Fool Proof Brisket


 
Jerry N.

Jerry N.

TVWBB Emerald Member
Does anyone have a system for doing a brisket that will produce a good brisket almost guaranteed? I've cooked plenty of pork but I've only done a couple briskets and they didn't turn out so well. I have a 14lb (untrimmed) packer that I'm going to start tonight. I'm pretty sure the best chance for success includes foiling some I'm probably going to try that. I didn't foil either of the other briskets I've done. Any suggestions would be appreciated.

I'm also wondering how much time to alot for this brisket. 1-1/2 hours per pound is a long time and I'm guessing foiling will reduce the time???
 
Yeah Jerry, foiling at 165-170 helps out alot, and reduce the cooking time. Also cooking it with the fat cap down, and then putting the fat cap up once foiled works really really well for a moist brisket. Make sure you are checking the temp, for foiling in the flat not the point since the flat will finish long before the point. Once foiled start checking for tender in the flat once temps reach the low/mid 180's. Once the flat is tender pull the whole thing off and seperate the flat from the point and return the point to the WSM unfoiled to finish or you can make burnt ends out of it. Wrap up the flat and let it rest for 30 min to an hr. HTH
 
Bryan you're pretty active today (as I am), you kicking back cold ones and smoking something like I am? I've got a brisket on and 3 racks of spares working on about my 10th Miller Lite, things are good on the west coast. Just hope I don't pass out before the fight tonight . . . which has happened before
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Jerry, I couldn't do a brisket to save my life. Now I do as Bryan suggest and they're almost fool proof as long as you start checking for tenderness at the right time. However, I still haven't figured out the right place to separate the flat from the point so I just remove the whole thing at once. Also another trick I've learned is rather than foiling you can use a roaster pan; I use a roaster and just cover with a piece of foil, then transfer to foil when she's done and put in a cooler for rest. Also, in terms of rubs, I use Wild Willy's, love the stuff!

Oh, one more note, I try and stick to briskets between 9 - 11 lbs, I just seem to have better luck with this size. Let us know how things turn out and good luck! I'll tip a cold one to your success!
 
<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by LarryR:
However, I still haven't figured out the right place to separate the flat from the point so I just remove the whole thing at once.
</div></BLOCKQUOTE>
Yeah, That's how I do it. Remove it from the WSM. To seperate the flat from the point is very easy once it's cooked. There's a big fat vein which is between the flat and point. The one thing to remember is that it runs on like a 45 degree angle. Once you find the vein, I just use a sharp knife and it litterly falls apart at the fat seam. Let me see if I still have a pic of the fat seam.
Don't have them any more. But you can look at the packer and see how the point goes on top of the flat a good bit, just remeber that when seperating it. Also there's a big fat seam where the flat and point join and overlap. It's alot easier to seperate once it's cooked. Sometimes I do it before it's cooked and is alot harder to do. I never get it quite right.
 
The one I did yesterday, or finished yesterday, I treated just like a pork butt. Heavy on the rub-by the way, thanks for all the rub info available here-which I used generous amounts of brown and white sugar, black pepper, cayenne, etc. I finally got a bark like I wanted. I did almost 12 hrs at 225, using pecan as a smoke wood, and didn't pick up the lid once. I'm already planning to cook another, and if I can recreate this one, I'm going to start calling it my 'no knife' brisket. In my experience, each brisket ramps in temp differently, so I chose not to monitor the temp on this one- I slid the probe into it at the near 12 hr mark and knew it was done without even turning the thermometer unit on. I have in the past panicked due to a fast rising brisket and ruined it by pulling it off way too early.
But the two key words when buying a brisket are "whole" and "untrimmed".
 
I suggest cooking 225 - 250 degrees. When the temp in the flat part hits 165, wrap it tightly in a good plastic wrap then in foil. Pull when it hits 195 (probably an hour to hour and a half longer).
 
<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by Steve Abrams:
I suggest cooking 225 - 250 degrees. When the temp in the flat part hits 165, wrap it tightly in a good plastic wrap then in foil. Pull when it hits 195 (probably an hour to hour and a half longer). </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

So using this method is one hour per pound a good estimate or does the foil shorten the cook time more than that?
 
Jerry, here's some PICTURES of the brisket I'm smoking as I type. Just saw you question re: time, mine usually go 1.5 hours even with foiling.
 
1.5 hours??? 13 pound brisket = 20 hours? I guess I better get going if I want this for tomorrow at 1:00 (lunch). It's 6:30pm now. I better go light the chimney. I'll turn up the heat a little once I foil - speed things up a little.
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Jerry, just have some ice cold beer flowing and everything will be cool. I'm sitting at 181 on my brisket and I'm going to go check her for fork tender after I drink this ice cold beer. Let us know how she turns out.
 
<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by Jerry N.:
1.5 hours??? 13 pound brisket = 20 hours? I guess I better get going if I want this for tomorrow at 1:00 (lunch). It's 6:30pm now. I better go light the chimney. I'll turn up the heat a little once I foil - speed things up a little.
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Jerry, The flat won't take 20 hrs to cook. It will be done long before that.
 
