LET'S TALK BRISKET!!

[mummel]

I've got Aaron's book ready to go but just a quick sanity check for brisket cook time?  Hours / lb if foiling?  TY!

 

[cowboy11]

Your favorite seasoning on meat, 0-12 hours.

Pit at 225 degrees more or less,

foil when internal temperature gets to 165 degrees +\-,

pull when internal temperature gets to 195 degrees +\-,

toothpick should go in easy, leave foil on, wrap in towel, and put in cooler for at least 1 hour.

Pull from cooler, separate flat and point, trim fat that didn't render during cook.

Keep notes. It is done when it is done.

Happy cooking

 

[mummel]

Your favorite seasoning on meat, 0-12 hours.

Pit at 225 degrees more or less,

foil when internal temperature gets to 165 degrees +\-,

pull when internal temperature gets to 195 degrees +\-,

toothpick should go in easy, leave foil on, wrap in towel, and put in cooler for at least 1 hour.

Pull from cooler, separate flat and point, trim fat that didn't render during cook.

Keep notes. It is done when it is done.

Happy cooking

Awesome TY.

 

[mummel]

Any idea hours / lb

 

[jcbigler]

Any idea hours / lb

As few as 1. As many as 2. Depends on your smoker, your temps, and the actual cut of meat.

 

[mummel]

As few as 1. As many as 2. Depends on your smoker, your temps, and the actual cut of meat.

Wife just picked up a brisket!  First one ever.  Doing it tomorrow.  12 lbs untrimmed.  I'm under prepared.  This was sort of a last minute idea.

I smoke at 225F.  Will 15 hours be enough?????

 

[cowboy11]

Please understand not every brisket is the same; therefore it is hard to put a time on it.

It will be done when it is done.

The best briskets are tender, toothpick test for tenderness.

Your favorite seasoning (can be as simple as salt and pepper), build a fire, put in some smoking wood, and cook it.

It can be as simple or as complicated as you want to make it.

I prefer to keep it simple and have gotten accolades for my briskets.

If it gets done early just keep it foiled, wrap in a towel, and rest is a cooler. It will continue to slowly cook but can be kept warm for 3 or 4 hours this way.

Keep notes, enjoy your day cooking, check cooking temperature often. Experienced cooks have told me they do not even open the pit until 3 or 4 hours after starting the cook. As long as your temp is maintaining and you are getting thin blue smoke all is good.

You are not underprepared if you have fuel for the fire, smoking wood, and seasoning. You will build confidence the more you cook.

Since it is a long smoke you can put on other meat if you have room on your pit.

Take pictures: before, during, and after to put after you enjoy the brisket, of course.

Don't forget the sides: beans, tater salad, pickles, whatever you and SWMBO wants.

Before long you will be smoking fatties, ribs, and butts. 

 

[kc5tpy]

Hey mummel.  I was surprised to read you had not smoked a brisket.  You have read the thread I assume and the guys are giving great advice.  Think of this as that girl back in High School you always wanted to ask out but never had the courage ( boy did she miss out ).  

  You got this buddy.  You know what you're doing.  I expect to see some good picts!  No stress.  Have fun with it.  It's just a hunk of beef.  Keep Smokin!

Danny

 

[cowboy11]

pictures STRUT YOUR STUFF!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[jcbigler]

 
Wife just picked up a brisket!  First one ever.  Doing it tomorrow.  12 lbs untrimmed.  I'm under prepared.  This was sort of a last minute idea.

I smoke at 225F.  Will 15 hours be enough?????

For a 12 lb brisket, I think 15 hours would be plenty at 225. 

I usually do 12 to 13lb briskets in my offset smoker and they take about 10-11 hours. But I usually smoke a little higher, in the 250-275 range. 

Just make you sure you know what your temps are, and that it is easily probed around the time that it reaches 200-ish degree internal temp. Then you can pull it off, wrap it in foil and towels and put it in a cooler for several hours until you are ready to serve. 

