Butt & Brisket advice


 
Status
Not open for further replies.
T

Tom P

TVWBB Fan
I'm having 12 people over Saturday for BBQ. I would like to eat at 8:00 PM. I plan on cooking 2 boneless pork butts about 7 lbs each and 2 full packer briskets about 9 Lbs ea.

I have done 2 butts in the past and they took 16 hrs to hit 195 deg. I have also smoked 1 brisket and that took about 10 hrs.
to hit 185 deg.

My question is this: If I put the butts on the smoker at 10:00 Saturday night, should I put the briskets on at the same time and pull them sooner or wait to about 2 AM to throw them on?

I do plan on wrapping the briskets in foil w/ beef broth and letting sit for an hour. I also plan on pulling the pork when ready and putting it in a slow cooker to keep warm.

Thanks for all your help in the past and in advance for these and future questions.

Tom
 
Hi Tom,

That's a lot of food for 12. You might want to consider dropping a brisket. Either way, since you'll want to put the butts on top, brisket on the bottom, I'd put everything on together. You'll maintain better temps during the first many hours. Also, allow extra time. That's a lot of meat taking in the heat
icon_smile.gif
 
Tom, put everything on at once and if or when the briskets finish first wrap them in foil and put in a cooler wrapped in towels. If it seems like you've held them a really long time then an hour before you serve heat the oven to 200 degrees and throw um in...take the temp to make sure it is over 140 and you'll be fine. Remember, keep them wrapped in foil unitl you are going to pull or slice.

The oven saved me last weekend!!
 
i have kept brisket warm for almost 5 hours without going under 150...

what i do is i put hot water in my cooler about 30 min before i take the meat out...then right before i empty the water and then wrap the meat in heavy duty foil...stick a thermo inside and tehn wrap well with a good towel...and then put in cooler and close the cooler......and prettty much thats it.. id check the meat maybe once an hour.. just a peak at the thermo to see what the temp is...make sure not to go below 140.. if that happens you gotta fridge it or warm it up...but like isaid i have done almost 5 hours no prob.. so thast a lot a leway..
 
TOM, That's enough meat to feed 40 people. I agree with kevin to cook only one brisket. Figure 16 - 18 hrs for the butts and 10 - 12 hrs for the brisket. IMO i would start the butts first then put the brisket on to get them to finnish as close together as possible. I'm not one to reheat brisket. Pork butt or chuck roll reheats nice. Just don't care for reheated brisket JMO. Remember to let the brisket rest for at least 1 hr i prefer 2 hrs. so plan accord. Bryan
 
I hope you have two WSM's! Two butts and one brisket will work. I think you may run into some trouble getting two briskets and two butts on there. I would freeze one of the briskets for another cook, between the two butts and a 9lb brisket you are going to have plenty of leftovers anyway. Good luck, let us know how they turn out!
 
Thanks for all the advice!
I will only cook one brisket. I did install the 3rd rack in the center though.

Thanks again!

Tom
 
For only 12 ppl I would just do one butt and one brisket, but if you have room for another butt then go for it. Have fun!
 
Tom, speaking from experience, the two butts on top with a brisket on the bottom and a 2nd brisket on a stacked rack between the top and the bottom is a much more difficult cook, with questionable results (in my case, anyway). The airflow gets blocked, and the briskets suffer for it. Been there, fought that battle. Two butts on top and a brisket on the bottom will work great, though.

Keri C, smokin' on Tulsa Time
 
Thanks Keri,
I just hung up w/ the meat wholesaler and they have 2 bnls pork butts and one full brisket at 11 lbs ready for me to pick up.

Also, I see the featured recipe for Sept is brisket finished in the oven. Sounds great! Has anyone else tried this? Is it as good as Chris sez?

Gonna be a great weekend!

Tom
 
Yes Tom. In my pre-WSM days I smoked brisket in the kettle then finished in the oven. Comes out good but not as good as smoking the whole time in the WSM.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.

 

Back
Top