Brisket and Butt overnight questions


 
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Michael Vrobel

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I'm planning on cooking a brisket overnight this weekend, and was thinking that doing a pork butt at the same time would be a good idea.

I've ordered an 8-10lb brisket. My questions are:
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<LI> How long should I expect to cook the brisket? I've seen numbers from 1hr/lb to 2hr/lb; what have people been seeing with the WSM?
<LI> I'm assuming I cook the brisket to 185*F. Correct?
<LI> What size Pork Butt should I get to cook in about the same amount of time?
<LI> How long can I expect them to keep, wrapped in foil and stored in a cooler? I'm going to serve them 3hrs or more after I'm done cooking them. What should I watch for when doing this?

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And are there any other questions I should be asking that I'm not? I?ve never done an overnight cook before; I?ve always finished my briskets in the oven. Any information that's good to know?

Thanks.

Mike


[This message has been edited by Michael Vrobel (edited 09-04-2001).]
 
Mike,
In my experience, both take about 2 hours per pound, with larger cuts - Brisket 10+ pounds and Butt 7+ pounds.

Start your fire and your brisket first. Add your butt a couple hours later. If you timed it right, your butt will get done first and allow you plenty of time to cool, carve, pull, whatever, while your brisket continues cooking.

Wrap your finished product in foil, then wrap that in a heavy towel. Should keep warm for a fair amount of time. However, 3-4 hours runs the risk of dipping below 140 degrees, which means you could be making folks sick. I would tend to keep in fridge until time to slowly reheat.

Other option is to time your cooking closer to serving time.

good luck

Dale
 
Hello Mike,
I just did a butt overnight this past weekend. The key to my sucess was the Minion method, but I think I did have a bit too much fuel. The temps were at 260 when I went to bed. They were at 238 when I woke up and checked it 5 hours later, and 230 when I eventually pulled it off. I cooked to 190 internal and wrapped it in foil for about 45 min before pulling it. It basically fell apart as I was pulling it! Total cooking time was around 14 hours for a seven pound boneless butt. I pulled the meat, made a sandwich for myself and my wife, and put the rest in the refrigerater. The next day I heated it up in the oven slowly and served it at the picnic we were at. It got rave reviews!
The only thing that I would do differently is use less fuel. I got 14 hours out of it and my WSM was still holding at 230 3hrs later! My temps in the beginning were a bit higher than I would have liked, and at one point I was holding at 260 with all of my bottom vents closed!
Other than that, it was the easiest session I have ever had! The butt was excellent, and because I was rested, had eaten breakfast, and generally in a good mood, I resisted the temptation to pull it off early.
I hope this info helps, good luck! I may try a brisket this weekend, so please let us know how it turned out! Happy Qing!

Derek
 
Wrap in plastic wrap then foil right off the cooker and place in a dry cooler, they should be almost too hot handle even 3 hours later. The plastic wrap makes a difference in how long they will stay above 140?.
Jim
 
Based on the responses I received, I did the following:
1. Wrapped the brisket and butt in plastic wrap, then two layers of foil. Then wrapped them in a towel, and put them in a cooler.

2. Left my polder probe stuck in the butt, to keep track of the temperature. My intent was to watch them; if they didn't look like they'd stay over 140*F before serving, I would refrigerate them and reheat.

The good news:
4.5 hours after taking the butt off the WSM, it was at a temperature of 150*F, so the advice I received from Jim was working as he advertised.

The bad news:
My local K-Mart lied to me when they could get me a packer cut beef brisket; apparently, "whole" to them means "flat" to everyone else. (I'm a little frustrated; I went to four other stores in my area, and they all told me they only sold brisket flats.) They almost made up for this by having a $0.88/lb sale on pork butts, though.

The smaller brisket flat (6.5lbs) resulted in my overnight cook finishing at 11AM, not 2PM; by 3:30 the Butt was at 150*F, and since dinner was scheduled for 6PM, I put them in the fridge and reheated them later.

So...thanks to everyone for the advice. Other than the sleep deprivation, and the disappointment about the "whole" beef brisket, the cooking went great!

Mike
 
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