Need help smoking a brisket ASAP!!!

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Mspirk7

Newbie
Original poster
Dec 10, 2018
6
1
Hey guys I have a question. So I have a 14lb Brisket I'm wanting to smoke for a Christmas party but it is too large to fit in my masterbuilt electric smoker. I think I'm going to have to cut it in half. My question is Does that affect the time I should smoke it for? How long and at what temperature should you smoke 2 7lb briskets?
 
Do you have some Bradley racks you can use to give it some lift in the middle? It will be plenty small once cooked to fit, but you just need a crutch until then. You can even pick up locally at Home Depot or similar to get faster.
 
It's the length of the brisket that's the problem it's just too long
 
Put the rack upside down on your main rack. This will cause the center of the brisket to lift creating a cheat to shorten it. Should be enough to get you through without having to cut it down.
 

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So, were considering just eyeballing it and cuttin' that sucker in half?

DON'T DO IT!

You would need to separate the flat from the point and might still end up with the brisket being too long to fit your smoker.

You can arch it over like devildawg suggested or you could just fold a portion of the flat under the brisket.
 
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I've cut 'em in half for my MES30. It's not my favorite, but they work. You can find plenty of youtube vids on how to separate the point and flat. Anymore, I just refuse to buy a brisket over 12 lbs, which is about the max size for my MES30.

As to your original question:
I think I'm going to have to cut it in half. My question is Does that affect the time I should smoke it for?
@gary s wrote a great post regarding that very question. Click here to read it.
 
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I've done brisket where it touched the sidewalls and I just kept checking and re positioning as it shrunk, turned out fine.

Though yours might not just be touching so I've no idea if that's a viable method.
 
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Sorry this didn't get answered earlier but hopefully this will help in the future. Yes you can cut it in half if that's what you want to do. You would smoke it at the same temp as before I do them at 225-250 your smoke time would be figured for a 7 lb brisket not one 14 lb one. Cutting it in half reduces the cook time as opposed to it being one bigger piece. No matter how much meat you put in the smoker it is figured by each piece of meat NOT the total amount of meat. So if you had two 7 lb briskets and a 10 lb brisket and a 9 lb butt each piece of meat would smoke at the normal temp you would smoke one at and time would vary for each piece. Your overall smoke time will be slightly longer than doing one 7 lb brisket but not enough to really notice. You would check temp on each piece of meat as they will all finish at different times. If you put two 7 lb briskets in the smoker side by side they would finish at different times as no two pieces of meat are identical that's why we cook to temp not time. Differences being differing amounts of fat, meat fiber toughness, collagen etc. Times are just estimates of about how long the smoke will take and the only thing we really smoke by time is ribs the rest is done when the internal temp is right not the time.
 
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IF you are going to cut it, then piney has you covered. IMO, I would raise the center of the brisket thereby shortening the overall length until it has shrunk.
 
Sorry this didn't get answered earlier but hopefully this will help in the future. Yes you can cut it in half if that's what you want to do. You would smoke it at the same temp as before I do them at 225-250 your smoke time would be figured for a 7 lb brisket not one 14 lb one. Cutting it in half reduces the cook time as opposed to it being one bigger piece. No matter how much meat you put in the smoker it is figured by each piece of meat NOT the total amount of meat. So if you had two 7 lb briskets and a 10 lb brisket and a 9 lb butt each piece of meat would smoke at the normal temp you would smoke one at and time would vary for each piece. Your overall smoke time will be slightly longer than doing one 7 lb brisket but not enough to really notice. You would check temp on each piece of meat as they will all finish at different times. If you put two 7 lb briskets in the smoker side by side they would finish at different times as no two pieces of meat are identical that's why we cook to temp not time. Differences being differing amounts of fat, meat fiber toughness, collagen etc. Times are just estimates of about how long the smoke will take and the only thing we really smoke by time is ribs the rest is done when the internal temp is right not the time.
Sorry this didn't get answered earlier but hopefully this will help in the future. Yes you can cut it in half if that's what you want to do. You would smoke it at the same temp as before I do them at 225-250 your smoke time would be figured for a 7 lb brisket not one 14 lb one. Cutting it in half reduces the cook time as opposed to it being one bigger piece. No matter how much meat you put in the smoker it is figured by each piece of meat NOT the total amount of meat. So if you had two 7 lb briskets and a 10 lb brisket and a 9 lb butt each piece of meat would smoke at the normal temp you would smoke one at and time would vary for each piece. Your overall smoke time will be slightly longer than doing one 7 lb brisket but not enough to really notice. You would check temp on each piece of meat as they will all finish at different times. If you put two 7 lb briskets in the smoker side by side they would finish at different times as no two pieces of meat are identical that's why we cook to temp not time. Differences being differing amounts of fat, meat fiber toughness, collagen etc. Times are just estimates of about how long the smoke will take and the only thing we really smoke by time is ribs the rest is done when the internal temp is right not the time.
 
It wouldnt need to be a rack. Ive used a beer can before for the same purpose. Just try it in your smoker with something under to prop up the middle as a dry run and you'll know if you need to cut in half or not.
 
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