Newbiew - 2 Briskets

[Puzzle]

Hi Everyone,

I recently purchased this bad boy and am quite happy with its results: https://www.lowes.com/pd/Masterbuilt-MES-230G-Bluetooth-Digital-Electric-Smoker/1000386171

I tried some pork loins and sausage last week and it was a piece of cake, just set them and and a couple of hours later they were done.

I now want to try cooking 2 briskets but have done some research and see that this is a quite more challenging endeavor.

My smoker has 4 racks and is only 30 inches so i believe I'll have to cut both packer cut briskets down the middle. I'll then be left with 2 points and 2 flats, one for each rack.

My question is how should i position these? points on bottom two racks and flats on top two? and how long should this take to cook? is it even feasible to load so much on to a smoker? Should I inject the brisket with brine prior to seasoning? What about water in the pan and vinegar? Also I read that I only need to add wood chips the first 5 hours. Please feel free to share your recipes and experience.

So many questions! Any guidance is much appreciated.

Thanks in advance.

 

[gmc2003]

I'm not a MES user so someone with more experience will chime in at some point.

First: are you sure you'll have to separate? You might be able to put a foiled wrapped brick or can under the center of the brisket to help it fit, or maybe just trim a little of piece off the end of the flat. The brisket will shrink during the cook. If you do wind up splitting them I would put the points on top racks then the flats below.

Second: How long it takes to cook depends on your temps and size of the brisket.

Third: Injecting is a personal preference. Sometime I do sometime I don't. Basically it's how I feel that day.

Fourth: From what I've read. No water is needed in the MES.

Fifth: You'll be adding wood chips every 45mins. or so. The desired smokeyness is entirely up to your taste buds. I apply smoke until I wrap it in foil.

Look into Bearcarvers step by steps. It's located in his signature. He has a brisket or two listed and is the MES guru around here.

Good luck.

Chris

 

[Puzzle]

Thanks for the info, this is very useful, especially the brick part.

I looked up bearcarvers but did not find any threads related to to MES.

What am I doing wrong?

Cool recipes btw

 

[Thomas The Tank]

I’ve just done packers whole in my mes 30. I’ve read elsewhere that you can put one of the racks up the side and put the brisket in and L sharp without cutting it. I may try this someday but you can only do 1.

I’ve always cut a part of the flat off and put them in at a later time.

Here is a pic of one I cut. It was a pretty big brisket almost 14lb so if you are dealing with 10-11lb you may not have to cut as much off as I did. It turned out great.

 

[TomKnollRFV]

https://www.smokingmeatforums.com/threads/bears-step-by-step-index.159333/

Bear's guides are for the MES. He's the local MES guru as far as I'm concerned.

I can tell you from personal experience that adding water to the MES Will infact stall out any brisket and potentionally ruin your cook... as I did it the first time around with my first brisket and had an over 30 hour session to get it done.

As for loading that much in? It is. As long as it fits, you can cook it. Additional thermal mass will just means a bit longer to cook. I applaud you even attempting brisket so soon, as Brisket is considered the 'hardest' of BBQs. A view I do not believe is appropriate.

Just remember you need to trim it well and there is no magic Internal Temperature at which to yoink brisket. 205f is not the pull temp, that is the probe temp. When your probing device goes through like knife through butter, both hot, you have hit the desired point. <I just use an instant read thermometer to test. Some use a tooth pick, you get the idea>.

Welcome Aboard from WI :)

 

[gmc2003]

Thanks for the info, this is very useful, especially the brick part.

I looked up bearcarvers but did not find any threads related to to MES.

What am I doing wrong?

Cool recipes btw

Quite a few members include direct links to either cooks their proud of or step-by-steps in their signatures. For example I've listed individual cooks in mine as does SmokinAl, Bearcarver has it listed as Bear's step-by-steps(or something similar) and Chili has it as an index. There are others who do similar. It's a quick way to find certain items.

Chris