First Brisket, and it's HUGE!


 
M

MBaker

New member
Hey all,

I'm going to be doing my first brisket this week, and I'm hoping to be able to fit it in under some tight time constraints. My father purchased a 17 lb brisket without knowing how long they take per pound and I'm not going to have a full 24-15 hours to tend to the smoke due to some other things coming up, I can manage 12-14 hours, but 24 is a bit more than I can manage in this particular instance. Since he paid over $60 for the hunk of meat, I want to make sure we get a good return.

My question is, if I remove the point, and smoke the two pieces separately, how much time would I save? Additionally, is there any specific way I would cut down the flat into two pieces after removing the point? The idea being, three smaller pieces of meat will smoke quicker than one 17 pound piece. Also, I've read about the HH method, but I'm curious of how much time/lb this method takes. There are no specific numbers to use as a guideline that I could find.

Any guidance or tips would be very helpful.

Thank you,

Mark
 
HH normally takes between 4-5 hrs, I've never had one go beyond the 5 hour mark, weight really doesn't make to much of a difference this way .
You won't save much time cutting the flat in half since your not really changing the thickness of the meat. You might save some time removing the point. You could go at 275 degrees and foil it when it hits 160 internal. Once you trim the brisket it will probably be closer to 14 lbs unless it's already trimmed. That's one big chunk of meat.
 
Hey Mark.
I'll bet that at least 4 lbs of that brisket is fat. Probably closer to 6.
If you trim a bunch of that fat off, separate the point and flat and just cook it as 2 pieces, I htink it'll be done in the 12-14 hour range. Run the WSM between 250 and 275 and you'll be golden.
Of course, this is my opinion based on experience. Your mileage may vary.
 
Thanks for the suggestions guys. I think I'll start with trimming it and trying to separate the point from the flat and seeing how much that reduces the weight. Having little butchering experience, could someone direct me to some info on separating the point? I've seen the question being asked a lot on here, but never any solid answers.
 
The point is separated from the flat by a layer of fat. Just slice along that layer lifting the point to expose more of the fat layer as you go along. Use a good sharp knife.
 
I did a 13 pound brisket a couple weeks ago, went on at 7am and came off around 3pm. I did a varietion of the high heat method but same principals. Ran the smoker at 275 until I hit an internal temp of 160, then foiled with beef broth and started checking for tenderness around 185F. Tasted fantastic. I suggest giving that a try, its pretty awesome to know I can knockout a brisket in under 8 hours.
 
MikeD125 said:
I did a 13 pound brisket a couple weeks ago, went on at 7am and came off around 3pm. I did a varietion of the high heat method but same principals. Ran the smoker at 275 until I hit an internal temp of 160, then foiled with beef broth and started checking for tenderness around 185F. Tasted fantastic. I suggest giving that a try, its pretty awesome to know I can knockout a brisket in under 8 hours.
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Hi Mike, thanks for the input. Are you talking about a 13 lb packer? Just want to make sure I'm comparing apples to apples when I do it tomorrow. Torn between removing the point and not. Like I said, I'll see tonight when I trim it down and rub it how much it weighs.
 
I've done 3 briskets in the 13-15 lb range.. All cooked from 240 -250 degrees and all finished in less than 12 hours ... One I foiled after about 5 hrs ...2 I've wrapped in butchers paper at around the five hour mark...
 
Jeff Bryson said:
I did my first brisket a few months ago and it was also a 17 lb hunk of meat. Here is how I did mine and it came out amazing! Total cook time around 11 hours...

http://tvwbb.com/showthread.php?40861-My-first-brisket-how-I-made-it-and-photos-too!
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Thanks Jeff,

You ran it at 285* the entire time? Obviously a bit higher speeds the cooking process, so I've been toying with a temp between the standard 225-250 and the HH method temps. Our dinner is at 7, so I was thinking if I wake up and get the thing on at 5 AM, that would give me a bit of extra time to wrap it and put it in the cooler if it finishes before then.
 
MBaker said:
Thanks Jeff,

You ran it at 285* the entire time? Obviously a bit higher speeds the cooking process, so I've been toying with a temp between the standard 225-250 and the HH method temps. Our dinner is at 7, so I was thinking if I wake up and get the thing on at 5 AM, that would give me a bit of extra time to wrap it and put it in the cooler if it finishes before then.
Click to expand...

Yes, 285* the whole time. It cooked faster than expected. Bear in mind that I was able to hold mine in the cooler wrapped 2x in heavy foil for 4 hours and it was still very hot when I pulled it out. You can also easily reheat. The lesson I learned is that next time I do a brisket, I am going to aim for being done cooking 2+ hours before the time I plan to serve because I can always hold and/or reheat. Better early and holding than late with hungry people looking at you....
 
That's the exact thought I have had the entire time. Thanks for the info, and I think I'll start early in the morning and hopefully have the meat on the WSM before 5-6AM. Hopefully that will get plenty of extra time to wrap and throw in the cooler.
 
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