Brisket (Packer) on my WSM 18.5


 
Jake Wilson

Jake Wilson

TVWBB Fan
Brisket Time!

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[/url]Brisket Time Again! by Jake Wilson, on Flickr[/IMG]

Picked this brisket up some weeks back while at Wal-Mart in Ocala Fla. Anyways, it was time to use it or freeze it, I chose smoke! Seasoned with black pepper and Lawry's Seasoning Salt. Label said it weighed 11.5 lbs., and I cut 1.8 lbs. of fat from it. Actually, the butcher that packed it in Cryovac, threw a few slices of fat in with the brisket...maybe the boss thought he cut too much off?<LOL>

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[/url]Brisket Starting Temperatures by Jake Wilson, on Flickr[/IMG]

This is the readings starting out. FWIW, I put this on at 1:30 AM this morning, July 9th 2015

At a quarter to 5 AM, I'm seeing the meat temp at 145 degrees and the smpoker is running at 232 degrees Fahrenheit. I built the coal fire using KBB and added some Apple wood chunks, Minnion Style

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[/url]1/2 Hour In by Jake Wilson, on Flickr[/IMG]

I forgot to take a pic when it went in so took this shot about a 1/2 hour after starting

this is a work in progress (She's still going=:)

I have to make a run to the airport in Gainesville (GNV) in about a half hour...I hope my temps run steady while I'm gone
 
Here's an update JR...before leaving for the airport, I read where Case did the Dutch Wicked Baked Bean recipe for his July 4th get together...it sounded like a good recipe so we stopped at Publix grocers in Gainesville to pick up ingredients...when we got back home, the pit temp was 208, then it read 210, and a little later I saw 223. As I type this, it's 226 degrees, and I haven't touched the vents

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[/url]Veggies For Dutch's Wicked Baked Beans by Jake Wilson, on Flickr[/IMG]

Here's the veggies for the baked bean dealeo

FWIW the white handled knife you see on the cutting board is an 8" Chef knife I recently purchased through Amazon. The 8" Chef knife I had for the last 25 + years, a Zwilling I think, a friend gave me, one of the rivets busted in the handle so I went shopping for a new knife. I was all set to buy a Japanese 210mm sorta Chef knife from Chef knives To Go (Sojiro?)...about $70, when while flipping through knife sharpening videos, I ran across a vid where a butcher was talking about knives and the ones he used, purchased over on Amazon. I was looking to save a buck or two and bought this one for $10. I've been using it for better than a month now. German carbon/stainless steel made in Taiwan. CAme with a wicked sharp edge. I ended up buying a 1200 grit diamond sharpening rod (DMT brand) and it's keeping the edge up nicely. We now return you to the regular programming=:)

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[/url]Sautéed Bacon by Jake Wilson, on Flickr[/IMG]

after I cut up the vegetables I cooked the bacon...looks about done here

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[/url]Baked Beans Heading into the Smoker by Jake Wilson, on Flickr[/IMG]

I mixed all the ingredients up and poured in this Dutch (Le Cruset) Oven, and I pulled the brisket so I could set the beans on the lower rack, leaving the brisket on top. this pic was taken at approx. 9:30 AM, 8 hours after this cook started. As I'm sitting here typing this, the meat temp is at 160 degrees and the pit temp is holding steady at 226

At this point I'm not sure if I'll wrap the brisket in aluminum foil when I reach stall temps (170 degrees?) or if I should just let it run like it's been...uncovered. I smoked 3 briskets last year and wrapped every one of them...this is my first this year. I have an idea the brisket will get done quicker if I wrap when it stalls out. Not looking for opinions, just thinking out loud, as picture threads are not meant to discuss cooks, and we don't want to break any of the house rules=:)
 
Wow Jake, that is a sight to behold! Brisket looks wonderful. I bookmarked those beans also off of Case's post over the weekend.
 
