Newb brisket-round 1

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Zen

Newbie
Original poster
Mar 23, 2023
16
40
Central Arkansas
This was a fun run. This was only the second thing I've ever smoked. First was a whole chicken when I got my WSM 18" a few days ago.

I started by trimming a 13.5 USDA choice brisket. That was a chore and I was worried that I ruined it. I used some left over rubs. Mainly salt, pepper, paprika and garlic. Forgot to use mustard as a binder like I wanted to. Anywho, I let it sit in the fridge for 24 hrs.

IMG_20230329_090208527~2.jpg


Then I sparked up a full ring of JD XL briquettes with some mesquite and apple chunks. Seriously cannot wait until my chimney gets here because this part is a chore.

When it was ready at 275, I threw it on the WSM. Had some fluctuation since this is the first time I had attempted to get her to a certain temp and hold it. Honestly, it was a breeze with this WSM. It didnt take much adjusting to get it to stabilize and then it held 275 for the remaining 8 hours. Here's a pic of the half way mark.
IMG_20230329_134128578.jpg


At about the 5 hr mark I started spritzing every 45 ish minutes with a mix of water, soy sauce and Worcestershire. I didn't temp it until I felt the fat had rendered down quite a bit. It was at around 180.


I then wrapped a boat around the bottom side and put it back on. Accidentally scraped it when moving it to the foil.

IMG_20230329_191209149.jpg


At around the 9 hour mark, I took it off since it was 205 and to my new self, it felt like the fat was rendered enough.

Let it sit for 2 hours and then sliced it up. Everyone was starving.

IMG_20230330_065931.jpg
IMG_20230330_065935.jpg



It was pretty good for a first time brisket. It had some rock hard parts at the bottom. There was fo sho some lessons that were learned. I will take my time to really get the silver skin all off and trim better, try to rest one for several hours, and next time I want to try a little lower and slower.

Hope everyone has a wonderful rest of your week!! ✌️💚
 
For first shot out of the barrel looks like it came out great, nice bark and juicy! RAY
 
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Congratulations on your first brisket. A definite Zen moment.

Point for sure
Chris
 
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Sure looks good from here, the only thing I would add is I would probe it for tenderness not so much by temp to see when its done.
 
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Thanks y'all! I was pretty stoked.

smokerjim smokerjim I tried to test the tenderness with the probe, it raised up a little bit when pulling out, but I was afraid of it cooking too long. (Even tho I have no idea if I was near that mark or not being new). So I erred on the side of caution. I agree tho, next time I'm going to go by probe tenderness instead.
 
I agree , looks good .
I was afraid of it cooking too long.
That's a hard thing to over come , but you get there over time .
Never hurts to have a back up plan . Pack of hot dogs or some burgers .
 
  • Haha
Reactions: Zen
This was a fun run. This was only the second thing I've ever smoked. First was a whole chicken when I got my WSM 18" a few days ago.

I started by trimming a 13.5 USDA choice brisket. That was a chore and I was worried that I ruined it. I used some left over rubs. Mainly salt, pepper, paprika and garlic. Forgot to use mustard as a binder like I wanted to. Anywho, I let it sit in the fridge for 24 hrs.

View attachment 661649

Then I sparked up a full ring of JD XL briquettes with some mesquite and apple chunks. Seriously cannot wait until my chimney gets here because this part is a chore.

When it was ready at 275, I threw it on the WSM. Had some fluctuation since this is the first time I had attempted to get her to a certain temp and hold it. Honestly, it was a breeze with this WSM. It didnt take much adjusting to get it to stabilize and then it held 275 for the remaining 8 hours. Here's a pic of the half way mark.
View attachment 661650

At about the 5 hr mark I started spritzing every 45 ish minutes with a mix of water, soy sauce and Worcestershire. I didn't temp it until I felt the fat had rendered down quite a bit. It was at around 180.


I then wrapped a boat around the bottom side and put it back on. Accidentally scraped it when moving it to the foil.

View attachment 661651

At around the 9 hour mark, I took it off since it was 205 and to my new self, it felt like the fat was rendered enough.

