New brisket method Low And Easy

[Yair Halamish]

I have smoked a brisket once on my E6, and had may times that I almost done a brisket, but just didn't have the time and attention to go for it.

I think that's a shame, and decided to just do it with minimal effort and see how it goes. Worse case I'll have dry brisket.

I call this the Low And Easy method.

My setup

• 1 bag of regular charcoal from the grocery store.
• 1 redhead assistance.
• Small pieces of oak (leftover firewood) + a chunk of whiskey barrel (I assume oak).
• 2 briskets, about 11lb each.
• Kosher salt / Costco ground black pepper. By hand, did not measured.
• Charcoal layed on wood pieces between wcb.
• Disposable alumnium pan filles with water.

LIghted middle of charcoal with oil socked paper. Covered and put water pan on top.
when BBQ reached 200F, added briskets (stright from refrigirator) and let temperature rise to about 280F, then put bottom vent at smoke position and top vent at 1/3 open. It went down to about 230F.
My plan is to keep an eye on it for one hour, if trmp is stable between 225-275, just let it do it's magic all night and see what happens in the morning.

I will either get an amazing brisket, or an amazing failure both are better than not doing brisket at all.

 

[Timothy F. Lewis]

Should be good!

 

[Brett-EDH]

You’ll hold 225° with that water pan for at least 6 hours. Then your water will be gone.

If you wrap at 172° you should be able to do those briskets in 8-8.5 hours (202°+) for probe tender.

 

[Yair Halamish]

Well, I went out for two hours, BBQ temp was stable at 245F, came back and BBQ temp still at 245F but briskets are at 155F after total cook time of three hours.

I was expecting a lot more time before they reach 155.

Should I expect shorter overall cook time in your opinion?

It is now 11PM my time, I was planning on checking around 8am, but may need to check earlier.

 

[Brett-EDH]

Well, I went out for two hours, BBQ temp was stable at 245F, came back and BBQ temp still at 245F but briskets are at 155F after total cook time of three hours.

I was expecting a lot more time before they reach 155.

Should I expect shorter overall cook time in your opinion?

It is now 11PM my time, I was planning on checking around 8am, but may need to check earlier.

I’d plan a check at the point and mid for 172° at around 6 hours in from my experience.

I highly recommend a paper wrap and with tallow if you made/have any. From 172° to 202°+ will be in 90-120 minutes after the wrap.

For Passover I did a 13# trimmed weight brisket in 7.5 IIRC. Check my Passover 2023 thread for details.

 

[Yair Halamish]

I’d plan a check at the point and mid for 172° at around 6 hours in from my experience.

I highly recommend a paper wrap and with tallow if you made/have any. From 172° to 202°+ will be in 90-120 minutes after the wrap.

For Passover I did a 13# trimmed weight brisket in 7.5 IIRC. Check my Passover 2023 thread for details.

Brett, you are an expert on WSK brisket, but my aim is different. Assuming I don't wrap or change anything in the setting, do you think I can get a decent brisket?
If I don't wrap, how long (about) in your opinion it may take to get done?

 

[Brett-EDH]

Brett, you are an expert on WSK brisket, but my aim is different. Assuming I don't wrap or change anything in the setting, do you think I can get a decent brisket?
If I don't wrap, how long (about) in your opinion it may take to get done?

You don’t need to wrap. I just like to. I’d estimate that going from 172°F at around 6 hours, you’ll need 2-3 hours more, at 245°F to get to 202°+ probe tender.

The key is your water will evaporate around 5-6 hours in. All depends on how much water you started with. The key to your lazy low and slow is the water tray which will smooth out temps over time. So check your water level at 5 hours in from start.

 

[Yair Halamish]

12 hours into the cook

Checked water level about 6 hours into the cook, did not run out but added more water just in case.
I did run out of charcoal, twice. The charcoal I have now is not so good for LAS, it's either small chunks of low quality, or high quality but very big chunks.

 

[Yair Halamish]

Thank you, Brett for the tips.

 

[Brett-EDH]

You’re very welcome. What was your final cook time in length? And yes, any long cook, you should fill the charcoal area 100% and just recycle the unused coals. That runway method you did usually lasts around 5 hours. I do that method for ribs, which usually run 3.5 hours on the WSK.

 

[Yair Halamish]

First brisket took 17 hours in the WSK + 45 minutes in the cooler (people were hungry).
It came out very good, the flat was not fully temder but still very good.

I changed my mind and wrapped the other one when it reached stall. I added some water to the wrap which in retrospect I shouldn't have. It is now at 202F and almost ready to go to the cooler.

 

[Yair Halamish]

That runway method you did usually lasts around 5 hours. I do that method for ribs, which usually run 3.5 hours on the WSK.

Last (and it was my first) time that I did a brisket, I used the runway method with carbacho charcoal and had 1/3 leftover after 13 hours. I now realize that this was an exception and not the norm.