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First overnight cook tonight! (Nervous!!!!)


 
Jeff Langer

Jeff Langer

TVWBB Fan
Just got home from Sam's Club with a 15 pound brisket... My wife has invited some people over tomorrow so I am really hoping I don't screw this up to bad. I do have a couple of final questions that I am hoping you all can answer:

1. Do I trim the fat off the top of the brisket or not? I've read both ways and am not sure what to do; some say trim the fat while other say leave it on and cook it with the fat side up.
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2. Any suggestions on rub? In the few smokes that I have done I have used a rub that has paprika, cayenne pepper, onion salt, garlic salt, sugar, and salt and pepper. My wife thinks it is to spicy (even if I dial down the cayenne) so I am looking for something different.

3. I obviously plan on using the minion method but am still worried about enough heat through the night. I'm thinking I will fill the ring full of charcoal and use a full chimney to start it. I plan on foiling the water pan as well as a clay disc I bought this summer and put it in the water pan as well.

4. I know it is done when it is done, but what kind of cooking times should I expect? My wife wants to eat at 2:00 pm tomorrow, so I am thinking about putting the brisket on no later than 10:00 tonight. If it gets done early I plan on foiling it and putting it in a cooler until 2:00 I have a probe that I plan on inserting to monitor heat but am not sure where to put it... I'm assuming in the flat since it is the thinner part of the brisket right?

I think that is all for now! Have I mentioned how worried I am? My wife Leslie looked at me when I put the brisket in the cart at Sam's and said "you better not screw this up!" No pressure right? Thanks again for any input anyone is willing to give!!
 
What's your targeted cook temp? I assume you're wanting a temp around 225-250 if you're doing an overnighter. A whole chimney of lit on top of a full ring is gonna give you temps of 350 or so with no way to get them down.

If you're going low and slow, only add about 15-25 lit charcoal on top of your pile of unlit with all vents wide open. When you get within 25 degrees of your target temp, close down your vents to about 1/3 or maybe even less and let the temps rise up slowly to your target. It's a lot easier to catch temps on the way up.

Sorry I can't help with much else. I've only done 4 briskets and all have been high heat. Good luck.
 
Agree with what Jerry has written. In addition, if it was me, since you have guests coming over I'd go high heat, almost guarantees a moist brisket. If you're wanting to go low and slow, foil her at 165 and finish in foil. Fat, I leave it. Oh and speaking of fat, I go fat side down. I prefer protecting the bottom of the brisket vs. basting in the melting fat. Speaking of what side to put down, I also put a piece of heavy duty foil folded under the flat side of the brisket to protect it against the rising heat at the edge of the WSM (I'll try and find a pic.). I try and place it about 4 inches under the flat, that way as she cooks and shrinks the very end is still protected.

Regarding a rub, my favorite is Coffee Cardamom, it's got a very rich flavor and not spicy at all. You can find it HERE.

Timing, depends on if you're going low and slow with foil or without, or if you're going high heat. If going low and slow I'd start her closer to around 8:00 p.m., if high heat, I'd start her around 7:00 a.m.

Hope this helps. Enjoy your cook!

Found a picture. I no longer put a piece of foil under the point side. Click picture for full size:


 
After trimming the fat cap: (Had to trim it some... It had almost an inch of fat!)

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After rub applied (by my 11 year old son! Sorry about the mess!)

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On the WSM for a 15 hour smoke! (Give or take)

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Waiting for the WSM to settle in before I go to bed... How much sleep do you think I will get? Thank you everyone for your input! Larry I did put the foil on the ends like you suggested... Just did it after my son took the picture!
 
You'll get a couple hours of sleep tops. Your mind won't be able to shut down thinking about the goodness in you WSM. Looks like a great start. What kind of rub and wood did you go with?
 
I went with a recipe I mentioned above without the cayenne pepper and added a little brown sugar. As for wood, I went with a few pieces of mesquite... After reading around on the Internet, I have read both good and bad things about it. Hope I did not screw up the brisket before it even got started!
 
