Starting my Brisket soon...

[chris a]

How's it going everyone,
I'm starting my first brisket in a few hours. I've been reading a lot of things in the forums about what I'm suppose to do. My first question is the Mop. What's the ingredents for a good mop and when do i apply it? The second question I have is how much smoke time should there be? My smoker seems to have some issues with the amount of time it smokes smoke. I have the BBQ Grillware Propane Smoker and I've modified it to the point where it'll smoke for about an hour to an hour and a 1/4, but I've read that you should stop the smoke after certain amount of time to avoid oversmoking. I'm using Hickory chips and chunks for wood if that helps any. As you all can tell I'm new to the smoking clan, so any advise and help would be appreciated.
Here's what I have going on-

5.9 Pound Brisket dry rubbed for about 12 hours.
Hickory chips and chunks and Mesquite for wood.
Corn (I'm going to try the smoked corn recipe on the site).

 

[pigcicles]

Hi Chris, Good luck with your brisket. You'll do fine with it.

As for a mop, I don't mop my briskets. Some will spritz with a juice mixture sometimes mixed with a rum. Most of the time that is best with pork. If you are using a rub, I would recommend keeping it simple on your first shot and go from there.

With a propane unit an hour or so with smoke coming out is about right. Remember you don't want thick smoke. You want a Thin Blue Smoke ( TBS ) almost invisible blue smoke.

As for when to stop putting smoke to the meat... That is a personal preference. As long as you keep the smoke thin you shouldn't over smoke your meat. The smoke ring will stop forming when your meat reaches about 140º, but will take on smoke flavor through out the entire cook.

Cook your brisket to an internal temp of about 160ish then wrap in foil until it gets to about 190º or so ... again personal preference some will go up to 200º or even 205º.

Don't worry about the time of the cook, but the temperature of the meat. It's done when it's done.

Hope this helps you out some.

 

[ba_loko]

Good morning, Chris.

As a general rule of thumb, plan on the meat being on the smoker for approximately 1 1/2 hours per pound. When the internal temperature of the meat hits 145, you can stop adding the wood as the meat will no longer take additional flavoring from the wood. I would recommend that you either smoke the brisket in a disposable foil pan, or have the pan below the brisket to catch the drippings for later. As for mopping, I spritz apple juice about every 45 minutes with the first spritzing applied 1 hour into the smoke. Once the brisket has reached a temp of 160, put it in foil and return to the smoker (or oven) until it reaches 190 for slicing, or 200 for chopping.

If it were me I'd stick with only the hickory. I recommend that you don't put too much of any wood in there at any time as you'll have way too much smoke pouring through the chamber and it will put creosote, etc on your meats and corn.

Take lots of pictures and share them with us.

Good luck!

 

[bbq bubba]

Excellent info from Pig.........keep it simple and use either the hickory OR the mesquite but not both, to strong together. My preference is mesquite with brisket (should be a law) but keep the smoke thin!
As i told you last nite, start checking around 185ish with a probe or fork, when it SLIDES in, it's done. You master that and you will be rewarded!!

 

[chris a]

Thanks for the advise. I didn't know about the thin blue smoke. I assumed that you needed grey smoke for it to be effected. Thank you.

 

[chris a]

I'll be starting in about an hour or two. It's my lady's b-day so I have to do what she want's for a while.

But after that it's on!!! I'll sent pic's as i go. Again, thanks for everyone's help.

 

[gypsyseagod]

good luck w/ the brisket. looking forward to the Qview.

 

[pigcicles]

BTW Chris - Don't forget that you may encounter a stall in your cook that might add as much as a couple hours or so... depending on the particular piece of meat.

Don't touch that gas knob.

That time is when the collagen is breaking down making your meat tender and tastey.

Remember if you have any questions during your cook come right back here and ask away. Someone will be here to help you out.

 

[chris_harper]

Wrong! When the meat hits ~140°, the smoke ring quits forming. The meat takes the flavor from the smoke the whole time it is exposed to it.

I would not mix hickory and mesquite either. I use mesquite, as i don't care for hickory. pecan is good too. Mixing a little pecan with mesquite or oak is pretty good too.

 

[bbq bubba]

Wrong! When the meat hits ~140°, the smoke ring quits forming. The meat takes the flavor from the smoke the whole time it is exposed to it

Nice catch Chris!!

 

[chris_harper]

Thanks, Bubba. Pigs said it in his first reply, but I didn't want the new Chris to think, "Which one do i believe, one person says one thing, someone else says something different".

Folks, the meat does take on the smoke flavor the whole time it is exposed to it.

 

[chris a]

Here's the brisket along with my equipment and area. I'll post more along the way.

 

[ba_loko]

My bad. Thanks for the catch, Chris!

 

[bbq bubba]

Hey Chris, nice set-up, impressed that ya can post pic's........but please tell me that's a porch your on and not enclosed........grease WILL be dripping out of your smoker, cover the carpet, look's like a lot of fire hazards there but i'm a wory wart.......be safe bro!!!

 

[chris a]

Yes, it's a porch. It's not enclosed. Don't worry, I have a pan for the smoker and a fire extinguisher. More pic's soon, hopefully not of a burnt down patio!!!

 

[hawgheaven]

Good luck Chris, you got some great advice here... follow it and you'll do fine!

 

[smokeys my pet]

Remember SAFETY FIRST, Good luck and will be waiting for the Q-View!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[pigcicles]

Okay Chris... How did it come out? You're surely not still smoking that thing. Let's see those pics

or at least hear about how it came out.

 

[gypsyseagod]

i may not be able to wait until x-mas... man need brisket now- whoo whoo whoo....

 

[cman95]

Man I hope your brisket turned out good. After all the advise here I am sure it did. By the way I like your outdoor kitchen setup. I plan to start one as soon as I get back to the states. Shhhh....my Christmas gift to myelf.