How long does it take a 17 lb brisket to get to 150* internal?


 
JeffB

JeffB

TVWBB Pro
I'm smoking my first brisket this weekend. Considering going low/slow method. Not sure about water in the pan yet, but I still have time to get my ducks in a row on that one.

My question is this -- I understand wrapping in foil at 150* internal is a good idea, but who knows about how long that takes? 17 lb is a large brisket, and I expect it to take a long time to cook.

I'd like to avoid getting up at 3am to stoke the fire, check temps and add fuel, so I'm trying to determine about how long to hit 150* so I can time it well and do that during daylight hours. My idea is to have the brisket ready to eat by around 2 or 3pm Sunday afternoon.

Thoughts?

Thanks!
 
Naturally it's impossible to pinpoint the time because of many factors, and briskets differ greatly. But I will venture a guess that if you run your cooker at 250 degrees, 5 hours will be pretty close. Let me know what happens.
 
JimmyE said:
Naturally it's impossible to pinpoint the time because of many factors, and briskets differ greatly. But I will venture a guess that if you run your cooker at 250 degrees, 5 hours will be pretty close. Let me know what happens.
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Thanks. I will do that. I'm sitting here contemplating my cook and thinking I may aim for getting the brisket on the smoker around 6-7pm Saturday night. That will leave me with plenty of time on Sunday to get it finished cooking before dinner. Even if it takes 20 hours to cook, if I start at 6pm that means I'm almost done cooking by 3pm. Plenty of time to eat even with a 1 hour sitting time post cook.

On a 15+ hour cook, I'm expecting to need to refuel at some point. I have never done the "hot squat" and I'm hoping to avoid it, but we'll see how it goes. :cool:
 
Jeff I've cooked several briskets in the last couple of years, I'm no expert but I have done HH and LNS. Not sure what size your smoker is but I'm guessing a 22 because of the size of the brisket. They will throw an aweful lot of liquid once foiled. I foiled one at 150 but I much prefer to foil in the 160-165 range regardless, plan for lots and lots of juice in the foil.
Anytime I have not used water with an overnight cook the temps have increased on me shortening my cook time.
 
Jeff, curious to hear how it all ended. Brisket has a lot of degrees of freedom, i.e., the Disaster Factor is high. Oddly, that's why it's my favorite thing to cook. I hope yours turned out the way you were hoping.
 
Monty House said:
Jeff, curious to hear how it all ended. Brisket has a lot of degrees of freedom, i.e., the Disaster Factor is high. Oddly, that's why it's my favorite thing to cook. I hope yours turned out the way you were hoping.
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Hi Monty, I plan to post an entire thread with my cook from start to finish including photos. Long story short my brisket finished in just about 11 hours (7:15pm to 6:15am), then pulled and rested for 30 minutes. It was 203* internal when I pulled it. NOT ready at 195* internal -- flat was firm in the center. I 2x foiled it and into a cooler for just under 4 hours. We had some for breakfast this morning along with scrambled eggs and I was blown away by how good it was. Pulled apart in your fingers. Yum. I rubbed with salt and pepper only and that seems to be all that it needed.

I'd give myself an A- for my maiden voyage. Pix to come! Thanks for asking. :wsm:
 
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