Recommendations for my first Brisket

[Jordan Stearns]

Hello, I am wanting to make a brisket this weekend and it will be my first one. I am looking for recommendations on how to cook it on my Pit Boss pellet grill/smoker. I have a rub ready and will apply it and let it sit in the fridge overnight. The brisket I have is a cut around 3.75 lbs I got at a local country store. What should I be looking at for total time on the smoker and how should I go about smoking it? Just throw it on the smoker till it hits a specific temp then pull it off and wrap it in foil? Any feedback would be greatly appreciated!

 

[ristau5741]

at 3.75 you probably sounds like you just got a flat, they should take no time at all. My logs show 2 4lb flats at 240 take about 7 hours. so you should be right in around there. some smoke all the way through like I do, some wrap in butcher paper at 160 and finish up in the smoker to temp ~205, the others will take it off and put it in the oven once wrapped , to finish since when wrapped in foil, no more smoke flavor will be added.

get your smoke up to temp, insert the probes, and put the meat in the smoker, add smoke. find some yard work to do so you can get things done while you keep an eye on the smoker. (oh, that's for me, I have stick burner).

 

[Jordan Stearns]

Thanks!

 

[bregent]

Just throw it on the smoker till it hits a specific temp then pull it off and wrap it in foil?

I would never recommend smoking a brisket to a specific temp. Briskets can become tender over a wide range of temperatures - smoke it until the point it becomes probe tender.
Also, the brisket flat you have is probably well trimmed and may dry out if cooked in the smoker without moisture. I'd use Al's procedure or similar: https://www.smokingmeatforums.com/threads/brisket-flat-my-way.277499/

 

[Jordan Stearns]

So I tried and learned what not to do this weekend with the smoker. I have some experimentation to do with the pellet smoker/grill. Basically the temp it reaches when set to smoke is around 190 and may reach 200. They have a "P" setting with P0 to P7. Default is P4 and as you adjust the P setting closer to 7, it increases the time that the augur is off resultsing is more smoke but less heat. I adjusted this a few times but I will experiment to find a good setting to keep the temp up around 225 if it can do it.

I put the brisket on with the ribs around 9:30 am, did the 3-2-1 method for the ribs and they came out tasting great but didn't have that fall off the bone texture but they were juicy. The brisket took a lot longer than expected, probably because of the lower temp for the smoke setting so we just ate the ribs for dinner. Once the brisket hit 165 I wrapped it, added some braising liquid that I had been basting it with and cooked it till it hit 203, pulled it and let it set for an hour but it was dry, at least on the end that I started on.

I will try the method that bregent mentioned for the next one. What is meant by "probe tender"? What should I be looking for?

 

[BB-que]

So I tried and learned what not to do this weekend with the smoker. I have some experimentation to do with the pellet smoker/grill. Basically the temp it reaches when set to smoke is around 190 and may reach 200. They have a "P" setting with P0 to P7. Default is P4 and as you adjust the P setting closer to 7, it increases the time that the augur is off resultsing is more smoke but less heat. I adjusted this a few times but I will experiment to find a good setting to keep the temp up around 225 if it can do it.

I put the brisket on with the ribs around 9:30 am, did the 3-2-1 method for the ribs and they came out tasting great but didn't have that fall off the bone texture but they were juicy. The brisket took a lot longer than expected, probably because of the lower temp for the smoke setting so we just ate the ribs for dinner. Once the brisket hit 165 I wrapped it, added some braising liquid that I had been basting it with and cooked it till it hit 203, pulled it and let it set for an hour but it was dry, at least on the end that I started on.

I will try the method that bregent mentioned for the next one. What is meant by "probe tender"? What should I be looking for?

Join the club with struggling with your first brisket. Actually my first was better than my second. I’m learning what probe tender means, but I can tell you by the time my below slid in like warm Butter, it was over cooked. I’m still looking for the right feel - next time. And if that doesn’t happen then the time after that