My first Brisket!


 
J

Jennifer

TVWBB Member
I've successfully barbecued/smoked ribs, pork butt & chicken; all I have left now (of the big four) is brisket.

I will smoke this on my Mini WSM so I need some advice on what I should smoke. I know it takes a 22.5" WSM or UDS to do a full sized brisket, but what should I do since I have limited space on my Mini WSM?

I am guessing I should do a whole point. But what should I do about the flat? What part of the flat should I use or buy?

Should I just buy a whole brisket and cut it in half?

Any advice would be greatly appreciated thanks!
 
I've fit a 12 pound packer on my 18" WSM. A little bit of a tight fit at first, but after it gets cooking it shrinks down a little bit.
 
Hi Jennifer, You can do a point or flat, shouldnt matter,I got mine at the supermarket, it was a 3.25 ponud point for about 18 dollars, if you look at my post the pictures should tell you alot, but what i did is wrap at 160 in HD aluminum foil with plenty of beef broth to let it finish, it finished at about 200, probe tender, the whole process was about 4.5 hours at 250, 2.5 hours naked, 2 hours foiled in the beef broth, wish you luck.
 
Hi Jennifer,

I've been cooking 20+pound briskets on my 18.5" for a while now with good results. Two techniques you might consider on your mini. I've used both successfully. Occasionally both at the same time:

1. Tie the long ends of the brisket with butchers twine so it forms a U. This will get the ends of the brisket away from the edge of the smoker and beyond the heat wall.
2. Foil the tips of the brisket. If you like you can remove the foil after the brisket's shrunk during the cook.

Have no fear....


Jennifer said:
I've successfully barbecued/smoked ribs, pork butt & chicken; all I have left now (of the big four) is brisket.

I will smoke this on my Mini WSM so I need some advice on what I should smoke. I know it takes a 22.5" WSM or UDS to do a full sized brisket, but what should I do since I have limited space on my Mini WSM?

I am guessing I should do a whole point. But what should I do about the flat? What part of the flat should I use or buy?

Should I just buy a whole brisket and cut it in half?

Any advice would be greatly appreciated thanks!
Click to expand...
 
Jennifer said:
By any chance do you have a picture of how you tied your brisket into a U shape?
Click to expand...

Sorry. No. Wish I did. Maybe this will help. Here's the basic idea of how to do it.

A brisket kind of looks like a triangle with one of the points cut off.

- Take about 5 or 6 feet of butcher's string. This is probably a lot more than you're going to need but first time you don't want to run short.

- Pinch the twine in the middle.

- Arrange your brisket so the pointier end is at the top and the flatter (base) is at the bottom. I do this with the fat side down and do the full cook fat side down.

- Put the middle of your twine (the part you pinched) on top of your brisket about an inch or two above the base. The "pinched" part is now pointing toward the top of your brisket and resting about two inches above the bottom or base of your brisket..

- Take the other two ends of twine. Wrap them underneath your brisket and draw them toward and past the top.

- Now. Loop (encircle) both ends around the top (pointed section).

- Get the ends so they're snug but not tight and pull them toward the base and underneath the pinch at the bottom of your meat.

- Now, pull both ends of the twine away from you toward the top, using the pinch to create tension, and gradually increase that tension until the brisket starts to bend in the middle.

- The top end of the brisket will start to bend toward you and you'll reach a point where it either won't bend anymore, or the twine will start to tear into the meat.

- Based on feel you'll know when to stop.

- Once you've gone as far as you need/want/can take the ends of the twine you've been pulling toward you and loop them around the "pinch". Be careful to maintain the tension that's causing the brisket to bend.

- Knot off your line and you're ready to go.


Not sure when your cook is but I'm getting ready to do a 22 - 24 lb in two weeks. I could take some pictures then if you like.
 
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No problem. Keep an eye peeled on Friday the 26th. I'll probably start that cook around Noon Eastern. Since we're a touch off topic I think I'll start a new thread.

Something like: How to cook a 22lb brisket in an 18.5" WSM.
 
I have an 18" WSM and regularly do large briskets as well. I just take three bricks, wrap 'em in aluminum foil and drape the brisket over top of them. When it hits 160-165 it will have shrunk enough that I can remove the bricks and it'll sit on the grate without a problem.



 
Great idea. That sure works for me. I bet those bricks act as a nice heat sink to help control the temperature too.

Not 100% sure if it would work in Jennifer's mini given the size but.... wow.... great idea.

Is that one brisket or two in the middle picture?
 
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That's the one brisket from the first photo. I was very aggressive in trimming off the hard fat between the flat and point on this bad boy. The third photo was a different brisket but it was about the same size when started and cooked over the exact same bricks. Basically these are overnight cooks and when I wake up in the morning I lift the lid, remove the bricks and make sure everything still looks good.
 
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