Brisket on Grill or in Foil Pan?

[rabbithutch]

I plan to set up my Weber 22" grill with a snake weave with pecan and hickory chunks (already built the snake) and smoke an 18.5# brisket tonight. I will monitor the smoke chamber and the meat with my Maverick ET-733. I have the brisket warming to room temp and will clean it up a bit before it goes on the heat. I plan to get somewhere between 240 and 260 for the heat and smoke to an IT of 195 or so. It will be an all nighter for sure.

My question for the illuminate here is whether or not putting the meat in a foil pan will matter or not? I use foil pans for butts because then tend to fall apart and stick to the grill. Will I have this problem with brisket?

Would appreciate any suggestions, hints, tips and fingers crossed best wishes. I'll try to get Qview but don't hold your breath, please.

rh

 

[rabbithutch]

It's on!

Got the packer trimmed. Took a little over 5 pounds of fat off the 18.5# piece of meat. Put mustard and SPOG in the big boy and put him on the OTG at 8:35 pm when the Maverick reported a temp of 240. I have the heat chamber probe stuck thru a small spud so I can move it as the snake heat moves around the perimeter. After removing the lid, chamber temp dropped to 199 bu tit back at 202 as I type this. I have bottom and top vents really cranked tight to keep the temp as low as possible but I will adjust over the next couple of hours as the smoke progresses.

I got pics of the packer before trimming fat and after and some after SPOG'ing it. It's too dark on the patio to get any pics on the smoke just now.

My Maverick is telling me that he IT is starting at 70 in a chamber at 204. I'll watch it for a coupe of hours then trust the HI/LO alarms to wake me up later if need be.

Fingers crossed!

 

[chef jimmyj]

Butts can put out a fair amount of moisture and fat so foil pans can be useful. Since I slice Brisket, I want more bark to flavor each bite. I don't put the brisket in a pan but since I have multiple shelves, place a pan under it to make my Jus to serve the meat Au Jus later. Not an option on a Weber Grill.

I am not sure exactly what you mean by " Snake Weave " but I would think that any Charcoal that is under the meat, can have fat dripping on it, and can be subject to Flare-Ups that will burn the brisket and cause large temp spikes. A pan to hold the meat may not be a bad idea...JJ

I do need to add a Caution here...There is no good reason to let any meat that will be cooked to an IT of well done, 140°F+, warm to room temp. This warming would even be Dangerous for any meat that has been Factory Enhanced or Injected...

 

[rabbithutch]

Thank you, ChefJimmy!

First, as to the warming up, I let the meat sit out for about 35-40 minutes while I was prepping the 'pit' and trimming the fat. It had been in a reefer at 38° F for a day and a half in cryo-vac wrap. We keep the house in the mid 70° temp range; so I doubt that any harm was done; HOWEVER your warning is spot on! I was not proposing that anyone let meat set out for a long time. When I put the brisket on, the Maverick probe in the meat read 62°F. My goal was to have the heat chamber come up as quickly as possible by not putting reefer-cold meat on. I also added a pan of hot water below the cooking grate.

By 'snake weave' I mean that I lined the outer sides of the kettle with Kingsford and pecan chunks about 4 briquettes thick leaving a gap of about 6" so as not to make a continuous ring. I then lit a half dozen or so coals to red hot with white crust and poured them on one end of the ring. The coals lit the end of the ring then progressively lit and burned the ring around. This gives a means to have a long heat in a Weber and temperature of the heat can be fairly well controlled using the vents.

I did put the brisket in a foil pan. Yes, it did develop a lot of au jus and it would have made a righteous mess if I had not used the pan. It might even have put the fire out; so I'm glad I used the pan in this case. Had I used my MES, I would have put the meat on the cook rack and placed the foil pan below to catch drippings.

I put the brisket on at about 8:30 last night. The Maverick 733 kept track of it and I didn't get out of bounds on the alarm limits until about 4:30 this morning when I started losing heat because my coals were all consumed. I have been known to pull the cooking grate and add more coals in a ring, but this time I brought it inside and put it in the electric kitchen oven at 240° F. The IT was 168°. It has just now come up to 200° so I will be taking it out and wrapping it for some time in an ice cooler.

 

[chef jimmyj]

Thanks for the clarification. I figured you been around long enough to know the issues with Warming Meat but there are so many newbies and lurkers that I figured, better safe than sorry...JJ

 

[nygiant]

pics please....