Let it sit for 2 hours and then sliced it up. Everyone was starving.

View attachment 661652View attachment 661656


It was pretty good for a first time brisket. It had some rock hard parts at the bottom. There was fo sho some lessons that were learned. I will take my time to really get the silver skin all off and trim better, try to rest one for several hours, and next time I want to try a little lower and slower.

Hope everyone has a wonderful rest of your week!! ✌️💚
Try putting it on fat side down next time so the bottom won't get hard. I always put the fat side towards the heat source, otherwise it looks like you did a good job.
 
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Reactions: Zen
This was a fun run. This was only the second thing I've ever smoked. First was a whole chicken when I got my WSM 18" a few days ago.

I started by trimming a 13.5 USDA choice brisket. That was a chore and I was worried that I ruined it. I used some left over rubs. Mainly salt, pepper, paprika and garlic. Forgot to use mustard as a binder like I wanted to. Anywho, I let it sit in the fridge for 24 hrs.

View attachment 661649

Then I sparked up a full ring of JD XL briquettes with some mesquite and apple chunks. Seriously cannot wait until my chimney gets here because this part is a chore.

When it was ready at 275, I threw it on the WSM. Had some fluctuation since this is the first time I had attempted to get her to a certain temp and hold it. Honestly, it was a breeze with this WSM. It didnt take much adjusting to get it to stabilize and then it held 275 for the remaining 8 hours. Here's a pic of the half way mark.
View attachment 661650

At about the 5 hr mark I started spritzing every 45 ish minutes with a mix of water, soy sauce and Worcestershire. I didn't temp it until I felt the fat had rendered down quite a bit. It was at around 180.


I then wrapped a boat around the bottom side and put it back on. Accidentally scraped it when moving it to the foil.

View attachment 661651

At around the 9 hour mark, I took it off since it was 205 and to my new self, it felt like the fat was rendered enough.

Let it sit for 2 hours and then sliced it up. Everyone was starving.

View attachment 661652View attachment 661656


It was pretty good for a first time brisket. It had some rock hard parts at the bottom. There was fo sho some lessons that were learned. I will take my time to really get the silver skin all off and trim better, try to rest one for several hours, and next time I want to try a little lower and slower.

Hope everyone has a wonderful rest of your week!! ✌️💚
Hi there and welcome!

Seems like you did pretty well for 2nd smoker ever and 1st time brisket :D
To solve the rock hard parts issue, just cook fat side down since your heat source is coming from under. The fat will protect the meat from getting rock hard.

As for trimming, I wouldn't worry about the silver skin that stuff will crust up and burn away.
I don't trim much fat unless it is clearly more than 1/2 thick then I just cut it down some. I honestly spend no more than 30 seconds trimming fat off the top of the brisket.
HOWEVER, I do trim out the deckle fat and sometimes on the opposite side of the deckle, there is a big seam of fat that I cut a good chunk out of. That's it for all my fat trimming!

Now I DO trim away the thin portion flat muscle so that what is left of the flat is about uniform in thickness. That thin portion of the flat muscle will just burn up and be no good to eat so trim it away and I repurpose that good flat meat to stews, braised beef, roast, or whatever I need some long cooked beef for. It's also amazing as burger grind!
Because of this I always look for briskets in the 15 pound or higher weight since the flat will get trimmed a bit. Bigger briskets behave better :)

This picture will help explain what I mean about the flat muscle trimming:
full-png.png

Finally, know that a brisket is never done by time or temp. Only when it is tender. You know it is tender when you can stab it ALL OVER with something like a wooden kabob skewer and it goes in with like no resistance.
You can use temperature to tell you WHEN to start checking for tenderness. The thickest yet center most portion of the FLAT muscle is the best place to put your temp probe. At about 198-200F you can start checking for tenderness ALL OVER and then pull when it it is tender all over.

A beginner mistake is to put the temp probe into the POINT muscle or the only check for tenderness in the bigger POINT muscle. The point will always be tender and fool you. The FLAT is the one that is the problem and needs to really be checked for tenderness.

I hope this info helps :D
 
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