First Brisket - advice?

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Hi,

I am attempting my first brisket cook ever. We are having a department holiday party this Friday so I am targeting a finish time of 7 am or so Friday morning.

My brisket is a 12.5 pounder in the bag, prolly 10.5 after I trim the fat off. It's 21 inches long.

I was planning to apply a dry rub on Wednesday night and then put it on Thursday evening. Sand in the pan, Minion Method using oak lump and oak chunks for smoke. Some questions:

Since the brisket will start out longer than the width of the top grate, should I cut it in half and cook on top and bottom grates?

I've seen approximate cook times of 1.5 hrs per pound, so that should be about 15 hours, right? I was hoping to keep the temps at 225-250 but if I need to cut the cook time down, can I push it higher?

Any other advice?
 
Hi Nathan,

You don't need to cut the brisket in half. Just wedge it between the handles on the top grate. After a few hours, it will shrink and be just fine.

Your timing sounds about right, but if you're concerned about running late, I would run the WSM at 250*F the whole time, then if you're done early, just wrap that bad boy in foil, then towels, and hold in a dry cooler. You can read about holding meat in the Holding, Storing & Reheating Barbecued Meats article.

If push comes to shove, you can always wrap in foil and finish in a 300*F oven. See Brisket - Smoked & Oven Finished for details.

Regards,
Chris
 
Nathan
I used the brisket-smoked and oven-finished recipe this weekend and had great results. It was a 5.5 lb flat cut and took 11 1/2 hours to get to full temperature. But as others here have said, briskets are hard to cook by time or temperature. The thickness of the meat varies and thus so do cooking times. They're done when they're done.

I think it was Kevin Taylor who posted great advice about knowing when your brisket is finished.

Peter
 
Another way to speed up the cook, if need be, is to wrap it tightly in foil when it reaches 170 degrees and put it back in the WSM until it hits your target 185-195 temp AND is tender. The temps will come up pretty fast in the foil. My briskets average 1 3/4 hr/pound at 240-260 lid temps to reach 188 degrees without the use of foil.
 
<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Dave Lewis:
[qb] Another way to speed up the cook, if need be, is to wrap it tightly in foil when it reaches 170 degrees and put it back in the WSM until it hits your target 185-195 temp AND is tender. The temps will come up pretty fast in the foil. My briskets average 1 3/4 hr/pound at 240-260 lid temps to reach 188 degrees without the use of foil. [/qb] <HR></BLOCKQUOTE>Well I guess I could drag my butt outta bed at 3 am, go outside into rainy, 40 degree weather, and foil the darn thing...on second thought, I think the oven finish sounds pretty good...
 
Nathan,

I have done the very thing you're doing...bringing it to work after an early morning finish time.

I have been fortunate enough to have them reach 185 or so always before 7 or 8 when I have to leave for work.

If you are worried, put the brisket on the WSM earlier in the evening.

And take Chris's advice about a higher cooking temp. It should do fine.

When it's done, just wrap it in a double layer of heavy duty foil, then a double layer of towels and store in an empty cooler.

Should stay nice and hot and be great by the time lunchtime rolls around.

Your colleagues will be blown away. Mine are always asking when I'm doing that again!
 
If your brisket runs edge to edge you should think about doing somthing to protect the ends where it hangs beyond the width of the water/sand pan. High heat always shoots up the sides and can burn the outside edges of your brisket. Try putting a thick folded layer of foil under those areas to keep the high heat off if you want to cook whole (you can remove after it shrinks) or cut in half to avoid this problem all together
 
Hey Nathan,

You sure came to the right place! I can't add much to the other posts. I don't know if it adds to the cooking time or not, but a pork butt or two on the top rack might not be a bad idea. The butt and brisket usually finishes the same time.
 
Doesn't add to the cooking time, although the my butts always take longer to cook than the brisket. OTOH, the butt does a WONDERFULLY tasty job of basting the brisket. These folks around here have heard me wax rhapsodic on the joys of an overnight B&B. /infopop/emoticons/icon_biggrin.gif

Keri C
Smokin on Tulsa Time
 
<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Ed S:
[qb]If your brisket runs edge to edge you should think about doing somthing to protect the ends where it hangs beyond the width of the water/sand pan.[/qb] <HR></BLOCKQUOTE>If cooking this brisket on the bottom grate, I think this is a good suggestion. If cooking on the top grate, I don't think it's necessary. Assuming you'll use the Minion Method to fire the cooker, it shouldn't get so hot that it burns the brisket. I would not recommend cutting that brisket in half.

Regards,
Chris
 
I would say Chris is right on saying not cutting your brisket in half in this case is correct (I had a feeling I would get called out on that one). Having said that though, I have cooked some BIG full briskets that do much better on a WSM if you cook in two portions. Not ideal but sometimes needed IMO. Good luck!!!
 
I used a dry rub of salt, brown sugar, paprika, cayenne, garlic powder, onion powder, ground mustard, black pepper, thyme, and bay leaves, which I applied to the brisket and marinated overnight.

I was worried about it finishing on time , so I started the brisket at lunchtime instead. I put it on the top grate and had to squeeze it between the handles.

Pics on the alt.binaries.food Usenet newsgroup.
 
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