Brisket

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scooby

Fire Starter
Original poster
Oct 24, 2012
57
17
So I'm planning on doing a brisket this weekend and I want to get a 10-12 lb. prime grade brisket (2.97/lb at HEB). I've got the seasoning/rub thing down and I'm planning on tossing it into the MES overnight with my AMNPS loaded up with hickory. Planning on setting it at 225 for the whole night. Should I fill the water pan up? Fat side up? Down? I've read enough to be confused.
 
I smoke my brisket in a pan, sitting in it's own juices. I take the trimmed off fat & put it on a rack above the brisket so it drips on the brisket all night long, basting it & keeping it moist. I use water in the water pan, some don't. My preference is fat side down.

I suggest that however you do it, you take notes so the next time if you decide to change something you will know exactly what you did the last time.

Good luck,

Al 
 
Thanks Al. A few questions though. Fat side down to protect the meat from the heat rising up from the element? I'm thinking about putting the probe in the brisket before it even goes on the rack. Is that a good idea or should I wait until I get up in the morning and then take a temp? Does putting it in a pan in Hibbett it from getting smoke? If so is it enough to even matter? I'd like to finish with a good bark on it. Will the pan prevent that? Thanks for all the tips. I'm looking forward to my first brisket.
 
Thanks Al. A few questions though. Fat side down to protect the meat from the heat rising up from the element?  I put it fat side down because the fat on the rack above is going to drip on the brisket, no need for a fat cap. I also trim almost all the fat off the fat cap.   I'm thinking about putting the probe in the brisket before it even goes on the rack. Is that a good idea or should I wait until I get up in the morning and then take a temp? You can do it either way, I usually wait until morning. Then put the probe in & start basting the brisket with the pan juices every hour or so. At this point the fat on the rack above will be all rendered out & you can just get rid of it.   Does putting it in a pan in Hibbett it from getting smoke? In my opinion is does not, the pan juices are very smokey & keep the brisket smokey as well.   If so is it enough to even matter? Not in my opinion. I'd like to finish with a good bark on it. Will the pan prevent that?  No you will have a wonderful bark on 3 sides, with a very juicy & tender brisket. Basting the brisket makes the bark thicker. You can if you want flip the brisket over about half way thru, but I don't do that & I don't think it's needed. Thanks for all the tips. I'm looking forward to my first brisket.
 
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Unlike a Butt where, because of its's fairly round shape, most of the meat is exposed to heat and smoke then all that bark with smoke flavor gets mixed in to all the meat.  A Brisket has all the flavor on the edge. While a pan makes clean up and handling convenient you will sacrifice smoke and bark on the large portion of the brisket sitting in the pan. Fat up or down don't matter in an MES as the heat is fairly even more than a few inches from the coil. Trim any fat you will not eat, I like the taste so I leave 1/4" or so on the meat. The FDA and CDC does not have a single record of Food Poisoning from sticking a Therm Probe in Raw Meat, but if you will sleep better, you can probe in the morning. Skip water in the Water pan but a pan for Au Jus is a good idea...JJ

Smokey Au Jus

1- Lg Onion,

4-5 Carrots,

3-4 Ribs Celery

3-4 Peeled Cloves of Garlic

Toss them in a pan under the Beef, and let the whole deal Smoke for one hour,

THEN add 4-6 Cups Beef Broth,

2 Tbs Tomato Paste,

1/2tsp Dry Thyme (4-5 sprigs Fresh)

1-2 ea Bayleaf

Finish the Smoking process to the IT you want. 

While the Roast is resting, dump the pan juices veggies and all into a 2-3Qt Sauce pot and add 1Cup Red Wine, something you like to drink, and bring the Jus to a boil, lower the heat and simmer 20-30 minutes. Strain out the veggies and let the Jus rest a minute or so for the Fat to rise. Skim off the bulk of the fat then using strips of paper towel laid on top of the Jus, drag quickly across to take off the last little bit of fat.

The purpose of Smoking the Vegetable for 1 hour before adding the Broth and Herbs is...The Smoked vegetables Roast in the Dry heat concentrating their Flavors and Sweetness giving the finished Jus a Richer, Deeper, Full Flavor.

Serve the sliced Beef Au Jus or thicken the Jus to make Gravy.

NOTE: If you are using this recipe with Brisket or a long smoke, additional Water will have to be added periodically to maintain the proper volume. Do not add more Broth as repeated addition and reduction will make the Au Jus too salty..
 
So here are the pics of the Prime 10 pounder I picked up for 28.00 today. Trimmed the fat and used 2tb of kosher salt per side then wrapped in plastic for 24 hours. Going to hit it with a rub right before I toss it in tomorrow night. Thinking it's close to 7 lbs +/- after trimming so I'm worried about when I should put it in. I'd like to be to the point where I can pull it by 7am and then wrap it up in foil and towels before putting it in a cooler for a few hours.

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So here I am.......sitting in the living room at 7am drinking a cup of coffee and catching up on the news. Wondering if it's NORMAL for my brisket to be at 163 after TEN hours in my MES at 225 un-foiled. I know one thing, the Taylor probe thermometer in it is going in the garbage when it comes out. That dang thing was reading 244 so I checked it with a brand new instant read and that one said 163. WTF?! I know the new one is accurate +/- 1 degree because I calibrated it out of the package yesterday. I did run the cord up through the vent and laid it off to the side so all I had to do was plug it in and get a reading this morning so I guess the heat rising from the stack COULD be affecting that one. In any event, the ribs are on now and I'm hoping the fact that I had to place them below the brisket won't affect anything (I know, poor planning on my part). Wonder if the 95% outdoor humidity has anything to do with my temp issues? Hmmm, oh well my cup is empty and one thing a cop hates is an empty coffee cup. Here's a pic of the brisket moments before it got sacrificed to the smoke gods. I used two tbsp of kosher salt per side of the racks and let it soak in overnight before rubbing them Memphis style and boy let me tell you it does something good to the meat because the color changed about three shades brighter during the night. Happy Easter everyone!

