Brisket & Butt Questions


 
M

Morgan Bonde

New member
Hi Everyone!

This is my first post here on the TVWBB, however I have been a lurker for quite some time now and have had many successful smokes as a direct result of this website!

This coming Saturday we are having a birthday party for our one year old son and I am firing up the 18.5 WSM to smoke a brisket and a pork butt. I was hoping to run the game plan by everyone here and see if I am on the right track.

The stats for the smoke are:
-12lb(pre-trim weight) Prime Packer Brisket from the butcher
-8.2lb(pre-trim weight) Bone-in Pork Butt
-Planning on serving lunch on Saturday to 18-20 adults at 1230.

This evening I am going to do a little light trimming on the brisket, inject it and give it a good rub. The pork butt will also get a little light trimming, no injection and a rub as well(different rub).

Now where I am running into a bit of confusion is planned cooking time. I am going to start the smoker via the Minion Method using Stubbs briquettes. The wood will be a blend of apple, cherry and hickory chunks(dry). The water pan will be filled and foiled. I am planning a smoker temperature of 250*. The brisket will go on the lower rack(if it fits!) and the butt on the top. I was originally thinking the brisket was going to take close to 18hrs, but after some reading, I am thinking it might be a bit closer to 14-15hrs. The butt I think will be in 12-14hr range. I don't plan on foiling and I would like to be pulling the meat off the smoker around 10:00am on Saturday morning to allow for a nice rest and also allow for a little extra time if needed.

So what say thee? How do my time estimates look? Will I be missing out on any flavor if I can't get the brisket under the butt?

Any advice for a newbie would be greatly appreciated!!

Thank you everyone and I will post the results along with some pictures!!

Morgan
 
<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by Morgan Bonde:
Hi Everyone!

This is my first post here on the TVWBB, however I have been a lurker for quite some time now and have had many successful smokes as a direct result of this website!

This coming Saturday we are having a birthday party for our one year old son and I am firing up the 18.5 WSM to smoke a brisket and a pork butt. I was hoping to run the game plan by everyone here and see if I am on the right track.

The stats for the smoke are:
-12lb(pre-trim weight) Prime Packer Brisket from the butcher
-8.2lb(pre-trim weight) Bone-in Pork Butt
-Planning on serving lunch on Saturday to 18-20 adults at 1230.

This evening I am going to do a little light trimming on the brisket, inject it and give it a good rub. The pork butt will also get a little light trimming, no injection and a rub as well(different rub).

Now where I am running into a bit of confusion is planned cooking time. I am going to start the smoker via the Minion Method using Stubbs briquettes. The wood will be a blend of apple, cherry and hickory chunks(dry). The water pan will be filled and foiled. I am planning a smoker temperature of 250*. The brisket will go on the lower rack(if it fits!) and the butt on the top. I was originally thinking the brisket was going to take close to 18hrs, but after some reading, I am thinking it might be a bit closer to 14-15hrs. The butt I think will be in 12-14hr range. I don't plan on foiling and I would like to be pulling the meat off the smoker around 10:00am on Saturday morning to allow for a nice rest and also allow for a little extra time if needed.

So what say thee? How do my time estimates look? Will I be missing out on any flavor if I can't get the brisket under the butt?

Any advice for a newbie would be greatly appreciated!!

Thank you everyone and I will post the results along with some pictures!!

Morgan </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

Welcome Morgan! There are Folks here hundreds of times more knowledgeable than I butt it looks like you've got a good plan. A Prime cut brisket is rare in my neck of the woods. It validates your cooking plan. You know the # 1 rule here is that "It's Done When It's Done". When I've tried to inject a brisket, I usually get more on me than in the brisket. I would think that the marbling of that cut of meat would be such that it's not needed.

You plan on feeding 20 Folks with that? Are Y'all all on diets?
icon_smile.gif
Consider more meat!
 
Morgon, you're on the right track, but I wouldn't smoke a brisket on the bottom rack at 250* with water in the pan, (unless you're measuring exhaust temp in the dome vent, and not cooking temp at the grate or by the dome gauge.) Sounds like you've done your homework, but the issue is that you could overcook the end of your brisket flat that will be hanging past the edge of the pan. If going by the gauge (checked for accuracy!), 12 o'clock (225) is more where you want to be, and more like 200* at the start of the cook with two grates full of cold meat. For the MOST evenly cooked brisket, I'd buy one more 7-8 lb. butt and cook both on the bottom rack, brisket on the top. Position the brisket so that the butts below are a heat sink.

Hope that helps, and good luck with it!
 
<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by Morgan Bonde:
Will I be missing out on any flavor if I can't get the brisket under the butt? </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

Not really. That high dollar brisket's flavor shouldn't need any pork basting, and as I posted, you want it's flat to be in the best cooking position possible.
 
How does 15hrs for the brisket and 14hrs for the butt sound? I am just looking for a rough estimate for planning purposes.

Thanks!!
 
Morgan, welcome to the forum.

Your cooking times sound fine, provided that you aren't cooking in windy conditions, which will rob your WSM of heat and use more fuel to maintain temps.

Remember, you can hold brisket & butts for several hours if you foil them, wrap in towels and put them into a cooler or the oven (either off or at a very low temp- no towels necessary). Always better to be ready ahead of time than trying to hurry up your cook to be done on time.

Good luck and share pics of your cook!
 
<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by Morgan Bonde:
How does 15hrs for the brisket and 14hrs for the butt sound? I am just looking for a rough estimate for planning purposes.

Thanks!! </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

Since you mention the MM, I'll just assume you're measuring exhaust temp. If not mistaken, Jim suggests 1.25-1.5 hr/lb for briskets and 2 hr/lb for pork butts, cooking 225-250* measured at the dome vent, but NOT going by the gauge or grate temp.

You're gonna have some "coming up to temp" time, but don't get too impatient. Start off with as much boiling water as convenient, and I'd light no less than a couple of dozen briqs in a chimney starter, although last I heard, Jim now uses a weed burning torch. Like a lot of folks, if cooking brisket low-n-slow with no foil, Jim recommends a 2-4 hour foiled rest in a cooler.
 
I just posted this update in my thread regarding my brisket looking dry during the cook, but I wanted to post it here as well so folks helping me in this thread could see how things turned out.

Well, that smoke is in the book!

The pork butt was phenomenal. It spent 17.5hrs on the smoker reaching a final temp of 195* and was by far the best pork butt I have ever made or had!!

The brisket was a different story. At the end of the day, it was overcooked, dry and would crumble when sliced. I was convinced it needed more time so I pushed on. Around the 180* mark(12hrs on the smoker), it was very tough to push in the thermometer, so I wrapped it with in foil and put some apple juice in with the brisket. I checked it every 30min and I felt it was getting a bit more tender. By the time it reached 195* internal, I felt that I was gaining no additional tenderness so I pulled it. It rested for about an hour and a half and then I separated the point and flat. Very quickly I knew that it was overcooked.

Not really sure what happened, but I think next time I will try the high heat and foil!

Oh well! Thank you everyone for the help!

Morgan
 
If foiling, low or high heat, don't temp. That'll throw you off as meat cooks differently in foil and temps will be meaningless. Go by testing for tenderness.
 
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