Gooood morning VWBB. First all night brisket!


 
J

Jeremy The Hippie

New member
Good morning all! Starting hour 8 of my all nighter and first ever brisket. 12.5 untrimmed weight. Temp is sitting at 160 and 18" smokey mountain is grooving right along. All I have to say is, thank god for coffee!

Was a good night. Had one moment of panic when the temp started climbing on me for some unknown reason but otherwise all is well. Even snuck in a couple hours of "sleep". I figure I'm smack dab in the middle of the stall and might be wrapping here soon. I'm still debating that. I know everyone has different opinions on it so I won't even ask lol.

Will try to post photos but I have a feeling here in a bit delirium will be setting in. All I know is that every now and the I catch a wiff and damn...that smells good.


Happy 4th! Hope everyone has a groovy, safe and very tasty 4th!

Jeremy
 
I'm in the exact same boat. Not my first brisket, though. I put it on at 8pm central and now its 10:21am and I'm at 171 internal. This thing is a beast. Its a 15.5 untrimmed and not much fat came off in the trimming. My last was 14.5 untrimmed and was done by now. I'm typically a non-wrapper but I definitely crutched this bad-boy hoping to eat some time today! I'm cooking at 225 to 250, probably closer to 250. I think I got about 5 hours last night and a small nap this morning. You never know how these things are going to cook. That 14.5 didn't stall at all. I'm planning on posting some pics too if this thing turns out well. Good luck with your cook!
 
I posted some pics in the photos forum. Brisket turned out great. I wound up crutching it which I typically don't do. Temp got stuck at 172 and wouldn't budge and my bark was black. I overcooked it just slightly. The flat was being stubborn with the poke test. I probably won't cook one that big for a while. This was my first cook with the Cajon bandit door. I love that thing! Temp control was super easy even without water in the pan.
 
I'm with you on the CB door Dustin. I just put one on mine last week. No more weird spikes. And when I adjust the vents, they react.
 
James H said:
Both.....Howd it go?
Click to expand...

Well I gotta say first off...if it wasn't for this site it would have been a disaster. It's funny I've seen the "don't overthink it" and "you'll panic at such and such a point..." and that was entirely true for me.

I'll follow up here shortly with photos, a description of my cook and some questions. Thanks guys!
 
So I started the fire roughly 12:45AM. Untrimmed it was just short of 13lbs and I did the recommended trimming from the videos I saw on YouTube etc.
sj.hippie

Rub was based of the Dalmatian Rub. I added some garlic powder and paprika as well. Not a real measurable amount, but just enough to be noticed. Was really happy with the taste. At first when I tasted it before I rubbed I was worried it would be too salty but that wasn't the case.
by sj.hippie

I got the fire up to about 200 with the minion method and the meat went on at about 1:15. The temp dropped from 210 to 120 pretty quickly. <insert panic #1> I seriously had no idea what was going on. I knew I was tired but this just seemed silly to me. I decided I had to open the smoker to check what the hell was going on...So from my notes I have this "Probe….Note to self…probe can jiggle. Was leaning up against cool meat. DOH"

Got that fixed and everything got back on a normal track by 2:00...
by sj.hippie

Everything seemed to be going great, I was sitting between 235-250 for a couple of hours. I did have a panic #2 when I saw some drip out of the bottom vents and worried that the water pan was boiling over or something was happening but after checking inside again, I think it was just condensation/meat juice from touching the sides. All was well so I had a beer to ease panic #2 back to normal haha

Sun up and extremely happy that coffee exists. I did manage about 2.5hrs of sleep and maybe a bit of nodding off next to the smoker like a kid on christmas morning. I was just about to hit 160 at 7:00.
by sj.hippie,

The temp held nicely at 145 all morning and by 11:45 the internal temp hit 170deg. It was here that I had panic #3. My original plan was to watch the temp and wrap if it was taking longer than I thought. But since the stall didn't last too long I thought I would go for it unwrapped. When I checked it at 180 it was noon and as I was about to probe it for tenderness I noticed the bark on a good chunk of the flat looked really dried out. I of course panicked thinking I had already created a 2x4 made of leather. I decided to wrap it quickly with some of the drippings to try to "save it"
by sj.hippie,

At about 1:30pm the temp had hit 190 and I probed it in several spots and damn...it was like butter. I was totally shocked. At 180 I had resistance and thought I had overcooked it already. This was awesome! Stupid me tho, I decided to grab a quick shower since guests were coming over. When I was out the temp was 195 and to me was perfect when probed. So I wrapped it up and into the cooler it went. I celebrated with what I thought was an entirely appropriate adult beverage. 2:00 and I was DONE.
by sj.hippie,

Our guests were a bit late and I carved it at about 5:00. The flat to me was extremely tender but on the dry side. The point was spectacular. I had no leftovers from the point and everyone had 2nds and thirds so I guess it was a success.
by sj.hippie,

Me being me...I wasn't totally happy. The flat seemed too dry and maybe overcooked. I'm not sure where I could improve so hence....my long story above. I think next time I'll wrap at the stall. I dunno. I'm on the fence about that. Otherwise, it's great to have the first one under my belt. I may have had the book smarts but there is no comparison for actual hands on. Now that I know how at least it kinda works I can't wait till my next one!
 
My very first serious brisket cook I did on an offset. I wrapped it at 150 with a 1/4 cup of beef broth. Rub was salt and pepper. That is the single most juicy brisket I've ever had. Do I every wrap that early anymore? No. I like the flavor I get from not wrapping and the bark from wrapping late. It's all about the tradeoffs and juggling these variables. There's no telling cooking these briskets because every one is different. Some stall forever. Some, like the one I cooked a few weeks ago didn't stall at all and was ready at 10 degrees lower temp than normal.

Bottom line though, that brisket you cooked looks awesome!
 
Thanks again guys. I'll go with the fact that the point disappeared and the flat was gone after just a couple of mornings of brisket and eggs. I can't wait to do it again now. I've got the bug.

Probably go with just some ribs and chicken this weekend. Thanks again for all your pointers, tips and props. I love this!
 
Way to go! Brisket looks great. I think my favorite pic is the one with the smoker in background and the Maverick and coffee. That's what does it for me on long cooks, knowing people are waking up to the incredible aroma in the neighborhood. Haha. Fantastic!
 
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