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So here I am.......sitting in the living room at 7am drinking a cup of coffee and catching up on the news. Wondering if it's NORMAL for my brisket to be at 163 after TEN hours in my MES at 225 un-foiled. I know one thing, the Taylor probe thermometer in it is going in the garbage when it comes out. That dang thing was reading 244 so I checked it with a brand new instant read and that one said 163. WTF?! I know the new one is accurate +/- 1 degree because I calibrated it out of the package yesterday. I did run the cord up through the vent and laid it off to the side so all I had to do was plug it in and get a reading this morning so I guess the heat rising from the stack COULD be affecting that one. In any event, the ribs are on now and I'm hoping the fact that I had to place them below the brisket won't affect anything (I know, poor planning on my part). Wonder if the 95% outdoor humidity has anything to do with my temp issues? Hmmm, oh well my cup is empty and one thing a cop hates is an empty coffee cup. Here's a pic of the brisket moments before it got sacrificed to the smoke gods. I used two tbsp of kosher salt per side of the racks and let it soak in overnight before rubbing them Memphis style and boy let me tell you it does something good to the meat because the color changed about three shades brighter during the night. Happy Easter everyone!

da9df757_image.jpeg
Good morning Scooby!  Don't worry too much about the IT on the brisket...sounds like it's in the dreaded "Stall"...sometimes a large hunk of meat can stall out for hours without the IT rising any at all...depends on the brisket, and each one has a mind of it's own!  Just be patient, and eventually that IT will start rising again.  And you say it's unfoiled...you can just stay patient and let it ride, or you can foil it and help power it through the stall faster.  Foiling will shorten the total cook time, but you'll get less bark on the brisket this way...depends on what you want.

You do, however, need an accurate idea of your cooking chamber temp...you can't always trust the accuracy of the readout on that MES controller, and if your actual temp is lower than what your readout is telling you, that could be part of the reason why your brisket isn't getting done faster.  On my old MES40, I always used a Maverick remote therm to monitor the chamber temp, because I knew from experience that the readout on my cooker was about 20* higher than the actual temp in the chamber.  Then, once I knew for sure where it consistently cooked, I didn't need to mess the the Mav at all...I just knew I needed to adjust for about 20* difference between set temp and actual temp.

Also, a tip about posting pics.  If you want more people to view your photos, embed them in the post.  My download speed is not the fastest.  I tried to download your photos...took too long to get the first one to load, and I gave up.  You can embed the photos in your post...that way, people don't have to download them to see your qview...faster and easier.  Here's the link to an easy tutorial on uploading photos into your post:

http://www.smokingmeatforums.com/t/125263/how-to-upload-a-photo-q-view-to-your-post

Hope this helps...good luck and keep up posted!  
icon14.gif


Red
 
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Good morning Scooby!  Don't worry too much about the IT on the brisket...sounds like it's in the dreaded "Stall"...sometimes a large hunk of meat can stall out for hours without the IT rising any at all...depends on the brisket, and each one has a mind of it's own!  Just be patient, and eventually that IT will start rising again.  And you say it's unfoiled...you can just stay patient and let it ride, or you can foil it and help power it through the stall faster.  Foiling will shorten the total cook time, but you'll get less bark on the brisket this way...depends on what you want.

You do, however, need an accurate idea of your cooking chamber temp...you can't always trust the accuracy of the readout on that MES controller, and if your actual temp is lower than what your readout is telling you, that could be part of the reason why your brisket isn't getting done faster.  On my old MES40, I always used a Maverick remote therm to monitor the chamber temp, because I knew from experience that the readout on my cooker was about 20* higher than the actual temp in the chamber.  Then, once I knew for sure where it consistently cooked, I didn't need to mess the the Mav at all...I just knew I needed to adjust for about 20* difference between set temp and actual temp.

Also, a tip about posting pics.  If you want more people to view your photos, embed them in the post.  My download speed is not the fastest.  I tried to download your photos...took too long to get the first one to load, and I gave up.  You can embed the photos in your post...that way, people don't have to download them to see your qview...faster and easier.  Here's the link to an easy tutorial on uploading photos into your post:

http://www.smokingmeatforums.com/t/125263/how-to-upload-a-photo-q-view-to-your-post

Hope this helps...good luck and keep up posted!  Thumbs Up

Red

Oops. I knew that I had embedded pics before. Here's a couple of the most righteous brisket I have EVER put in my mouth. OMG it was FAB-YOU-LOUS! The bacon Mac and cheese was on point too.
The coconut cream pies in a jar were great too.
 
Well it looks like we can compare our methods. I am doing a 13.21 lb( don't remember the grade but I did buy it at a restaurant supply house).I trimmed it and put a rub of Kosher salt and freshly ground peppercorns. I put it in the fridge for about 2 1/2-3 hrs. I took it out of the fridge and let it get to room temp. I got the smoker( Masterbilt 30) going. I initially set it for 225 but read in too many posts to go to 250 for the 1st couple of hours. I put on the hickory chips every 45-60 minutes, I must have put in chips 5-6 times maybe more. I used chips I soaked along with dry and got a nice smoke going. Keeping the vent fully opened. I put it in at 7:45 pm. Now it is Easter morning at around 9:30 (Up all night doing my Easter Bunny duties) and it is reading 189. I open it for the 1st time and spray it down with apple juice and put it back in, then to 188. I pull it out at 190,wrap it in foil, then wrapped in my grandsons Ninja Turtle bath towel, and finally in the cooler and that is where it will sit for 2- 1/2 hours.


 
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