ole SPOG works fine if you have no fancy pants commercial rub.

I always do the fat side up but honestly I don't think it matters; just that the fat side for me likes to stick to my weber grill pan even when I spray grill oil on it.

 

[hillbillyrkstr]

Give yourself 2 hours a pound to be safe. A little more wont hurt. You can always wrap in a towel and keep in a cooler for a few hours before you serve it if dinner isn’t ready. Always better to finish early than late.

I use only salt & heavy black pepper on my briskets. I always inject as well. If you don’t have an injection handy beef broth mixed with dales or Worcestershire is better than nothing.

Start probing your brisket at 198ish. When the probe or tooth pick your using slides in easily your meat is done. Could be anywhere between 198-205. No one temp on brisket means it’s done.

Finally buy an amazn tray or tube off amazon. It’s worth every single penny. You can walk away from your smoker and get stuff done while your dinner smokes.

Good luck
Scott

 

[gmc2003]

This ^^^^^right here. I'll only add that if your finished around dinner time just let the brisket rest for a short time before slicing, and only slice what your going to eat at that sitting.

Chris

 

[TomKnollRFV]

Scott definitely knows his game..Having gotten a piece first hand. I can testify to it.

Also fleetfarm if you got one near you carries the AMNPS. Otherwise I've seen alot of different takes on it you can order online. Lumberjack BBQ Pellets has their 'wedgies'. Alot of knock offs of it out there now. It's a must have for any smoke going long term IMO.

 

[TNJHubert]

Give yourself 2 hours a pound to be safe. A little more wont hurt. You can always wrap in a towel and keep in a cooler for a few hours before you serve it if dinner isn’t ready. Always better to finish early than late.

I use only salt & heavy black pepper on my briskets. I always inject as well. If you don’t have an injection handy beef broth mixed with dales or Worcestershire is better than nothing.

Start probing your brisket at 198ish. When the probe or tooth pick your using slides in easily your meat is done. Could be anywhere between 198-205. No one temp on brisket means it’s done.

Finally buy an amazn tray or tube off amazon. It’s worth every single penny. You can walk away from your smoker and get stuff done while your dinner smokes.

Good luck
Scott

I'm smoking it tomorrow so no time to order an amazing maze thing. I do however have this metal box about 6 inches long and 4 or so inches wide that has a cover with holes drilled in it. It'll hold alot of chips, will that work? Should I do chips or pellets? And does it have to be directly below the element or can you light it with a lighter or something and it'll slowly burn?

 

[Preacher Man]

I'm by no means up to par with these guys, but I'll offer a somewhat different voice for time. I started with a 17 lbs packer last week and split the point and flat so that it'd fit in my MES30. The Flat was probably close to the same size as yours, maybe a tad less.

I started at 5 am and by 6:30 pm we were eating. 13.5 hours from in the smoker to rested and sliced.

Granted, I didn't think my brisket was perfect, but my family went nuts about it and it was tasty. My gut is telling me I slightly overcooked it. At any rate, you can check out my post about it by clicking this. Hope it is of some help to you. Whatever you do, don't NOT smoke that brisket.

 

[TNJHubert]

Give yourself 2 hours a pound to be safe. A little more wont hurt. You can always wrap in a towel and keep in a cooler for a few hours before you serve it if dinner isn’t ready. Always better to finish early than late.

I use only salt & heavy black pepper on my briskets. I always inject as well. If you don’t have an injection handy beef broth mixed with dales or Worcestershire is better than nothing.

Start probing your brisket at 198ish. When the probe or tooth pick your using slides in easily your meat is done. Could be anywhere between 198-205. No one temp on brisket means it’s done.

Finally buy an amazn tray or tube off amazon. It’s worth every single penny. You can walk away from your smoker and get stuff done while your dinner smokes.

Good luck
Scott

Looks very similar to this

 

[hillbillyrkstr]

Wish I could help with that box question but I have no experience with it.

I’d just load chips every half hour for 4 hours and be done smoking. Just let it cook after that. 4 hours will get you plenty of Smokey flavor.

Scott

 

[TomKnollRFV]

I'm smoking it tomorrow so no time to order an amazing maze thing. I do however have this metal box about 6 inches long and 4 or so inches wide that has a cover with holes drilled in it. It'll hold alot of chips, will that work? Should I do chips or pellets? And does it have to be directly below the element or can you light it with a lighter or something and it'll slowly burn?

Generally all these products are meant to be used with pellets, you light one end and it let it get going for a few minutes and blow the flame out and put it on the bottom rack or drip tray of the smoker. The product you have though I got no idea because it's from Alibaba, which is a bulk trading site for China. It says for Charcoal or propane grill, it might for all I know actually require the constant heat source to function.

You might need to experiment with it to find out.

 

[TNJHubert]

T minus 1 hour before she goes in the smoker. Any last tips or tricks or advice?

 

[TomKnollRFV]

Not from me! Except best of luck and don't stress!

 

[TNJHubert]

Not from me! Except best of luck and don't stress!

I do have one question. I can cut it in half without it hurting anything right? It won't fit as a whole piece

 

[TNJHubert]

Woke up this morning at 7am. 12 hours in the smoker, she jiggled like Jell-O. Probed a million times, 0 resistance. Remembered I didn't have time to foil, so ran to the store and picked some up, came home and wrapped her up and threw her in a box with towels. Can't wait to eat her, hopefully it's good!