small brisket flat


 
J

Joe Tacoma

TVWBB Member
I have 5 cooks under my belt now on the 18.5. So far I have done a few butts, some spare ribs, beef short ribs, and chicken. I have never cooked a brisket and would like to start off doing a small brisket flat. When I say small I am talking 2.5lb-2.75lb flat cut, because this is the size my grocery store sells. Has anyone ever cooked a flat cut that small and do you guys think it is worth doing? If so I would like some advice please. What temp, how long it takes, internal temp?
 
Joe, do like any brisket, smoke it at 225-250F(try low temp), a small flat like that maybe about 3 hours will be at 160F, i like to foil all my briskets, you can add a bit more rub, apple juice, beef broth or there is people who add beer. Wait for 200-205 internal, remove from the smoker, let it rest for about 1 hour or 2.
 
Sebass,
Thanks for the reply and advice. I am planning to try one next weekend. I will slice it once its done, the reason I tell you that is because I have actually never had bbq brisket sliced. I went to a bbq restaurant here about 2 years ago and order the brisket, but they served it shredded with sauce on it. I asked myself, what the hell is this? That place has gone out of business. Can't wait to give this a try.
 
When I think of a small brisket flat, my mind automatically goes to pastrami. Home made pastrami is sooo good. :)
 
Don't be surprised when that small flat takes much longer to cook than you think it would. Cook time is determined by thickness of the meat, not by weight. Also, you might opt to go by feel instead of a specific temp to determine when it is done. Starting at about 180ish, test by sticking it with a probe or meat thermometer. When it goes in and out with no resistance, like a knife through room temp butter, the brisket is ready.
 
I've done a few 3-3 1/2 pounders, had them done in 4 hours foiled, and sometimes they take up to 6 hours if you don't foil at all. That's running 225-275*. I try for more bark so I don't like to foil them personally.
 
Joe;
This might help:

http://tvwbb.com/showthread.php?53073-Here-s-my-4th-of-July-on-the-14-5-quot-WSM&highlight=Faux+Pastrami

I get about 50% yield out of a small flat or point. The meat is REALLY good. In fact, I will probably have a pastrami sandwich tomorrow from my 14.5".

FWIW
Keep on smokin',
Dale53:wsm:

 
well here is what happened.

Put the brisket on at 3:15pm at 226 degrees, temp kept going up and down between 205 and 250 for the next 3 hours. The internal temp stayed at 160 for about an hour and it was already on 730pm. I let the pit temp just rise up to 300 because I felt the meat was already going to be dried out. I took it off once internal temp hit 190 at around 8:10pm and let it rest for 20 minutes. I sliced it against the grain, had nice thin smoke ring but the meat was dry and tough. Thanks for the link anyway Rob. I think the next brisket I attempt will be minimum 4lbs so I can slice and eat in sandwiches.
 
Joe Tacoma said:
well here is what happened.

Put the brisket on at 3:15pm at 226 degrees, temp kept going up and down between 205 and 250 for the next 3 hours. The internal temp stayed at 160 for about an hour and it was already on 730pm. I let the pit temp just rise up to 300 because I felt the meat was already going to be dried out. I took it off once internal temp hit 190 at around 8:10pm and let it rest for 20 minutes. I sliced it against the grain, had nice thin smoke ring but the meat was dry and tough. Thanks for the link anyway Rob. I think the next brisket I attempt will be minimum 4lbs so I can slice and eat in sandwiches.
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Joe, it's going to sound hard to believe, but I'd wager that your brisket was under cooked. Dry and tough = undercooked. Dry and falling apart = over cooked.
 
DaveW said:
Don't be surprised when that small flat takes much longer to cook than you think it would. Cook time is determined by thickness of the meat, not by weight. Also, you might opt to go by feel instead of a specific temp to determine when it is done. Starting at about 180ish, test by sticking it with a probe or meat thermometer. When it goes in and out with no resistance, like a knife through room temp butter, the brisket is ready.
Click to expand...

DaveW said:
Joe, it's going to sound hard to believe, but I'd wager that your brisket was under cooked. Dry and tough = undercooked. Dry and falling apart = over cooked.
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I believe Dave nailed it on the head on both of these. Believe me I learned the hard way. My first one came out dry and tough because I believed the thermometer. Instead of listening to my instincts and my sense of touch. Better luck next time.
 
End of February I did my first brisket on my 18.5 WSM

I also wanted to go small (and cheap) for this first try - got a 3.4lb flat cut

And I went the 'hi temp' route as I didn't want to have to wait until everyone gave up and gone to bed.