This was a long smoke and now it's through=:)

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[/url]Beans under the Brisket by Jake Wilson, on Flickr[/IMG]

I pulled the brisket so I could place the bean pot on the bottom rack, under the brisket. this was after coming back from the airport on Thursday, but we had to go to GNV one more time before the day was through=:-( More on that later

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[/url]Wrapped the Brisket in Tin Foil by Jake Wilson, on Flickr[/IMG]

I decided to try Crutchfields way of wrapping the brisket, after it reaches 165 to 170 degrees, in tin foil, then place in the house oven at 300 degrees and bring up to 205 degrees. I used a Thermapen thermometer/probe I bought on sale last year (they were discontinuing these). You set the temp you want the alarm to go off on the lower right window and the lower left window shows the temp of whatever you have the probe stuck into. I did not use the count down timer on the top (obviously). So long as you turn the alarm switch on the left to on, it will blast fairly loudly, that you have reached your set temp...now if only they would make this unit waterproof

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[/url]Beans In the Smoker by Jake Wilson, on Flickr[/IMG]

after I took the brisket into the house to finish in the house oven, I set the beans on the top rack of my WSM 18.5" smoker

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[/url]Beans Plated by Jake Wilson, on Flickr[/IMG]

The beans finished way before the brisket did, so I tried them, and I proclaim them to be good! FWIW I used only one of two Jalapenos, and half the called for dry mustard, 1/2 a tablespoon instead of one T. there was subtle heat. IMO you could serve this to unsuspecting guests that may otherwise say they don't like hot stuff, and get away with it, but if you want more heat, add two Jalapenos and a full tablespoon of dry mustard, to Dutch's Wicked Baked Beans

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[/url]Brisket after being taken to 205 degrees in the house oven by Jake Wilson, on Flickr[/IMG]

here's how the brisket looked after it reached 205 degrees and I pulled the foil back...

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[/url]This is what the Brisket looked like after slicing by Jake Wilson, on Flickr[/IMG]

and here we are sliced from the end of the flat and plated...note the wee bit of a smoke ring on the top of the circumference

I sliced this after letting the brisket rest of 30 minutes as I had been up for over 24 hours at this point and wanted to hit the sheets, and get a little bit of sleep before having to go back to the airport at around 9 PM last night, so the meat sat out on the counter top, but I made a little tent using tin foil for the brisket. Why, I have no idea<LOL>

19385905090_92ac75f4fd_c.jpg
[/url]Bisket Plated by Jake Wilson, on Flickr[/IMG]

We got a chance to sit down and eat about 10:30 PM, and I wanted to eat my brisket with some BBQ sauce so I sliced some pieces and chopped them up, tossed into a sauce pot and added Sweet Baby Ray's BBQ sauce, a little water and re-heated the beans too. the dark looking portions you see in this chipped beef conglomeration is the bark from the brisket

this was a nice meal. the beans had a nice flavor, a little heat but not much that kind of made the beans spicy IMO...from the Jalapeno. I had some leftover bread from a dollar loaf from Wal-Mart so I toasted it and buttered a few pieces

As an epilogue, I enjoyed wrapping the brisket and finishing it in the house oven but I think 205 degrees is taking it a little further than necessary, but that's my opinion. Crutchfield suggested it and I know he has tons more experience with brisket than I

Thanks for looking!
 
Thanks for all of the attaboys! It was a fun cook but thoroughly exhausting<LOL> I normally keep late hours, going to bed around 6 or 7 AM, then the mornings when I have to ship at GNV, we try set up the shipping time where we have to be there at 5 AM, so I can come back home and get to bed and get some regular sleep...but I knew I also had the late evening pick up at the airport to do too, but getting home in the morning faced with the brisket cook, meant little sleep, but I did manage to sleep for 5 or 6 hours Thursday, but yesterday (Friday), I was paying for staying up 24 hours. I'm going on 59, not 29<LOL>

Some reflection on the Brisket cooks...it's usually just myself and Mrs. Jake, so smoking a 12 lb Brisket (less then 9 lbs. after fat removed and moisture loss), that's a lot of meat to consume, if we keep it all in the fridge (have so far), to use within 4 days, but I really like the challenge of smoking Brisket, and consider myself a n00b at it, what with only about 4 of them under my belt, but that's how we learn, by gaining more experience. One of these days I'll smoke a Brisket w/o wrapping=:)

Keep the faith everyone!
 
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