 

[slysmoke]

So this little guy caught my attention yesterday at Walmart

20160424_061921.jpg

• slysmoke
• Apr 24, 2016

Since I was looking for something to smoke on Sunday anyway, I figured what the heck, 9ish pound select flat for just under $28, had a pretty good bend to it soooo

Here we are all trimmed up, dusted with SPOG and ready to go into the gasser at 630AM to meet it's new best friends, hickory and mesquite to hang out all day at around 235.

20160424_063408.jpg

• slysmoke
• Apr 24, 2016

More to come.

 

[mummel]

 
Hey mummel.  I was surprised to read you had not smoked a brisket.  You have read the thread I assume and the guys are giving great advice.  Think of this as that girl back in High School you always wanted to ask out but never had the courage ( boy did she miss out ).  

  You got this buddy.  You know what you're doing.  I expect to see some good picts!  No stress.  Have fun with it.  It's just a hunk of beef.  Keep Smokin!

Danny

So I finally did it.  Smoked my first brisket!!  My smoker was in storage over the winter so this was the first smoke of the season.  I had to build a small shed first to keep my MES out the rain and once the weather warmed up, I finally got around to it.

Always wanted to do a brisket but never got a chance last summer (plus I was super nervous to screw up an expensive piece of meat).

However, this smoke was seriously under planned.  I got home at 12:30am on Sat night and decided to go for it.  Trimmed the brisket (11.8lbs down to 9.1 lbs), lit my AMPS (which worked this time), found the brisket summary page in Aarons book for a quick read, set to 275F, threw on kosher salt and ground black pepper, threw in the brisket at 1am'ish, and went to bed.  Very unlike me.  I always like to over plan and over think everything.  I was winging it at this point.

Woke up at 6am.  Mav alarm was going off.  IT was 165F.  Went down, it looked great, wrapped it in foil, and put it back in the MES.  Went back to bed.

Around 10am Mav alarm went off.  IT was 203F.  I took my other instant read thermometer to double check.  It was reading 196F and it did not feel like it glided right into the meat.  So I left it.  Checked again when my Mav alarm said 209F.  My instant read said 203F, and it slid right into the brisket.  The feel was much better.

Threw the brisket in a cooler, and we sliced it at 2pm.

In short, being my first brisket (I've had sandwiches in stores, never at a piece of meat like this before), I really liked it.  My mother in law said it was fantastic.  I put a ton of pepper on it and it had a great bite.  Flavor was great.

However, as it's "we are always striving for something better", I found it a little dry/crumbly, maybe by like 10%.  I cant say for sure because I have no other briskets to reference it against.  But it wasnt a juicy piece of meat like I was expecting.  However, when going back to watch Aarons Youtube vids, the texture seemed to be the same.

Overall, I think it was great.  Next time I will trim less fat (I really carved it down with hardly any fat cap).  I will also not cook it as long.  But I am definitely doing another one.  YUM.

Thanks to everyone for the helpful feedback.

IMG_4960.jpg

• mummel
• Apr 25, 2016

 

[cowboy11]

Congrats. Now you can plan your changes for future briskets.

The Qvue certainly looks good.

KEEP ON SMOKING

 

[gary s]

 
So I finally did it.  Smoked my first brisket!!  My smoker was in storage over the winter so this was the first smoke of the season.  I had to build a small shed first to keep my MES out the rain and once the weather warmed up, I finally got around to it.

Always wanted to do a brisket but never got a chance last summer (plus I was super nervous to screw up an expensive piece of meat).

However, this smoke was seriously under planned.  I got home at 12:30am on Sat night and decided to go for it.  Trimmed the brisket (11.8lbs down to 9.1 lbs), lit my AMPS (which worked this time), found the brisket summary page in Aarons book for a quick read, set to 275F, threw on kosher salt and ground black pepper, threw in the brisket at 1am'ish, and went to bed.  Very unlike me.  I always like to over plan and over think everything.  I was winging it at this point.