I had it on around 7pm. It's just after 8:30 and I'm sitting at just under 250° and I think it will hold steady now through the night. That thing is bigger than the WSM. I had to roll it up at the ends and cover with foil to prevent meat from touching the lid.

I'm going to check it at about 5am tomorrow morning. I'm hoping to foil it around then. That will be about 10 hours. I'm hoping for 3 to 4 hours in foil and then a 3 to 4 hour rest. Looking to eat around noon. We'll see.
 
Well I'm pretty sure I mucked up this brisket. The good news is that the WSM did it's job. It held temp just under 250 all night. I didn't do my job though. I didn't think the brisket would get done so quick so I didn't measure the temp until this morning around 5:30. To say it another way, I didn't put a thermometer in the meat for continual observation of the internal meat temp. I just figured it wouldn't matter until I got closer to having to foil - which I thought would be about now (6am, 11hrs into the cook).

Well the brisket was at 190 to 200+ depending on where I stuck my thermapen. At the end opposite the point it is obvious that it is overdone (dry leather). I'm guessing I have about 1/2 a brisket that is edible. It certainly won't be a total loss but I don't expect to get anything called moist until I get into the middle of the brisket (middle when looked at from slicing from one end to the other).

Of course the problem now is that I need to hold this for 7 hours. Right
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Oh well, better luck next time. Obviously it can't be fool proof if the fool (me) doesn't follow directions which was a little difficult without a thermometer in place. Glad I don't have a large group coming over.
 
The problem isn't so much not measuring the temp sooner nor continuously monitoring the internal. Though most monitor in order to determine the foiling time (160s-170), the big deal is to foil (if you're foiling) at a point where it will have the most significance which, for low/slow brisket cooks, is around the projected halfway point. In your case that would have been ~7-7.5 hours into the cook.

Whether you foil or not, the other thing is to cook the brisket to tender (a probe enters into the flat effortlessly) rather than a specific internal. The advantage, imo, to foiling is that it can help in this regard. Foiling tends to help even out cooking and moisture and makes feeling for tender easier.
 
<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by Jerry N.:
<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by Steve Abrams:
I suggest cooking 225 - 250 degrees. When the temp in the flat part hits 165, wrap it tightly in a good plastic wrap then in foil. Pull when it hits 195 (probably an hour to hour and a half longer). </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

So using this method is one hour per pound a good estimate or does the foil shorten the cook time more than that? </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

Sorry I didn't get back to you sooner. I believe conventional wisdom says 65 to 75 minutes per pound at 225 degrees. I've been using flats more than packers so in my reality its closer to 55 minutes at 225.

Each piece of meat is different due to internal fat. I'd start checking for 160 degrees a little more than 1/3 way into the cook. Then I can better estimate how the brisket is cooking.

In a packer the flat will cook way faster than the point due to fat content and placement. Yes, foiling will speed up the cooking process. That is if the foil is tightly sealed. It won't work as well if the foil has a loose seal. Start checking for doneness of the flat about 1 to 1 1/2 hour after foiling.
 
The point was about the only part of the brisket that was worth eating. It was good - very much like a chuck roast. For the effort, I'd rather just cook a chuck roast. There were a couple areas in the flat that will be good enough to cut up for soup or chili. I think I might just go with a flat next time. We'll see but thanks everyone for the help and advise.
 
Jerry, sorry to hear your brisket didn't turn out to your liking. I had a hell of a time getting briskets down, the only advice I can give you is to get back on that horse. That's the only way I finally got comfortable with them. Here's how my cook yesterday went. 6.5 lb packer on at 8:00 a.m., set top grate at 225. Around 11:15 a.m. I put three racks of ribs on the bottom rack, turned temp up to 235. Around 12:30 - 1:00 p.m. my temps started dropping below 220, opened her up and I'd laid my pit probe on my damn brisket (I'd drank a 12 pack by then). Once properly positioned I got a proper temp reading and my top grate was at 300, damn!!! Temp finally came down around 2:00 p.m. and my brisket was at 165. Foiled her and put her back on. Started checking for fork tender around 180 and she was fork tender at 191 at 5:00 p.m. 9 hours after being on the WSM. Just about 1.5 hours on the WSM. I foiled her, wrapped in a towel and left her in a cooler for 4 hours as we were busy eating ribs. Cut her open around 9:00 p.m. and it appeared she'd reabsorbed all the moister usually in the foil. Moist, tender, smoky a pretty decent effort. This coming from a guy who churned out plenty of shoe leather in his previous cooks . . . get back on that horse
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Here is my 2 cents. This is what works for me. I buy a full packer from Smart and Final. somewhere between 9-11 lbs. Fat side down. Top rack. MM Method. Wine Oak staves or a mix of Hickory and Apple wood chunks. Light chimminey at 8:00pm. Dump on top of coals around 9:00pm. Meat on at 9:00pm. All three vents open, until around 10:00pm. vents at 1/2 open, Brickmann water pan. Probe in meat, set at 165F, go to bed, wake up to alarm at 165F. Spray with some apple juice, wrap meat in foil, meat back in smoker. Reseat probe around 195F, go back to bed. When alarm sounds. take meat off smoker, which usually happens around 9:00am for me. Wrap with heavy towels, for around 3hrs. slice meat around noonish. This works for me on a consistant basis.
 
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