Timing for brisket

[kwandtke]

So I'm doing a brisket ... it's package weight is just over 15lbs .. so have not trimmed it yet. I'm looking for time calc's .. I mean .. guests tomorrow at 530 (as in 1730) .. I'd like to pull at ....4? ish .. . cooking at like 250 (last brisket I did came out well but due to a rather unexpected blizzard I ended up doing that one in my oven) .. anyway .. I'm a little paranoid about time .. early days meat was not done .. then I did a butt and it cooked fater then all git out .. tasted great but was done early . Thats when I first did the wrap and put in cooler thing but always worried about ending up with warm meat .. so ..

One of you pit masters .. I'm betting you'd fire off a time .. I'm thinking about 1:00 am ... is that too early?

 

[noboundaries]

I hate smoking against a clock because meat can be ornery. I've got a 14 lb as-yet-untrimmed brisket I'll throw on my WSM tonight around 9 or 10 pm. 225F overnight, will stall in about 3-4 hours, then be at the end of the stall to 180F IT when I check it around 7 AM. Probably going to foil wrap this one then because I'm running out of smoky au jus. I will crank up the heat to 275F to finish 2-4 hours later. Into the cooler until needed for lunch or an early dinner.

I know that's not what you're looking for, but it is always better to finish early than late with Q.

 

[Chasdev]

Better too early than too late, you can hold a cooked brisket at 160 for many hours and it just gets more tender.

 

[thirdeye]

I'm thinking your timeline would barely work, but pulling at 4 would only give you an hour and a half to rest. What about cheating the clock and starting at 1100 hrs? The worst it would do is give you a longer rest, which is good with brisket. Even if it tendered up earlier, rest for a few hours and go into a 170* oven to bring the temp up.

 

[PulledPorkSandwich]

I'm cooking a brisket right now myself. It weighed in at just over 15 pounds, and I probably trimmed around a pound of fat off it, maybe a bit more. I've always had trouble timing a brisket cook too, but as others have said, finishing early is way better than finishing too late.

I put mine on at 4:30 pm today, planning to eat at 4:00 pm tomorrow. I'm hopeful I can pull it off at noonish tomorrow, then wrap it in foil and towels and put it in a cooler until it's time to carve and eat it. I've had briskets take more than 24 hours to reach 203 degrees. Others have taken 14-16 hours.

Good luck with your cook.

 

[Ardy]

My last two 16+lbers took about 15 hours and I just did a 20lb'er today that took 16 hours. I run 200F for about 9 hours and then bump to 225F. Wrap at 160F IT. Today I was tracking to be done earlier than I wanted so I kept dropping the temp back down to 200F until I got to 3 hours before dinner. Pulled, wrapped up and in the cooler.

 

[noboundaries]

Loaded packer at 9:30 pm. Light trim. About 13 lbs of packer left. Smoker cruising along at 225F. Mesquite log buried in the charcoal. Almost bedtime.

 

[schlotz]

Ok, so how is it progressing, kwandtke ?

 

[noboundaries]

I can share mine, but interested in the OP.

 

[kwandtke]

Ok, so how is it progressing, kwandtke ?

OK .. sorry for the tardy response .. and first thanks to all the feedback.

First thing is I now know, am comfortable saying .. I can do brisket. I mean I knew I could do pork .. I love a pork shoulder .. I've done many and love the results .. but brisket .. thats the peak right? The challenge? I've done a few but Monday I decided I can do this because I ran into some issues and worked thru them. My process worked fine .. my timing was pretty good. I use an IQ120 on a Kamado .. now some don't feel you need that but I like the control. I dialed that baby into 250 and it went and stayed there. Everything was working .. a few hrs in I hit the stall .. took my butcher paper and wrapped that baby up .. put it back on ... it started back up .. At one point I went to check water in the trays .. I heard that was supposed to help .. thats when I made my error. My Kamado Joe is a classic .. the old style wheel vent on the top .. and when I opened it it flpped wide and I totally missed it. I'm going to blame it on my dog. He just had knee surgery (blew out his ACL) .. so he can not go out except for a on a leash .. it was like 3 am or something .. he wanted out so I took him and got distracted. Checked the water pan and missed the top vent. Went back in and a bit later noticed .. temp was like going way hi .. what the heck? After hrs of 250 on the nose .. well I go out and there is smoke shooting out the top like a locomotive .. and for those who do not have a Kamado .. as good as they are .. the one thing you can not do easily is cool them down. So I ran in .. set the oven to 250 and moved my brisket inside. Now .. I figured I got a bunch of smoke .. at this point it being wrapped all it needed was more hrs cooking. Long story short it finished about 2 pm .. I pulled and wrapped it in towels and into the cooler.. about 430 we ate and it was great .. some of the flat a little dry.. I try to buy a brisket where the flat still has good thickness at the end .. does not slim down to a point as that always seems to get dry . This one ,I think due to the time at hi temp , did get a little drier than I'd like toward that end but the rest was really good. slice had the bend .. and pulled apart .. My son-in-law is my main test guy .. he rated it "fantastic" so I'm pleased

Thanks again it's always good to have some feedback ....