How Long to Cook a Brisket or The Misconception of the 1 to 1.5 hour rule

[gary s]

 
Gary,

This is coming from a newbie that needed his common sense slapped back into focus.....THANKS FOR A GREAT ARTICLE!

Thickness rules not weight. 

Thank you, I am glad the information helped, Always makes me happy 

Gary

 

[riskittobrisket]

Awesome article, it was really informative and exactly what i need to know as a rookie smoker.

 

[Bearcarver]

 
Awesome article, it was really informative and exactly what i need to know as a rookie smoker.

If you liked this article, you should go to the Link below.

Gary is my GOTO Guy for Brisket:

http://www.smokingmeatforums.com/t/174019/east-texas-style-brisket-ribs

Bear

 

[riskittobrisket]

 
If you liked this article, you should go to the Link below.

Gary is my GOTO Guy for Brisket:

http://www.smokingmeatforums.com/t/174019/east-texas-style-brisket-ribs

Bear

Thank you much, Lovin' all this info!

 

[gary s]

Thank's Bear you are too kind    

Gary

 

[fetyani]

Thanks that really helped a lot, especially for a novice 

 

[gary s]

 
Thanks that really helped a lot, especially for a novice 

Glad I could Help

Gary

 

[pink flamingo]

This has been a really good read for me. Thanks.

 

[gary s]

I wanted to give this post a Bump, I have seen a lot of people asking about Brisket, I think this would be very helpful to those just starting out or not sure of themselves.

Gary 

 

[cjp4]

As a newbie, all these articles, even though older, have been great. I am just wrapping up my first brisket smoke in almost 15 years while also learning a new off-set smoker. All the advice and the threads have been fantastic. Thanks so much!

 

[gary s]

 
As a newbie, all these articles, even though older, have been great. I am just wrapping up my first brisket smoke in almost 15 years while also learning a new off-set smoker. All the advice and the threads have been fantastic. Thanks so much!

You are welcome,  Have any questions give me a shout

Gary

 

[tony salla]

Thanks for the info! Doing my second one ever tomorrow. First one was good, but not OMG good. Hoping this one will be better than the firest.

Oh yeah, do you still have that notebook, and can I take a peek? lol

 

[raider2119]

One of my signature smokes is pastrami, but I cheat with that and start with store bought corned beef....  I have yet to corn one from scratch....  but I have a couple of packer briskets in the freezer that I want to try next week.... have never done a whole brisket....  I have not choice about splitting it, as the entire slab of meat wont fit into my smoker....  I have a rub that I make for my St. Louis style ribs that I am going to add some "sweet" (brown sugar) and give it a hot/sweet flavor....  also planning on starting out the first hr with a mix of 7/8 cherry wood, 1/8 oak, followed up the 2nd hour with straight cherry....   

Also, I am thinking of running my smoker a bit hot, around 275-280 degrees....    I will do unwrapped for about the 1st 3 hours.... then wrap in butcher paper till it reaches about 170 degrees.....  will then unwrap and finish at smoker temp of about 300 degrees till the internal temp gets to about 185....  

At that point, let it rest for about an hour before slicing it......

Comments /suggestions are requested.....

 

[negro]

Stick to the approximate time of 1.5 hours per poundDo not listen to the scientific bullshit

 

[Doc Las Vegas]

A rookie experience with trying to cook brisket.

I can't tell you how much I appreciate the information in the original article. I am in the rookie, "let's see how bad I can screw up this piece of meat" stage of learning how to smoke things.

Seriously, I have totally destroyed more meat since buying this smoker than I have been able to eat. Like the night I figured I would do ribs. Get them all done and ready for Sunday. 2 plus 2 plus 2 hours right? First 2 and second 2 are looking good. I'm in the home stretch, watching a movie on television.

I fall dead asleep on the couch and wake up 8 hours later. Have you ever seen a rib that has been cooked for 12 hours? I took them to the poison control center, that much charcoal could be used to save someone's life.

OK so now I have graduated to brisket. First one I did was a flat. To say my timing was off is to put it mildly. What the heck made me think I could cook a 6 lb brisket in 9 hours to 195 is beyond me.

My 2 sons had come over for dinner one with his wife and my 2 grandchildren, the other with his girlfriend, and my daughter with her boyfriend. My wife is screaming at me, everything else is ready we have to eat. Screw it, I took it out of the smoker at 145 degrees. These animals that I call my family didn't care. Ate the whole damn thing, thought it was delicious, I kept telling them, it isn't right. This isn't how it is supposed to be, it's supposed to be tender! "Dad! Shut up and pass the meat." HEATHENS!

