Well, I had success with chicken breasts last weekend as my first cook, so I decided to do a brisket for mother's day.
I fired up the smoker at 10pm of Sat. night and threw the 12 pounder on. I was in bed at 12:30 with a stable temp...got up at 4am to add water and check the temp. It was running a little hot at 4am, but I quickly got it back down and stable again. At 7:30 it was still at 235* and internal temp was about 160*. I was able to keep it steady at 235* the rest of the cook without adding coal or water. I foiled the meat at 10am when the internal temp was 175*. Then I took it off the pit and put it in a dry cooler at 2:30 when the internal temp was 195*. I cut it at about 4pm and we ate shortly afterwords. It turned out GREAT! Very flavorful, very tender, very juicy. My only mistake was that I think i foiled it too soon or let it cook a little too long because it would not hold together very well. the pieces stayed together, but would fall apart if you tried to pick them up...had to make the slices thick to prevent this....but no one complained and neither am I really.
I was all in all pleased with the results and made my wife very happy with the success...along with my 2 1/2 year old triplet boys...they loved daddy's BBQ.
Not bad for an 8 dollar - 12lb brisket. We ate the entire flat among 5 adults and 3 kids. There was LOTs of leftover point meat that I shredded. Will be having a stuffed baked potato for lunch.
I fired up the smoker at 10pm of Sat. night and threw the 12 pounder on. I was in bed at 12:30 with a stable temp...got up at 4am to add water and check the temp. It was running a little hot at 4am, but I quickly got it back down and stable again. At 7:30 it was still at 235* and internal temp was about 160*. I was able to keep it steady at 235* the rest of the cook without adding coal or water. I foiled the meat at 10am when the internal temp was 175*. Then I took it off the pit and put it in a dry cooler at 2:30 when the internal temp was 195*. I cut it at about 4pm and we ate shortly afterwords. It turned out GREAT! Very flavorful, very tender, very juicy. My only mistake was that I think i foiled it too soon or let it cook a little too long because it would not hold together very well. the pieces stayed together, but would fall apart if you tried to pick them up...had to make the slices thick to prevent this....but no one complained and neither am I really.
I was all in all pleased with the results and made my wife very happy with the success...along with my 2 1/2 year old triplet boys...they loved daddy's BBQ.
Not bad for an 8 dollar - 12lb brisket. We ate the entire flat among 5 adults and 3 kids. There was LOTs of leftover point meat that I shredded. Will be having a stuffed baked potato for lunch.