It's been a while (6# brisket flat / a butt rub for Jane)

[Clint]

I found a brisket flat in the freezer the other day that I'd forgot about - I made Pastrami with the point just before St Paddy's Day several months ago.

I thought I'd mix up a rub but then I tasted a container of A butt rub for Jane and thought "that'll do".

I don't remember ever doing anything but High Heat briskets.... never done a flat, just full packers at >twice this one's weight. I'm no expert with brisket, I haven't used my WSM in quite a while, and I have no idea what to expect. I was pleasantly surprised to find that storing my wsm upside-down with the cover on left it just as clean as when I put it up a couple months ago, only having to brush out a cobweb---the waterpan was still shiny!

Brisket is always such a treat for me so I hope it turns out well!

Here it is rubbed:

On the cooker:

And the heatermeter (just a remote thermometer, no controls):

 

[Charles H.]

I smoked a flat a few months ago on the gasser and it turned out great.
I am confident you will have some fine vittles in a 'few' hours.

 

[Clint]

Thanks Charles! I'm sure it'll get eaten

I'm watching keeping an eye on it while watching Halloween (2007, Rob Zombie's version):

I want to add more smoke wood but I don't want to ruin the pretty graph!

 

[Charles H.]

A flat line graph is so plain, add the wood and give that graph some character.

 

[Charles H.]

BTW I hate scary clowns

 

[Clint]

You know, I was thinking the same thing - maybe throw on a bunch of baby red potatoes, and close a vent (all 3 are @ around 33% open, if that). All were wide open until just a few minutes after 10am. I'll add an updated pic to this post in 30-60 minutes or so

 

[Clint]

You can see at around 11:30am (it's 2:10 MST now) I added more smoke wood and threw on some baby red potatoes....I wondered why it was taking so long to get back up to temp (pit temp was set on brisket). I checked it again at 12:30 & went to the gym (started strength training ~3 weeks ago). I normally don't take my phone in with me but I had it in my pocket by mistake.... I saw 300F lol.... "that'll help it get past the stall" I thought. I stopped at the grocery store to get some rolls on the way back.... wasn't too worried about it at all since I never monitor it anyway. BTW, dome temp is holding steady @ ~225F no matter what the charts have said....so far. I got back at 1:30, pulled the potatoes, threw on some more wood chips (mesquite), and closed a 2nd vent.... that leaves one vent open @ 33%. It's slowly creeping down, currently at 279.5f.

Here's a pic of it at 1:30pm:

 

[Clint]

And Done!

This thing didn't move much from where it is here and 225F:

Straight off the smoker:

I didn't let it rest, just carved right into it:

Time to eat! The sandwich was best:

A picture tells a thousand words? Where you see the food spike, I foiled the brisket in attempt to get it more tender without drying it out so I let the probe dangle...went inside & thought of a way to have a probe inside the foil... It didn't release any liquid into the foil, and I didn't add any.

 

[Tony R]

The bark looks great!!!
Good looking meal Clint

 

[ChuckO]

That's a dang good looking Brisket, I'd be thrilled with that. So what caused the 50 degree spike between 1700 & 1800?

 

[Clint]

That's a dang good looking Brisket, I'd be thrilled with that. So what caused the 50 degree spike between 1700 & 1800?

If you mean on the cooker temp, that's when I started checking for tenderness, if you mean the meat (green line), I always read about how hard it is to do a flat without making it tough/dry, so I foiled it and just left the probe in the cooker....... few minutes later I thought it'd be nice to watch the temp while the flat was wrapped in foil...

So probably 17:10 I started checking, & each of the 3 peaks after the initial jump were where I checked too..... IIRC

***One thing I found out - see how the slices look a little dry? I tore into it about an hour later and the slices looked a lot better - the only thing missing from this was a smoke ring but not the smoke taste - I nailed that as far as I'm concerned. And the pork rub worked perfectly too - think I'll try Bigger Badder Beef rub on the next one but no regrets

 

[Enrico Brandizzi]

Great looking flat! Complimenti.

 

[Charles H.]

If you ended up happy with the meat that is all you can ask for.
It looks beautiful in the pics.