Well I'm a little over 8 hours into the smoke and haven't slept more than an hour or so... WSM temp is still at 230 and holding. I opened the vents up a little about 10 minutes ago and am getting ready to go and check the temps. Hopefully everything is still good and I can go back to bed!! Still worried about using mesquite instead of apple or cherry... Hope everything turns out OK!
 
Just woke up and went outside to check the temp of the WSM and it was below 200! I have a chimney full of charcoal heating up and I will put that in to finish the cook. I'm assuming that is the right thing to do? Did I kill the fire by opening the vents early this morning? I'll take a picture of the brisket when I put the charcoal in and post it in a bit.
 
Brisket approximately 12 hours into the smoke:

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Temp was 171 degrees so I am figuring it has a couple of hours left. Probe slid in the flat pretty easy (where I got the 171 from) so I think it's well on its way to being done. I took a temp from the point and it was 160... I'll be glad when this thing is done so I can eat it!!
 
What type of charcoal did you use? If Briqs than you need to tap the legs ever so often to knock down the ash. If you don't the buildup will start to snuff out your coals.
Edit. Nice lookin brisky!!

Tim
 
I was going to write what Timothy did. Around 10 hours (probably the time your temps started to dip and you opened your vents) I usually give the legs a good tap knocking the ash off and temp will come right back up. You probably would have been just fine knocking the ash off and if you were low on fuel throwing some more un-lit on the lit. Although in my 18" WSM using Rancher I can go 22 - 24 hours on a full load of fuel, using Kingsford I can get about 16 hours (dry, no water).

Don't sweat the mesquite, briskets a hearty piece of meat and will handle it just fine. Great pic. Have you enjoyed your cook so far?
 
I tried to knock the ashes off of the coals and when I did most fell through the grate. During the cook last night I noticed a bunch of smoke exiting out through the top of the door on the side of the WSM... I have read things that I can do to fix it somewhat and I will try them when I have time.

Overall, this has been a good experience! I think I will rest a little more next time knowing that an overnight cook really isn't a big deal. All that kept going throw my mind was my wife saying "you better not screw this up!" I know she was joking but I try my best to keep her happy.

Just checked the temp in the flat and it is 205 so I took it off, foiled it, wrapped it in a towel, and set it in a cooler. Can't wait until 2:00 to eat it!!
 
Jeff, one last tip, don't go by temp alone; I've had briskets done at 190 and 205, use temp as a guideline and use feel as the remove/done factor. If the probe goes in like it's going into warm butter, no resistance she's done. Don't take this question wrong, you know how to slice her right? Did you notice before you rubbed her which way the grain was running? Be sure to slice against the grain with the width of about a # pencil. Looking forward to the sliced pictures.
 
The probe went into both the point and flat like you said; that is why I took it off. I honestly thought it would take longer to smoke, but after trimming some of the fat cap I'm assuming it was probably closer to 14 1/2 pounds so the suggested time was right on.

I've heard to cut against the grain, but honestly I have no idea which way that would be. I knew to check the grain, but forgot all about it last night when preparing the brisket. Any suggestions?

I appreciate all of your input Larry... It is great to be able to have someone to bounce all of this stuff off of!
 
Thanks for the info! I have an idea... Want to come over and slice it for me? Getting ready to get it out of the cooler in a few minutes... Man I hope the brisket is cooked OK!
 
Looks like you did good. After a couple of overnight smokes, you'll set it and sleep like a baby.
 
Well I can finally relax! Everyone raved over the brisket and said it was some of the best they have ever had. I tried to take a picture of the first couple of slices but my camera battery died and no one wanted to wait!

Thanks again for all the input everyone! I guess butts are next up on the WSM!
 
Nice job! See, wasn't so scary LOL. Now I'll tell you this; it took me 3 tries to finally get a brisket I was happy with. Glad you didn't have to go through the disappointments I had early on. Here's a suggestion, save the point for another smoke and make burnt ends, probably my favorite BBQ item.

Glad everything worked out for you and your guests.
 
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