Fitting a brisket into the 18.5'' WSM - What do you do?


 
T

Tim W

TVWBB Member
So I bought a 14lb brisket a couple weeks ago. After trimming some of the fat and seasoning, I put it into my 18.5''. The brisket was at least 6 inches too long for the 18.5''. I ended up just folding the point end on top of itself. Although most of the brisket turned out fine, the parts nearest the edges were a bit more charred than I had hoped.

I figure the alternatives would be:
- Use the 22.5'' instead of the 18.5''. Although, I was hoping to use the 22.5 for ribs and chicken.
- Cut the brisket down so it fits in fine.
- Cook flats only (which I don't want to do)
- Buy smaller briskets

What is everyone else doing?
 
Tim, I stuff the ends of the packer under the grate handles. This makes the middle portion rise off the grate. As the meat cooks it shrinks and all fits nicely. Some folks remove the point prior to cooking and some comp teams trim to size. To keep the ends from getting scorched use foil near the edges to shield from the higher heat on the sides of the cooker.

Mark
 
Mark

Thanks for the info. Thats something I never even considered, raising the middle instead of the ends. Think I might have to give it a try this weekend. Thanks again.

TW
 
"I was hoping to use the 22.5 for ribs and chicken."

Must be some HUGE chickens!
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Agree with Mark.

For my 18.5", I always buy smaller briskets.
 
<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by TravisH:
"I was hoping to use the 22.5 for ribs and chicken."

Must be some HUGE chickens!
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</div></BLOCKQUOTE>

Haha, yup!

I haven't been able to find smaller briskets with thick flats lately, so I've been needing the bigger packers.
 
For a BIG packer on the 18.5" wsm, you can make it fit better and get more bark on the point at the same time with this method:

Simply cut a big chunk off the end of the point, not going as far as where the flat and the point overlaps. Don't worry about the cut off "point chunk" overcooking. It'll be fine if you just lay it beside the brisket and pull off at the same time.
 
<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by mk evenson:
Tim, I stuff the ends of the packer under the grate handles. This makes the middle portion rise off the grate. As the meat cooks it shrinks and all fits nicely.

Mark </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

I've only done one packer and that's what I did.
 
Did a 12.9lb packer yesterday and foiled the ends that I put under the grate handles. When it had shrunks as much as it was gunna it just fit flat on the grate. MMM MMM good!

Mark
 
<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by mk evenson:
Did a 12.9lb packer yesterday and foiled the ends that I put under the grate handles. When it had shrunks as much as it was gunna it just fit flat on the grate. MMM MMM good!

Mark </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

I did a 13.5 lb over the weekend using your under the handle idea. Didn't foil the edges though. Regardless, it worked great and we didn't experience any overly-burned edges. Thanks for the suggestion!
 
Get a 22 and your problem will be solved. Use the 18 for small stuff, use the 22 when you wanna do full racks, brisket or if you wanna do 6-8 butts.
 
<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by Richard Diaz:
Get a 22 and your problem will be solved. Use the 18 for small stuff, use the 22 when you wanna do full racks, brisket or if you wanna do 6-8 butts. </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

The average backyard bbq guy will probably only cook one brisket at a time, and besides folding, there are three very effective solutions that I have used for "the problem" of fitting whole packers on the 18.5" wsm: top rack squeezed between the handles, bottom rack cradled on a roasting rack (mine: V-shaped rib/roast) with the ends up away from the heat, and like I mentioned above, either wsm rack with a chunk off the end of the point cut off.

Regarding the jumbo wsm though, you get much better brisket bark with no water in the pan, right? Well, you can run into other problems, cooking low-n-slow at least, with the jumbo 22.5" wsm...ESPECIALLY if you don't cook more at a time than the average backyard pitmaster or have a better than average fitting cooker door. Lots of guys are going ahead and getting temp control devices though...problem solved.
 
The brisket that I did last weekend was about 4-inches too long.

The end of the flat was pretty thin (at least, compared to the rest of the brisket) - so, I just folded it under.

The next morning, after about 8 hours on the WSM, it had shrunken and was laying flat all by itself.

(Just don't over-cook yours like I did
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)
 
Tim, my first experience with a brisket that was too big for my WSM was really funny. It was frozen and I had to use a hacksaw to cut off part of the end.
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Not a pleasant time at the moment but humorous when I look back at it now. On non frozen meat I've put something in the middle of the grate to raise the center of the meat just enough to let the ends droop to close the cover.After it shrinks, you pull the middle support out
 
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