Salt and pepper rub only

No water in the bowl.

Full minion load and full chimney to start.

Tried for a consistent dome temp at 250F (with the grate temp being higher-my calibration 'tests' showed that the grate was on average 30-35F higher than the dome).

From the time I lit the chimney to when I sliced to eat, it was 6 1/2 hours which included smoking until internal temp was 160F, then a wrap w/ some water and left over rub to get to 200F, then a bit of time back on the WSM to 'firm' the bark and a full hour of rest before slicing against the grain.

Results were pretty good for my first brisket on the WSM.
brisket-2-27-16.jpg


If I had to critique it and make changes next time, I'd pull the meat out of the wrap at 195F, then monitor the temp when back on the WSM while 'firming' the bark for final internal temp of 200F. I say this because on day 2 eating left overs, it was juusstt a tad dry.

ymmv.
 
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thanks fellas, it sure did not fall apart lol. I poked the brisket with my finger and it felt tough, I poked it with the therm probe and it felt tough and therm did not go in without resistance. It did not feel done at all, but it had been on there for 5 hours and it was a small piece so I went with what the thermometer read. If I cook another 2.75lb brisket I will just go by feel and pull it off once it feels a lot more tender.
 
Joe Tacoma said:
thanks fellas, it sure did not fall apart lol. I poked the brisket with my finger and it felt tough, I poked it with the therm probe and it felt tough and therm did not go in without resistance. It did not feel done at all, but it had been on there for 5 hours and it was a small piece so I went with what the thermometer read. If I cook another 2.75lb brisket I will just go by feel and pull it off once it feels a lot more tender.
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Joe, this doesn't just apply to small 2.75lb briskets. Brisket can be "done" at anywhere between 180 - 210+ degrees. It depends on a number of variables.
 
Joe Tacoma said:
Dave, what are those variables? I will attempt another brisket down the road, probably a larger one.
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Joe, we can start with quality of the brisket. Prime brisket will finish at a lower temp than Choice. Select will finish at a higher temp. Next would be chamber temp. Brisket cooked "hot n fast" will have a higher finished IT than brisket cooked at a lower chamber temp like 225. If you wanted to, you could cook a brisket at 180 degree chamber temp and it's finished temp will be in the 170s, yet it will still be tender and juicy. Kind of a subset of this is one's ability to hold a consistent chamber temp and figuring out what the "average" temp was. Example, say your temps bounce around between 225 and 250. Nothing wrong with that. But, on one cook the temp might have been closer to 225 80% of the time. On another cook, the chamber might have been closer to 250 for 80% of the time. Difference might be that one brisket averaged about 230 chamber temp while the other averaged 245. Not a big difference to be sure, but it would change both the cook time and the finish IT to some degree.
 
Thanks Dave. I cooked a Choice brisket. next time I will try cooking it at a lower temp, say 205-215? Does the WSM hold temps that low well?
 
Joe Tacoma said:
Thanks Dave. I cooked a Choice brisket. next time I will try cooking it at a lower temp, say 205-215? Does the WSM hold temps that low well?
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You're welcome Joe. Not sure how a WSM does at holding that temp range, but I think you are misunderstanding the point that I have been trying to make. To be clear, don't use IT to determine when the brisket is done. Take a meat probe and poke it into the thickest part of the flat. When it goes in and out with almost no resistance, like a knife through room temp butter, the brisket is ready. This applies to all briskets, regardless of quality or chamber temp it was cooked at.
 
Dave,
I am talking about the cooking temp being 205-215, not the IT of the meat. The meat still had resistance when I took it off the grill, next time I plan to determine doneness by feel.
 
Joe Tacoma said:
Dave,
I am talking about the cooking temp being 205-215, not the IT of the meat. The meat still had resistance when I took it off the grill, next time I plan to determine doneness by feel.
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My apologies Joe. The way I read the post, it seemed that you thought higher chamber temp might have been part of the problem and that you had to go with a lower chamber temp to be successful. Running at 205 - 215, it's going to take a looooong time to cook any brisket, even if you wrap with foil. Personally, I run with chamber temps between 250 and 300ish. The higher temps helps power through what is known as "the stall" and gets the brisket done quicker. One issue though is that you really have to pay attention near the end as the "window" for when the brisket is done is very small. 15-20 mins too long and the brisket can be ruined. At 205-215, the window is much wider, so there's some wiggle room.
 
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