Brisket Max Temperature

[A Harrison]

Past dozen briskets I have done have been great. Each one I have injected, cooked on top rack with water pan below and run at 225F.

It usually takes 10hrs to hit 160F internal temperature at which time I wrap with paper for 4hrs and usually have to then foil for 4hrs to finish and crank the temperate to 275F so that it finishes in time. We are talking I put on at 8pm and it finishes at 4pm with a panic.

Question: Has anyone had success at 250F or 275F at speeding up a cook under similar conditions (eg: water pan & injected) without drying it out?

If so on average how long did the cook take? I would love to be able to finish a brisket in less than 18hrs. Examples of cooks attached.

 

[AHoneyman]

First, are you runnning an air probe in your SF? I am betting that you would find that you are running around 200 degrees (most SFs run low) or even a little lower because you are on the upper rack. That temp will take forever. Yes, you can take it up. Just use the final internal temp and you will OK. And get an air probe.

 

[A Harrison]

First, are you runnning an air probe in your SF? I am betting that you would find that you are running around 200 degrees (most SFs run low) or even a little lower because you are on the upper rack. That temp will take forever. Yes, you can take it up. Just use the final internal temp and you will OK. And get an air probe.

Running a pit probe and the variation between lower rack and upper rack is usually only 10 - 15 degrees. It’s usually hard to compare though because the built in pit probe takes an average of the grill vs when you plug one into the PID it’s a single point. Always found that plugging a pit probe into the PID shows it runs hotter than the built in one.

 

[Chris Allingham]

Regardless of cooker, many of us smoke briskets at 275*F to 160*F internal, then wrap in butcher paper or foil and finish at 205*F. Inject or not, it's up to you. The best Texas brisket joints don't inject...it's not a requirement for good brisket.

Or you can do a high heat brisket.

 

[A Harrison]

Regardless of cooker, many of us smoke briskets at 275*F to 160*F internal, then wrap in butcher paper or foil and finish at 205*F. Inject or not, it's up to you. The best Texas brisket joints don't inject...it's not a requirement for good brisket.

Or you can do a high heat brisket.

Thanks! I definitely think I am going to bump the smoke temperature. Just had good results with injecting with Kosmo’s and having the brisket retain moisture, so been rolling that way.

 

[John - au4stree]

I’ve cooked briskets on the PBC which runs around 290-320F. The briskets always turn out great, no less moist than one that took all day. While packers (decently trimmed) at a precook weight around 12lbs take me 5-7 hours. I try to time it where the are done and hold in a faux cambro around 1.5-2 hrs.

My 22WSM is new to me, not many cooks on it. But had similar results the last brisket I did on it.

 

[Tony-Chicago]

Your brisket looks good.

But a higher temp would help.

But first, as said above, check what temp you really are cooking at.

After that feel free to bump up to 250 275.

Wrap if you want after the bark setup and push through the stall.

 

[C Lewis]

I run mine hot and fast, 375F on my WSM22. Once around 160 and the crust is set, I wrap (foil) and lower to 275 for about another hour until probe tender, which when doing HAF is usually around 210 or so. Takes about 5 hrs total on a 12 lb packer. Usually put in the hold (cooler) after for 1-4 hours, but the last one that I did didn't get any hold time, and was just as good as far as I'm concerned. Only adjustment I made when going to HAF from LAS was that I now use hickory wood instead of the oak that I used to use, for a little more smoke flavor, as the higher temps don't give you quite as much, since the wood is free-burning at that higher temperature point. BTW, no water pan or injection. Some of the self-proclaimed Youtube "stars" say that you can't get a good smoke ring in the WSMs.

 

[A Harrison]

Did this one at 265F start to finish injected with Kosmo’s, top rack, water pan below. ~14hrs. Turned out great, and cut 4hrs off my other cooks.

 

[Tony-Chicago]

Looking great!