Advice for Smoking Brisket and Baby Backs


 

JMeetze

New member
Hey Guys,
This is my first post, but I've been reading a lot of different articles and techniqes on the VWB for about a month now after getting a WSM 18" for my birthday in May. I've smoked twice on it doing brisket and ribs for my first cook and a boston butt for my second cook. I was happy with my ribs and butt, but felt my brisket was a little dry.

Well tomorrow I'm having some family over for the 4th and promised them some brisket and ribs. My question is, when should I start the brisket and when should I put the ribs on if I plan to eat around 5:00 PM tomorrow afternoon? My brisket is a 11.77 lb CAB Prime Brisket packer and my ribs are baby backs.

I'm currently debating whether I should do the Smoked & Oven Finished method or just normal low and slow at 225 to 250 for about 17 hours then foil and wrap? I'd probably start my cook around 10:00 PM tonight with plans to let my brisket rest in a cooler for a few hours.

I'd think with my ribs, I'll start them around 11:00 AM tomorrow morning and use the BRITU cooking process. This would work well I think with the Smoked and Oven Finished method for my brisket because I'm guessing about the time I'd need to put my ribs on is around the time I'd need to pull the Brisket and place in the oven.

What do you guys suggest? I'm hoping someone has done this before and can offer me a tip.

Thanks in advance and Happy 4th to everyone!

Josh
 
I would personally just do low and slow. You might have the brisket off before you have to start the ribs. I haven't read the BRITU recipe in a while, but isn't supper specific about how you fire up the WSM, etc? Those things might be kind of incompatible with the process you already have going on in the WSM. That's the only hangup I can think of. In this case you might want to transfer the brisket to the oven to reset your WSM without overlap. Otherwise, you could put the ribs on with the brisket still there and take a more standard approach. You might have to add some more charcoal or at least some smoke wood to get enough smoke on the ribs. I find it can be difficult to figure out where to put the smoke wood when the coals are burned down pretty far so the wood will ignite. Good luck!
 
I did an 11 lb this weekend which took about 12.5 hrs - temp averaged around 240. Would recommend low and slow as well. I would start around 11-1130p for the brisket and keep it on the smoker the whole time. If it is ready early, it can stay in a cooler wrapped in foil and towels for a long time and it will stay hot. How many racks of ribs are you trying to do as well? That will impact your game plan.
 

 

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