Thinking of starting a brisket the night before, tips?

[megabrisket]

So here's what I'm thinking. I don't want to get up real early and I'd like to know for sure I'm going to have enough time to rest/hold the brisket to eat at a decent time. I thought about starting it at about 10pm right before bed the night before, then wrapping it in the morning. I'm using an MES 30, and I just got the AMNPS so I thought that would last most if not all night. I'm wondering if I should set it at 225 and let it go or lower? If I got up at 6, that's 8 hours and I just wonder if it would be nearly done going at 225. I've always wrapped my briskets but I guess if it finished unwrapped that's fine, I just don't want it to get overdone. Anyways, I haven't decided if I'll try this yet but I wanted to throw it on here and see what you guys think. It will probably end up being 10 -10.5 lb's after trimming, it's 11.5 now.
Another quick question, I can squeeze it in my MES 30 but it will touch the sides at the start however I know it will shrink. I usually cut them in half and only smoke one at a time but I thought about doing the whole thing at once. What are your guys thoughts on it touching the sides to start with?

 

[browneyesvictim]

I haven't been able to fit a full packer in my MES30 without cutting it down like you have. It would be an awful small brisket or one trimmed down a whole lot for it to fit and not touch and pushing hard against the sides.

I haven't done it yet but I have considered using butcher twine to truss it well then hang it vertically. Still don't know if it would fit long ways.

 

[Traeger.Rage.BBQ]

I had a Masterbuilt propane that I put many briskets in touching two sides. Made a horrible mess every time. I wasn’t popular with my Bride. I am not familiar with the internals of the MES related to the drippings. That was the issue most noticeably for me when doing brisket in the verticals chamber without an adequate drip system to account for the drippings along the surface of the smoker.

As for over night smoking, this is the only technique I use. The propane smoker I had would extentguish the chunk setup I modified it with in almost a perfect 6 hour increment. On the occasions I didn’t get up to manage the chunk replacement the results were still fantastic with nice bark and beautiful smoke rings. So your alternate smoke source finishing out should be noticeable if your reloading it first thing in the morning.

With the advent of these alternative smoke generators I encourage you to let it cook while you rest. But we’re all enthusiasts so not ‘managing’ your smoke does take some of the fun away from it. I usually smoke brisket for 18-20 hours utilizing the largest brisket I can locate. I typically start it at the time I want to eat the following day with a generous wrapped rest period and pulling it at 190-192 cooked naked. With my current rig I start the smoke at 180 degrees and step it up to 225 after I wake the next day.

Happy smoking, looking forwards to your results!

Pat

 

[Mattyt7]

it might be a good idea to set an alarm for the middle of the night just to check on things and decide if you’re ready to wrap or need to let it go til morning before wrapping. At 225, it shouldn’t be done after 8 hours. Mine usually take 12-14 hours at that temp. I wrap in butcher paper though, so if you wrap in foil it will speed things up from my timeline.

As for touching the sides, check out SmokinAl’s thread on brisket burgers (sorry, I’m on a phone so searching, copying, and pasting links is a real work out for the fingers!). The part relevant to you is that he’s separated the point and trimmed the flat up pretty tight in order to have uniform thickness through out the flat. By doing so, I would think you could fit without touching the sides and you don’t have to waste all the meat you trimmed by grinding it into burgers instead!

 

[megabrisket]

Ya I thought about trimming a good portion of the flat to make it uniform and saving the rest for burgers. Only problem for me getting up in the middle of the night is I'm in a wheel chair and it's kind of a hassle and I'd wake my wife up lol. Normally mine finish in about 8 hours but I usually find myself wrapping after 5 which does indeed speed things up. Also cutting in half like I usually do probably speeds things up a bit too. Even though it's the same thickness, I suppose just being larger altogether just takes longer.

 

[gmc2003]

If it's only touching the sides a little - you can prop the center of the brisket up with a foiled soda can or something similar. When it does shrink down remove the can and let it lay flat.

Good luck and let us know what you decide.

Chris

 

[bdskelly]

Typically when I put a brisket that size on the MES @225 around 10pm I see an IT at 7 am the nest morning of 165 to 175. The IT hits 200 sometime around 1 or 2 that afternoon.
They all vary a bit but that is how I plan for dinner time. B

 

[megabrisket]

Typically when I put a brisket that size on the MES @225 around 10pm I see an IT at 7 am the nest morning of 165 to 175. The IT hits 200 sometime around 1 or 2 that afternoon.
They all vary a bit but that is how I plan for dinner time. B

That's about the perfect time to wrap. Thanks.

