How I cooked a brisket


 
Jeff R

Jeff R

TVWBB Pro
First off, this was a first of many for me. First off, I bought a clay disk to give a try. Best invention for the WSM ever. They should include these. I always run my pan empty and can control temps pretty good, but usually do have to settle for a range that she wants to run. This thing ran like an easy bake oven. Locked in where ever I wanted during the cook with all vents closed. Once I got to my temp, when I wanted to bump up the temp, I just opened the door for a short time, then that was my new locked temp.

Next first was a brisket from Restaurant Depot. Until I find a better source, they are my source of choice. Good piece of meat at a good price.

OK, my cook for this. Here are my notes. Maybe they will encourage someone on the fence to try there first one.

12 lb brisket
Hickory/cherry
Big bad beef rub/ Dr BBQ beef injection
12 lit
65 * W 2.5 wind. Very still .

Target temp of 265-275

7:20 meat on. All vents at 1/2
8:00 90/210. All vents at 1/2
8:13 95/235 all vents shut
8:30 111/250 Settle in at 250. open door to kick up a little
8:45 120/262
9:00 127/261
10:00 142/259
11:00 144/264
11:30 149/262
11:40 opened door to bump temp up
12:00 151/266
12:40 bumped up temp to 275
1:30 153/271
2:00 156/268. Gave it some air to bump up
3:15 163/275 wrapped with beef broth 8 hours
5:00 190/271
5:40 196. Probed 200-203 throughout flat. Pulled to rest
10:10 hrs on smoker

6:15 Burnt ends put back on
8:45 pulled off

Best brisket yet. Rub was heavy in pepper flavor
 
Thanks for posting the details. I'll be sure to look for this post for when I do my first brisket. Is there a specific clay saucer everyone gets? Is there a different one for old vs. new WSM or 18.5 vs 22.5"? Thanks!
 
Interesting technique Jeff. Thanks for sharing it.
Beautiful brisket with some delightful knife skills.

Bob
 
I quit using my clay pot as I got sick of foiling that greasy mess all the time. didnt notice much difference either after not running anything in the pan other than foil
 
Chris Bjork said:
I quit using my clay pot as I got sick of foiling that greasy mess all the time. didnt notice much difference either after not running anything in the pan other than foil
Click to expand...

On both my bullets, my clay pot base sits down in the pan...not on the bottom, but not high enough that there's not a small gap between it and the foil pocket that's wrapped over the pan to catch the drippings. So if I do a decent job with the foil, there's no reason for the foil wrapped clay pot base to get messy with drippings. I think I've had to change the cpb foil maybe once, and that's only on the big cooker.

Regarding why I use mine though, while it's obvious that the clay post base isn't the heat sink that water is, it's certainly better than nothing in the pan for stable temps and I can cook faster and get faster bark without water. Anyhow, with the clay base in place, not only are my temps more stable, but it helps temps recover more quickly after foiling or checking meat, cooking in windy conditions, and at the end of a cook when the coal bed is getting low. Obviously though, your results may vary.
 
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Jeff R said:
7:20 meat on. All vents at 1/2
8:00 90/210. All vents at 1/2
8:13 95/235 all vents shut
8:30 111/250 Settle in at 250. open door to kick up a little
8:45 120/262
9:00 127/261
10:00 142/259
11:00 144/264
11:30 149/262
11:40 opened door to bump temp up
12:00 151/266
12:40 bumped up temp to 275
1:30 153/271
2:00 156/268. Gave it some air to bump up
3:15 163/275 wrapped with beef broth 8 hours
5:00 190/271
5:40 196. Probed 200-203 throughout flat. Pulled to rest
10:10 hrs on smoker
Click to expand...


Jeff, what does this mean? In the photos, it appears that the brisket was not foil wrapped, so I'm not sure what this means.

If you pulled and foiled at 156*, and the cooking was done at 196*, 3 hours 40 minutes later, what do you mean by 8 hours?

Please explain as I too want to try my hand at my first brisket.

Thanks!
 
The times listed was the time of day. The picture I showed in the smoker was 3 hours into the cook. It was on the smoker without foil for the first 8 hours of the cook. At 3:15 pm I wrapped in foil with some beef broth for the remainder if the cook. At 5:40 pm I removed from the smoker to rest

Hope that helps and good luck with your first
 
Dave Russell said:
it helps temps recover more quickly after foiling or checking meat, cooking in windy conditions, and at the end of a cook when the coal bed is getting low. Obviously though, your results may vary.
Click to expand...

Funny you should say that. I noticed at the end of my day, I literaly had 3 coals glowing. Every bit of ash had fallen through the grate and the temp as still 260. Obviously the disk was radiating heat. What has been your obsersavation on cooking on the bottom rack about the disk?
 
Jeff, I really don't have much experience with the bottom rack and clay in the pan since I put ribs and chicken on the top and middle grate positions. So far, I've only done a couple of brisket and butt cooks using the top and bottom grate positions on my 22.5", but I don't remember much of a difference. However, I've read a few posts that suggest that the bottom rack cooks faster with clay in the pan. Maybe so, but for some reason I don't think I've seen that yet.
 
To add to my ^^^post, I was thinking about Jeff's question regarding cooking on the bottom rack with clay in the pan and his comments came to mind about how he had good heat in the pit at the end of his cook, although his coal bed was about gone. Don't know about how it works out for a whole cook, but THAT'S when the bottom grate is obviously cooking hotter. Basically, relatively LESS heat is coming up around the sides of the pan from the fire, which means that relatively MORE heat is being released from the clay pot base to make the bottom grate cook at a higher temp. I guess that's kind of obvious, but I would be interested in understanding how this relates to avg. grate temp differences and a cook in it's entirety.
 
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