Weekend cook report...

I smoked a brisket last weekend. First, I used the minion method with the kitslaar modification. I liked it. I started with about 25 briquets in the chimney, which is about what I use with the minion method. I used a one pound coffee can in the middle. It was just a little small for that amount of bricks, so I spread the extras around the top. Put on my hickory chunks, and watched the temp rise.

I put the meat on when the therm in the top vent said 190? and rising. I don't mind if the smokers not up to temp when I put the meat on, as it was climbing rapidly.

I had a polder therm in the meat the whole time. I was amazed at how fast the temp rose in the begining and how slow it rose in the end. I didn't make a chart, but I think the temp was 140? after about 3 hours. The vent temp was 240? throughout most of the cook. It took 9 more hours to go up to 180?, which is where I took it off.

I used the wild willie rub from smoke and spice. This was the second time, and I like it a lot. I put a lot on, so the brisket had a nice spicey crust. The brisket looked good, with a nice smoke ring. It tasted good, with the rub and smoke. It was just dry. I thought 180? was about right. It was a whole 8.5 pound brisket and I left all the fat on, but I thought the flat was too dry. Any thoughts?

Doug

Brisket is probably the hardest BBQ meat to cook, in my opinion, and there's a lot of variability from one brisket to another. You could use the exact same cooking process on another brisket and end up with a different result. That's why folks in competition cook several, so they have more than one to choose from.

It sounds like your process was OK. I'd withhold judgment and try it again with another brisket and see how that one turns out.

Regards,
Chris

Try cooking the brisket on the bottom grate and cooking a butt on the top. Pork fat is good for everything.
Chris is right not all briskets are made equal, yours if it was a full brisket and was only 8.5 pounds, that was a young steer that was rushed to market and they are not as good in most cases as larger briskets (12-13 pound class).
Jim

Thanks Jim and Chris for your replies. Jim, good point about the size of the brisket. I usually try to buy the smaller briskets as that's all we need for our family. I hadn't thought about it being from a young cow who hasn't had time to get fat. Next time I will buy a bigger one and invite more people!