So here I sit with my second attempt at a brisket. This time a whole one 18 pounds. The tip is about 7 inches thick, and this thing has been in the smoker for 19 hours and it's at 188 and I am wondering what the hell I am doing wrong. I think the only thing that I am doing wrong is not being patient. It will get there when it gets there.

It's only 1:00 pm and the ravenous hoard does not arrive for dinner for another 3 hours. So by sheer luck I may have actually timed this perfectly. Although I really did not plan this. I put it on at 6 last night and figured it would be done in 12 hours at 6am. I set my alarm for every 2 hours through the night to check on it. I slept in the guest room, because my wife was having none of being woke up by an alarm every 2 hours.

I did separate the tip from the flat, so the flat is a little ahead of the tip by around 10 degrees.

OK 20 hours and the flat is 195. Guess it's time to take it out. Does this look right? Looks like more charcoal for the poison control center to me. I'm going to wrap it in foil and a towel and put in a cooler to let it do whatever it does in the cooler. Still waiting for the tip. I have come to the conclusion that not only is this a science it apparently is something of an art. It must be something you get a feel for based on the thickness, and just experience with having success. Successful experience is something I am definitely in need of. Still waiting for the darn tip. 3:15 pm right now.

5:00 pm tip is 195. Geesh 23 hours. Seriously? This better taste AWESOME! Picture of flat before foil is below. Then tip and flat after they sat a couple hours in the cooler and I sliced them. They were really good, very moist, you could slice it, but take the slices and pull it apart with your fingers. I think this is the way it is supposed to be done??

The family agreed that this was really tender, unlike my first attempt. I have the author of the original article to thank for the success because I seriously was ready to completely annihilate this brisket. It was taking so long, I was 5 minutes away from pulling it out of the smoker and putting it in foil and trying to bring it to temperature in the oven. Then I thought, before I do that let me do a google search. Reading this article convinced me to stick with the smoker and just be patient. Sorry for such a long post. I was thinking if it turned out OK maybe it would give encouragement to other newbies.

Oh another bad mistake I was making with other items I tried to smoke, I was using hickory. It is so strong, and bitter tasting. I learned from reading all you folks excellent posts that apple and pecan was a better choice so I used primarily apple with a little pecan. I really do appreciate you all sharing your experience.

Thanks again, Doc from Las Vegas

 

[bregent]

Nice, looks like it turned out great. I will say that hickory can be strong, but it should not be bitter. Bitter is often a sign of a dirty fire. Not sure what kind of pit you're running, but make sure you've got TBS.

 

[Doc Las Vegas]

I'm using a Master Built Smoker electric. Sort of hard to get dirty smoke. I usually use pellets which burn really slow, and give a nice steady TBS. Not sure why it had a bitter taste. But I have had no issues since I switched over to apple pellets, they just do not seem as pungent. Thank you,

Doc

 

[gary s]

Hey Doc from Las Vegas Great Post and I'm glad I could help. I smoked more Briskets than I can count.
One thing I would do is go with a couple of smaller briskets (Not as thick) that way you can cut your smoking time down.
As for wood I really like Pecan. But I use other wood too. I smoked Ribs yesterday and used oak and a little hickory.
Nice Job I think you have it down. They get easier and easier.

Gary

 

[gary s]

Stick to the approximate time of 1.5 hours per poundDo not listen to the scientific bullshit

Not Scientific, just mostly Common Sense, Read my post and you will see.

Gary

 

[bigjeffm]

I had a super stubborn prime 12 lb brisket I smoked overnight Saturday. Got my WSM going at 6:30 PM Saturday, cooked at 230-250 for 5 hours, wrapped in pink butcher paper at 162 degrees and went to bed with the temp slowly rising.

Woke up at 3 AM and the brisket was at 181 with the 22" WSM at 266 degrees. I dialed it back some and when I woke up the WSM was at 225 and the brisket had dropped to 167. I've seen temperature drops when the smoker got cold. I had set an alarm on my ET-133 if the smoker got below 205 but it never went off.

I cranked the heat up some and didn't get this brisket finished until after 3 PM, 21.5 hours after starting it.

It came out chewy around the edges and a little on the dry side with the flat meat. Gotta figure out the overnight temperature with it starting to cool off overnight.