AndrewClark
New member
Hello everyone!
I had been thinking about how to do a full-packer brisket on my 14.5 WSM for some time. Here's how I ended up doing it:
First - meet my custom "brisket bar". I made this from a simple length of 2" x 1/8" steel flat bar. I used a grinder to cut two notches on the ends that fit around the stock grate hardware and self-lock the brisket bar into place. Then, it was a simple matter of drilling a hole and adding in a stainless steel meat hook to the top to allow the brisket to hang vertically.
This gave me over 17 inches of vertical hanging length, which was just enough for my 12.5 pound brisket.
For the actual cook, I improvised my own modified fuse with a soup can and an aluminum foil wall. With this method, I was able to get about 70 unlit briquettes in and seven small hickory chunks. Ten fully lit briquettes were added for a total starting fuel of 80 briquettes.
Then, I mounted the brisket to the hooks. I took a play from the PBC guys and made a daisy chain with one extra S-hook, which gave me two solid contact points. It held the brisket really well.
My 80 briquettes were running out of steam at about the eight hour mark. I probably could have gotten another couple hours of heat, but it's a known issue that the 14.5 can't do super long cooks. I was in the midst of the stall hovering at around 160 degrees. Fortunately, I put on my welding gloves, unstacked the WSM and set it aside, shook out the charcoal basket, dumped the extra ash into my Performer, and then gathered the remaining lit coals in one spot and added more unlit briquettes to the WSM. Basically a Minion Method hot-swap that only took about two minutes to do.
At the ten hour mark, I was concerned that It was becoming a bit too dry. This was my first brisket after all; I really didn't know what I was doing. I took the brisket off the hooks, removed the brisket bar, foil wrapped the brisket, and put it back in the WSM on the lower grate for another two and a half hours. The brisket had shrank enough for me to shove it inside the 14.5. By the time I took it out of the WSM, allowed it to sit in the foil wrap, and then unwrapped it and began slicing, a total of 14 hours went into the brisket. Probe temperature was at 205 when I finally opened the foil; I had probably let it cook an hour too long. For my first time, the results were really, really great. My only seasoning was a 2:1 mix of kosher salt to black pepper and lots of hickory smoke.
Cooking this was a major BBQ bucket-list item for me and gave me a lot of confidence in doing other big cuts in the future. The 14.5 was rock solid at around 225 - 240 throughout the entire cook. Can't speak highly enough about Weber products.
I had been thinking about how to do a full-packer brisket on my 14.5 WSM for some time. Here's how I ended up doing it:
First - meet my custom "brisket bar". I made this from a simple length of 2" x 1/8" steel flat bar. I used a grinder to cut two notches on the ends that fit around the stock grate hardware and self-lock the brisket bar into place. Then, it was a simple matter of drilling a hole and adding in a stainless steel meat hook to the top to allow the brisket to hang vertically.
This gave me over 17 inches of vertical hanging length, which was just enough for my 12.5 pound brisket.
For the actual cook, I improvised my own modified fuse with a soup can and an aluminum foil wall. With this method, I was able to get about 70 unlit briquettes in and seven small hickory chunks. Ten fully lit briquettes were added for a total starting fuel of 80 briquettes.
Then, I mounted the brisket to the hooks. I took a play from the PBC guys and made a daisy chain with one extra S-hook, which gave me two solid contact points. It held the brisket really well.
My 80 briquettes were running out of steam at about the eight hour mark. I probably could have gotten another couple hours of heat, but it's a known issue that the 14.5 can't do super long cooks. I was in the midst of the stall hovering at around 160 degrees. Fortunately, I put on my welding gloves, unstacked the WSM and set it aside, shook out the charcoal basket, dumped the extra ash into my Performer, and then gathered the remaining lit coals in one spot and added more unlit briquettes to the WSM. Basically a Minion Method hot-swap that only took about two minutes to do.
At the ten hour mark, I was concerned that It was becoming a bit too dry. This was my first brisket after all; I really didn't know what I was doing. I took the brisket off the hooks, removed the brisket bar, foil wrapped the brisket, and put it back in the WSM on the lower grate for another two and a half hours. The brisket had shrank enough for me to shove it inside the 14.5. By the time I took it out of the WSM, allowed it to sit in the foil wrap, and then unwrapped it and began slicing, a total of 14 hours went into the brisket. Probe temperature was at 205 when I finally opened the foil; I had probably let it cook an hour too long. For my first time, the results were really, really great. My only seasoning was a 2:1 mix of kosher salt to black pepper and lots of hickory smoke.
Cooking this was a major BBQ bucket-list item for me and gave me a lot of confidence in doing other big cuts in the future. The 14.5 was rock solid at around 225 - 240 throughout the entire cook. Can't speak highly enough about Weber products.
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