Woke up at 6am.  Mav alarm was going off.  IT was 165F.  Went down, it looked great, wrapped it in foil, and put it back in the MES.  Went back to bed.

Around 10am Mav alarm went off.  IT was 203F.  I took my other instant read thermometer to double check.  It was reading 196F and it did not feel like it glided right into the meat.  So I left it.  Checked again when my Mav alarm said 209F.  My instant read said 203F, and it slid right into the brisket.  The feel was much better.

Threw the brisket in a cooler, and we sliced it at 2pm.

In short, being my first brisket (I've had sandwiches in stores, never at a piece of meat like this before), I really liked it.  My mother in law said it was fantastic.  I put a ton of pepper on it and it had a great bite.  Flavor was great.

However, as it's "we are always striving for something better", I found it a little dry/crumbly, maybe by like 10%.  I cant say for sure because I have no other briskets to reference it against.  But it wasnt a juicy piece of meat like I was expecting.  However, when going back to watch Aarons Youtube vids, the texture seemed to be the same.

Overall, I think it was great.  Next time I will trim less fat (I really carved it down with hardly any fat cap).  I will also not cook it as long.  But I am definitely doing another one.  YUM.

Thanks to everyone for the helpful feedback.

IMG_4960.jpg

• mummel
• Apr 25, 2016

Sorry to hear that  Probably just overcooked it a bit.  It's a learning experience 

You will be smoking that perfect brisket in no time

 

[mummel]

TY guys.  I need to post a pic of the shed setup.  Works beautifully.

 

[cowboy11]

In addition to my first post may I suggest a couple of things:

1. Once IT hits 195-200 pull, wrap in foil or brown paper, then a towel, and put in a cooler for a couple of hours to finish, it will continue to slowly cook as it cools. Then you might save some for burnt ends (brisket candy)

2. I find it easier to trim fat after the cook as most of it has rendered out. It will be greasy though, or you can just trim very little fat from the cap and about 50% of the fat between point and flat before you start.

What works on one piece of meat may not work as well on the next. My daughter says I bond with my brisket before I cook it. I disagree with her but I do study to see any differences from previous cooks.

The other thing is not all briskets are the same. Aaron says he has only one supplier for his briskets. He is trying to control the quality of meat as much as possible.

I buy my briskets by look, feel, and cost from wherever. Majority of time I do pretty good. I think Aaron has a video on selecting brisket that is pretty good.

At the end of that process I I am on my 3rd or 4th adult beverage and I think, throw it on and try to stop just before I burn it. If you do burn it a little call it bark.

You can really have some fun with this.

 

[mummel]

If you pull a slice, should it have some resistance and tug to it?  Or does it just crumble.  Because mine was crumbly.  Even though it wasnt really dry, it crumbled.

 

[kc5tpy]

Hello.  Told ya you had this one buddy.  Crumbly usually means a "little" over cooked.  But at least it wasn't dry.  Looks great to me!  I leave the fat and trim it when I slice.  Your briskets will only get better from here.  Keep Smokin!

Danny

 

[cowboy11]

In a perfect world a slice should droop over a knife or if pulled separate into fairly equal pieces.

If you got it tender with a taste everybody liked that is the main thing. When mine crumble I make pulled beef sandwiches.

Personally I like and IT of 200 - 205 for the finished IT.

Don't know if that would have made a difference.

You can tweak when you cook the next one.

I really think you did very well for a first time brisket and are very accomplished. Like anything you want to do well with it just takes practice and experience. 

 

[gary s]

Don't worry about crumbly, Everybody has had crumbly before.  Like anything else if takes several times to get it

figured out. Learning your smoker is a big step.  Meat selection is another.  The last brisket I cooked I went through

a bunch, even had them bring some more from the back to look at. I got the best one from what I had to choose

from, but still wasn't what I was used to getting. All in all it turned out pretty darn good. I have been smoking for over 40 years

and still have a disappointment every once in a while. 

Gary