2nd Brisket on 22.5 WSM


 
MickHLR

MickHLR

TVWBB Fan
Been out of town for the past 4 weekends, and have been having withdrawals from smoking on the WSM...very painful. But, since Saturday was National Brisket Day, had to try my 2nd brisket on my 22.5 WSM. I think I'm getting the hang of it now, after years of smoking on an offset stickburner. I was never able to do a real low and slow on the stickburner, mainly because I just couldn't stay out there and babysit it for 14-16 hours. So, I normally smoked them at around 300*, and was normally finished in 8 hours. They were normally always good...but perfect only about once out of every 3-4 tries. When I got the WSM, I wanted to try low and slow...and tried several pork butts, ribs, and shoulders, at 225*-235* and they all turned out great. So, I tried my first brisket a couple months ago at 230*. It was good...but took 17 hours at 230* on the WSM. http://tvwbb.com/showthread.php?64533-First-Brisket-on-22-5-WSM

So, I was ready to try another one. The wife just happened to find our local Albertson's grocery store had briskets on sale for $1.47 a pound and picked up a couple. Well, it turns out these were USDA Choice CAB (certified Angus beef) briskets...for $1.47 a pound. I was ecstatic!

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So, I decided I was going to try smoking this one at 250*, to see the difference. I trimmed some of the fat cap, and always only use salt and pepper for beef rub. Then, put it on the WSM about 10:00pm, and went to bed.

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The next morning at 8:00am it was sitting on 180* internal...after 10 hours on the WSM. It was looking great! Especially after the last one I did at 230* was only at 165* internal after 10 hours, and had been stuck in the stall for between 6-7 hours. I loaded up a few double-handfuls of charcoal through the charcoal chute, and took the brisket off to wrap in the pink butcher paper for the rest of smoke.

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Two hours later, at 10:00am, I checked it and it had that great Jello-jiggly feel, so I temp probed all parts from the flat through the point and it was showing 201*-203* everywhere. So, I took it off, and let it rest on the counter for about 30 minutes while the internal temp cooled down some, as I didn't want to put it in an ice chest and let it continue cooking for a bit. A mistake I made last time. When the internal temp came down to about 180*, I put it in an ice chest to rest and hold the heat, for about 3 1/2 hours. When I unwrapped it, it looked and felt great to me.

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Even the flat was tender and juicy. Hard to see, as I had on a black heat glove below (yes, it was still that hot), and it was a bad angle, but it passed the finger test and pull test with flying colors. I'm just not good at holding the meat with one hand, while trying to shoot a pic with my phone with the other hand. The last brisket I cooked, the flat was a little tight, due to (I think) wrapping it in foil and putting it in an ice chest immediately after coming off the WSM, and it continued to cook, which made the flat a tad overdone. I also smoked that last one without wrapping at all, until I put it in the ice chest...as I did not want to use foil, and didn't have any butcher paper. But, even the flat on this one was about as good as you can get.

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The point was like butter. This was one of the best briskets I've ever smoked. I just wish I could do it this way every time. And, I think with the WSM, I will be able to come a lot closer to doing that every time. And, I'm sure this CAB brisket had a lot to do with it. The marbling was perfect, and when I first probed it and it felt like the tip was going through butter, I knew it was going to be a great cook.

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My plate. Yep, I eat great brisket with my hands...the central Texas way. Some of the old time barbecue joints in Texas don't even provide forks or sauce...as it should be. All I needed to go with it was a bowl of pinto beans. :)

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Thanks guys! I'm getting more used to the WSM now, and feel very confident with just about everything I cook on it. From the get-go, I just wanted to be able to duplicate the quality of meat I could smoke on my stick burner, with the ease of use of the WSM. And, I'm getting there. The WSM most definitely makes it easy...and I think I've about it got it dialed in to get the quality I was looking for. And, of course, being from Texas where beef is king, brisket and beef ribs are what I love to cook the most. So perfecting a brisket was high priority. Going to do some more beef ribs this coming weekend, and if they turn out as easy and good as the last ones I did on the WSM, I'll never turn back. It's a heckuva piece of equipment that can make anyone a barbecue guru.

After years and years of constantly adding wood, checking temps, and adjusting vents on other smokers, sometimes I feel guilty at how easy it is with the WSM. And, I can get the same smoky flavor from 7-8 fist-sized chunks of wood on a 12-hour cook that used to take 16-20 large (14"-16") splits in my stick burner. Add a temp controller to the mix, and it truly becomes set it and forget it...even in windy, wet, cold weather. It's amazing!
Sometimes I think you have to go through all that I have through the years when smoking meat to really appreciate how great a WSM is though. :wsm:
 
Mick, that thing looks Awesome! The fat in the point looks to be rendered perfectly and I can almost taste that bark just by lookin' at it. I may do one middle of next week. --Jeff
 
Thanks guys! It was a pretty good brisket, if I do say so myself. Did some pretty good beef ribs this past weekend, and have a 20 lb brisket I'm going to cook this coming weekend. My wife picked it up, and it's another USDA Choice CAB brisket. I've never cooked one that large in my life, as I try to stay around 14-15 lbs. So, we'll see what happens with this bad-boy! :) As always, I'm just so glad I finally decided to get the WSM, as it's the most amazing smoker I've ever seen. It basically takes all the guess work out of it, and does all the work. I've never been so relaxed with something on the smoker, and have never in my life been able to sleep all night with something on the smoker. As I get older, I look for easier, with everything. And, you just can't get much easier than smoking meat with a WSM.
 
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