- Jun 2, 2017
- 6
- 15
Hi everyone, I haven't posted in a while... I started law school and that put a damper (no pun intended) on my smoking. I've always been able to nail pork, chicken, ribs, and wings but I have always been fearful of brisket. I tried to smoke one last year and failed miserably. But this weekend I wanted to try again so I bought a 9 lbs. packer and set to work.
I use a vertical charcoal smoker, so maintaining temp is a challenge, but I seem to work better with a beer in hand. In the picture below you will notice that I replaced the stock charcoal pan with a grill basket to improve airflow. I put the charcoal pan underneath to catch the ash. There is a water pan right under the meat, but I put an aluminum pan overtop of that to catch the fat drippings. I used Cowboy hardwood charcoal and mesquite wood chips for this smoke.
Didn't trim the fat, rubbed with my own rub recipe and put it on fat side up. I went through 5 alumninum packets of wood chips over 15 hours for this smoke. I maintained a temp between 210 and 240 the whole time. Here's the time table:
4:37 AM- Brisket on
8:37 AM- Put thermometer in, Flat @ 140, Point @ 160, refilled water pan
10:37 AM- Flat- 150, welcome to the stall
11:37 AM- Flat- 150
12:37 PM- Flat- 153
1:37 PM- Flat- 154, point- 165, wrapped in foil and put mop water (1 cup water, 1 stick butter, rub) into foil with brisket, refilled water pan
2:37 PM- Flat- 168, out of the stall
3:37 PM- Flat 179
4:37 PM- Flat 190
5:37 PM- Flat 194, point 200
6:37 PM- Flat 201
7:30 PM- Flat 205, probe test worked, pulled and wrapped in foil and towels in dry box for 1.5 hours
9:00- Ate
All in all, I was happy with this brisket. 15 hours was way longer than I had planned for, but it was worth it. Moist meat, great flavor, and a decent smoke ring. Next time I will try a better cut of meat though since I have some confidence. Thanks to everyone for all of the advice that I picked up on here. Got a beer can chicken on right now and plan to smoke a Boston butt and baby backs on July 4. Happy 4th!
I use a vertical charcoal smoker, so maintaining temp is a challenge, but I seem to work better with a beer in hand. In the picture below you will notice that I replaced the stock charcoal pan with a grill basket to improve airflow. I put the charcoal pan underneath to catch the ash. There is a water pan right under the meat, but I put an aluminum pan overtop of that to catch the fat drippings. I used Cowboy hardwood charcoal and mesquite wood chips for this smoke.
Didn't trim the fat, rubbed with my own rub recipe and put it on fat side up. I went through 5 alumninum packets of wood chips over 15 hours for this smoke. I maintained a temp between 210 and 240 the whole time. Here's the time table:
4:37 AM- Brisket on
8:37 AM- Put thermometer in, Flat @ 140, Point @ 160, refilled water pan
11:37 AM- Flat- 150
12:37 PM- Flat- 153
1:37 PM- Flat- 154, point- 165, wrapped in foil and put mop water (1 cup water, 1 stick butter, rub) into foil with brisket, refilled water pan
2:37 PM- Flat- 168, out of the stall
3:37 PM- Flat 179
4:37 PM- Flat 190
5:37 PM- Flat 194, point 200
6:37 PM- Flat 201
7:30 PM- Flat 205, probe test worked, pulled and wrapped in foil and towels in dry box for 1.5 hours
9:00- Ate
All in all, I was happy with this brisket. 15 hours was way longer than I had planned for, but it was worth it. Moist meat, great flavor, and a decent smoke ring. Next time I will try a better cut of meat though since I have some confidence. Thanks to everyone for all of the advice that I picked up on here. Got a beer can chicken on right now and plan to smoke a Boston butt and baby backs on July 4. Happy 4th!
