Brisket and butt timing question


 
PeterD

PeterD

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Hey all,
I'm going to start a long smoke later tonight, for a party tomorrow afternoon. I have one 15 pound (left-handed:cool:) Angus brisket and three 8-lb butts, which I intend to cook on my old 18" WSM. I'll be using CompK and a Stoker. I'm wondering what I should be using for times. The goal is to have the meat resting in a faux-Cambro by about 2 or 3 in the afternoon at the absolute latest. I will be doing the butts on the bottom grate and the Monster-Briskey on the top (using three foil-wrapped bricks so it can fit inside! This is going to be a heckuva smoke! How would you tackle this?

Company is coming over at 2 and they'll start Meatapalooza with homemade burgers on the grill, and then the pulled pr0k comes out around 3. Brisket and a deep-fried turkey follow at 4**.

How should I stagger the cook times, or should I do both at once? I was thinking low/slow for the pr0k and maybe attempt a HH cook for the briskie, but I"m completely boggled at this point. I had planned on getting a 12 pounder, but they only had 15s and 16s or 10-11 pounders at RD so I went with a monster.

Note that I've only done one HH in the past and it came out horrible (completely overcooked, falling apart). I'm generally pretty comfortable with 14 pounders at 225-240, but I'm thinking a 15.5 pounder will take close to 20 hours to do low and slow. Am I wrong?

Thanks in advance.



**Pepto Bismol at 5, and the waffer-thin mint course will conclude the evening's festivities, followed by the mandatory coronary appointment next Monday).
 
Heck, I have no idea how to time it, but I'd be happy to get an invite. LOL Best of luck. It sounds delicious! ;)
 
You know, you could go somewhere between low and high heat. Maybe do a 275-300 cook, as that's usually about as hot as I do pork, and do everything at once. I really can't help you with timing, but if everything is done early you can always pack it in a cooler to rest for a few hours.
 
If you're comfortable with putting all 3 butts on the bottom and the brisket on top, I would cook them all at the same time. I've never cooked that much meat at once on my 18.5", but I like to try and keep the meat over the water pan and not hanging over the edge of it to avoid the direct heat, especially on the bottom rack. Maybe you can stand them up on the ends or something, but I've never cooked that many at once so don't know for sure. I'd set the Stoker for 250 and cook 'em all at once. Once they're done, you can place them in the faux-cambro and you'll have more time to do other things to get ready for the party, instead of setting up and doing a brisket cook. With that much meat you might want to be prepared to add coal if need be but I really don't know if you'll need to or not.

Just my 2 cents. Good luck!
 
Peter, I assume you're having a huge crowd with huge appetites. I mean your "appetizer" is hamburgers!
Basically briskets and butts run around the same time - 16 hours or so, and if you do them HH, then it still should be the same length of time, though I've never done an HH brisket. You could also do the butts in advance and re-heat,if that would make your life easier. Three butts on one rack of an 18" is a lot.

In any case, good luck and good fun.
 
Yeah, I think I'm going to do 'em all together at 250. Ironically, I'm doing this with help of three friends down from Toronto! We're getting about 35-40, most of whom have big appetites, plus I like to have a pound or two of PP frozen for my lunches and for them to bring back to friends from TO who couldn't make it down to Meat-a-palooza. The brisket will be inhaled as soon as it's put out. The turkey will be field-stripped within 2 minutes. The pr0k...there's always leftovers with 3 butts.
 
Good Luck on your cook, Peter. Sounds like an amazing party.

I've been getting down to 9 hrs on a 14 lb brisket while following Harry's methods. Key is to get good (proper) bark formation as early as possible and moving to the foiling/brazing stage.

Bob
 
Things took a strange turn. My wife woke me up 8-1/2 hours into the cook. My fire went out. In emergency rescue mode and refiring from cold now with meat in the oven. More to come in an other thread.
 
I'd say the large amount of meat is what led to more fuel consumption. Also, did you use water in the pan? With 39 lbs. of meat in the smoker, you really don't need any addtional heat sink for temp control. Water will just add to fuel consumption.
 
Nothing but foil and air in the water pan (and juices). After a 3-hour interruption (and an unexpected torrential downpour) the meat's back on and the smoker is holding at 250. Still in plateau but that's OK. The mass hordes will have to wait a couple of hours for the vittles ;)
 
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