Smoke #10 Swinging for the Fences - 2 Briskets


 
G

Gene_N

TVWBB Fan
I just bought 2 briskets totaling 31 lbs; I expect the trimmed weight to be 22-24 lbs. One flat is going to a poker buddy who will serve it Xmas Eve; I will save one cap for me then I will carve up the remaining and give to my neighbors. Is 3/4 lb slab of home smoked brisket a nice present? Because of my family commitments, this will be done this weekend.

This is the first time cooking 2 briskets and will be the first time using the 2nd rack. Another first is using a 14" clay saucer in the water pan. I hope the saucer will provide longer smoke time at temps > 210F than using 6L water but the 2nd brisket will null that. The plan is to smoke (4 ea apple/cherry chunks) in the WSM @ 225-275F until the dome temp < 210F then I will pull, pan, wrap in foil and finish off individually in my Genesis and kitchen oven @ 300F until internal meat temp is 205F. 20lbs of KO using Minion method with the Modified Louis Charles Henley rub. Towel wrap and rest for 75-90 mins in a cooler then slice, wrap in plastic wrap, foil then room cool, frig cool then freeze. I will monitor with my ET-732 and take regular notes while I do other house and yard work and finish shopping online.

I appreciate any words of wisdom & suggestions. :) I guess my first question is should I smoke them separately? I assume the top rack will be hotter so the post cook activities is staggered.
 
Update #1 - 75 mins in. Total trimmed weight is 23.1 lbs. Lid temp 245F, top rack 304, top rack meat (12.5lb) is 102F. Lower vents are 25/25/0; top vent 100. Hopefully I get 225-250 temps until 10pm EDT will be all done by 2am Sun.
 
Update #2 - 4 hrs in. Lid temp 240F, top rack 304F, meat temp 151F. Lower vents 25/25/50; top 100. I opened one vent to 50 because the outdoor temp dropped 4 degrees to 47 and the wind picked up. The clay saucer is performing as advertised and requires no maintenance. By this time, I usually added 2L of hot water to the pan.
 
Screw the internals for determining done. Cook till tender - or almost so, letting residual cooking finish them.

I don't cook separately when doing two. Depending on sizes, I might rotate one for the other on the grates once (or twice) during cooking but that's it. (Well, I used to do that when I cooked briskets low/slow. I've been cooking them at high heat for some time now so don't bother rotating.) If you are going to finish in the oven and foil anyway, no need to rotate. Cook to an internal of ~160, then foil and finish in the oven.
 
K Kruger said:
Screw the internals for determining done. Cook till tender - or almost so, letting residual cooking finish them.
Click to expand...

Cook to tender? On brisket, when I insert a temp probe, does tender feel like a hot knife thru butter? As this time (10 smokes), I would prefer to trust technology (ET-732 & a simple timer) to give me indicators to pull and rest.
 
Last edited:
Gene_N said:
Cook to tender? On brisket, when I insert a temp probe, does tender feel like a hot knife thru butter? As this time (10 smokes), I would prefer to trust technology (ET-732 & a simple timer) to give me indicators to pull and rest.
Click to expand...
And maybe that will work and maybe not. Internal temp does not cause tenderness - nor does it necessarily indicate it. Might. Might not. A probe going into the center of the flat effortlessly does. (For near done, there will be just a little resistance.)
 
Update #3 - 7 hrs in. Lid temp 230F, top rack 291F, meat temp 156F. Lower vents are now 100/100/50; top 100. I tapped each leg; the top brisket temp has stalled, 151-156F the last 3 hours. Maybe I can get another 2 hours before I pull, foil and finish off in my Genesis and kitchen oven. I am indeed impressed with the clay saucer. I hope my foiling job is containing the juice so I can use in the sauce.
 
Update #4 9 hrs. Pulled from the WSM; internal temps with Maverick Redi-Check Pro range from 164 (flat) to 178 (cap). Both are panned and foiled fat side up to finish 300F for 2 hrs before I check. Cleanup with the saucer was a breeze and I was able to save the drippings for the sauce :). Now I wish there was a way to burn the dried food off the racks.
 
Last edited:
Update last. All sliced/wrapped in plastic wrap cooling in the frig and cleaned up at 0430. Total eatable weight 12.18 lbs which is 39.9% yield from purchased weight. My oven and grill were adjusted to 350 not 300 and the edges of the smaller brisket were dried out; the bark was too hard and crusty for my tastes so I cut it away. I rested the meat for 90 mins, both flats came out buttah!! My poker buddy will get a 3lb 10oz flat for his Xmas Eve dinner.

The < 40% yield really surprised me, no doubt meat quality and trimming played a role. My past results with smoking 5-6 hours & finishing have given me a 48-54% yield. This was a 9 hour smoke in the WSM. Question: does cooking brisket HH generally provide a higher yield?

During this 14.5 hour exercise, I cleaned up my yard, downloaded & cataloged 500+ images from my camera, post-processed kid 5 pics for the family Xmas cards, grilled 2 gyros for dinner and bored everyone to death with my posts. :rolleyes:
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

 

Back
Top