Newbie with a brisket

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joeg

Newbie
Original poster
Sep 10, 2009
22
12
Hey all!!I am finally going to try a brisket in my brinkman bullet smoker. I think it might just fit into the smoker. I have an 11 and 1/2 pound brisket. I read a few threads and figure on popping it into the smoker about 7pm. I have a water pan to keep the temp at 212. Right now it is in the fridge with rub just waiting for later...couple questions

Once I get my smoker to temp should I just pop her on and let it smoke for the first two hours then mop/brine-not sure of the terms.

While it cooks over night do I have to mop/brine every hour?

I have hears about putting it in the ice chest after cooking? can somone elaborate?

Finally, how far along until I should wrap with foil? 160 degrees? what temp should it be once done?

Thanks for any help. I am excited about trying to smoke a brisket!!
 
To quickly answer a few questions
If spritzing with a liquid then you should spritz every hour after the first hour, if mopping I would wait at least 2 hours so you don't lose any of that beautiful bark.

Mopping or spritzing every hour would be ideal.

Bring the brisket up to 170 and then wrap in foil and bring to 190 if slicing 200-205 if pulling, once it hits that temp pull it off, still in the foil and wrap in a towel and place into an empty cooler or turned off oven for at least an hour before slicing.
 
First off I'm glad you are finally getting to smoke a brisket their good and it is one of the harder pieces to smoke. Some it sounds like your doing good so far the only thing I see missing for now is the Qview. Thats an unspoken rule around here. You didn't get that in your introdution memo/email? Ok back to your smoke the reason we wrap the meat in towels and put it in a cooler is to let the juices work it's way back into the center of the meat other wise you would cut into it and right quickly you would be swimming in all the juices and be eating shoe leather and we don't like that. So thats why we cooler the meat for atleast an hour.
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OK- I will post some photos of the process... but I hope I dont let anyone down. I am going to give it a good shot. I guess I will not be getting much sleep...prob put it on at 7pm...let it smoke for 2 hours then start mopping it. Now once it reaches 160..and I wrap in foil do I still need to mop it? Or isnt that the reason for placing in foil? I figure about an hour and a half per pound right?
 
I find I get a better bark if I spritz instead of mop, because you dont rub the good stuff off the meat. I put mine in between 7 and 9 PM like you. Let it smoke for the first hour, then do 2 or three spritzings at the appointed times, then go to bed and let it go for 6 or 7 hours. Then I get up and start the spritz schedule again. I have done 7 of them this way now, and have had great tasting bark and meat every time. I personally do not foil until I am pulling it out of the smoker to rest. The longer you smoke over 165 without foiling, the better the bark. Just my 2 cents worth.
 
I was planning on fat side up...just to let the juices run down the meat.
 
Two hours in and she is looking good at 140 degrees right now...gonna get her up to 165 and wrap in foil. Sorry not good at uploading the photos.
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A long night and a finished brisket. Well I do need to get a good thermometer on my ECB. My brisket went from160 to 200 real quick. I put the 11.5 pound brisket on at 7pm and it was at 200 degrees when I checked on it at 4am. Kinda strange-too high heat.
Well here she is.
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Just finished eating...mmm good. Believe it or not it was my first time eating brisket.
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Looks good, Joe!

Do I sense that there may be another brisky in your future? Heh-heh-heh!

I did my first about a year ago...didn't know what I was doing and stumbled through it, didn't foil it...texture was way out in left field and I thought I'd never try another one. Then, spring came this year, and I started doing it with good methods...now I can't get enough briskets into my freezer!
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Keep it thin & blue, my friend!

Eric
 
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