 

[megabrisket]

With my current rig I start the smoke at 180 degrees and step it up to 225 after I wake the next day.

Pat

Rereading through this since I'm planning on doing this tonight and noticed you said you start at 180. Does that get the meat out of the "danger zone" fast enough? I was thinking of going with 200 on the smoker since I'd like to put it on at 10 and sleep till 7 if I can. I worry 225 might get it up there a little faster than I want. Ideally I'm wanting to wrap it when I get up at 7 but I will have a wireless alarm set in case it hits 165 sooner.

 

[Traeger.Rage.BBQ]

I have a PID controller on my Traeger. During the winter on smoke mode, the only way to actually get good smoke quality it is a low of 180 in winter temps and could be above 200 in summer temps. I leave it on this swing setting that is a timer on the auger and fan. It swings as opposed to a fixed number. If I dial the temp then it will control the auger or fan to maintain and exact.

I don’t wrap but I think your guesyimate for 200 to hit 165 in 9 hours is pretty spot on.

The controller I have doesn’t produce enough smoke for me at anything 200 or up and we prefer a strong smoke flavor.

Pat

 

[k0Ne]

I've done one over night in the MES. I'd say just start it earlier so you can keep adding wood. Then once you wrap you can go-to bed no problem.

 

[megabrisket]

I've done one over night in the MES. I'd say just start it earlier so you can keep adding wood. Then once you wrap you can go-to bed no problem.

I'm using the AMNPS tray so I won't be adding anything. I just lit it now for the first time :). I crushed a charcoal briquette up and sprinkled it throughout the AMNPS pellets to hopefully give me a smoke ring as someone suggested. I did a similar thing when I did ribs a few weeks ago and it works great! I just didn't have the AMNPS. One thing about my smoker is it can't go all the way on the bottom so I'm setting it on the bottom tray. I wonder if I should put foil over the next tray up to block it from drippings or if drippings would actually help flavor the meat?

 

[k0Ne]

I don't think the foil will make any difference taste wise. I use at least 2 charcoals per load to get a decent ring but I load once an hour. Not sure if 1 briquette still does the job but let us know!

 

[megabrisket]

So far so good. Woke up and it was at 169 but I think it was stalled. Initially after wrapping it's dropped to 164 so I think we're about to start going back up. Also I think I will move the drip pan up a rack next time and put the AMNPS under it to protect it. I got a good smoke out of it but the drippings cause the pellets to burst open and it put them out.

Edit: So It's already at 195 at 10:40. I'm wondering how long you guys think it will hold wrapped in a towel in a cooler? I'm serving it around 5 or 6pm tonight. Would it be better to pop it in the over at a super low temp? Leave it in the smoker at a super low temp like 150? Or wrap it and put it in a cooler?

 

[megabrisket]

So now I'm kind of at a loss for what to do. The brisket hit 199 and felt pretty good but needed to go a bit more. The temp started dropping after I checked it and I didn't notice for maybe 45 min that the smoker shut off and now it's down to 192. Should I go ahead and bring it back up and try to hit 201 or should I just go ahead and rest it? It feels tender but there's still slight resistance on the probe.

 

[gmc2003]

Pop it in the oven to finish it. It's not going to gain anything more from the smoker at that internal temp.

Chris

 

[megabrisket]

Should be okay to go ahead and bring it back up I guess?

 

[gmc2003]

Yup shouldn't be a problem. Remember temp is only going to get in the ballpark. Probe the brisket with toothpick or something similar to know for sure when it's done. Your looking for very little to no resistance.

Chris

 

[megabrisket]

Update: So the brisket turned out good, not perfect but really good. Sorry I didn't take pics this time, everything was pretty hectic. One thing I think I'll do different with the AMNPS is put it lower, under my water pan. It got dripped on which put it out for one, and I also don't think it got good enough air flow because what did burn didn't leave behind white ash. It didn't leave a terrible smoke taste like I've had in the past but it was a bit off. I wonder if taking the chip loader all the way out would be too much air? When I do the smoke just starts streaming straight out of the top, not necessarily heavier, just faster like it's getting getting really nice air moving. It doesn't seem the affect temps in the cooker too much so I may try it next time. The brisket was tender and juicy on the point and the flat was tender and somewhat moist, not super dry. It was a prime brisket but it wasn't very well marbled. Thanks for all the tips guys, next time I'll try to not be so busy where I can take pics like I did with the ribs.