To Wrap or Not To Wrap

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To Wrap or not to wrap, that is the poll.

  • Yes, I wrap my brisket

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • No, I just keep in on the smoker as is

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • Total voters
    0
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heubrewer

Meat Mopper
Original poster
Jun 9, 2014
266
42
Chicago Area
A quick poll

Would like to see who wraps their brisket DURING the smoking/cooking  process.

To be clear I am not talking about wrapping AFTER it reaches the desired texture/temp but rather when it reaches the stall

So...Do you wrap your brisket during the smoke?
 
I wrap to take advantage of the moist cooking of Braising in the foil. Briskets can be dry and any help retaining moisture is useful to me. Bark gets soft but a quick turn on thr Grill wil remedy that situation. If you timing is perfect, and you can go from smoker to table. I...
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. But if for any reason you wrap and go in a cooler, the bark will be softened anyhow. I am way more concerned with Juicy Meat than I am with Bark. That is just my thing when it comes to Brisket...JJ

NOTE: I plan to try Aaron Franklin's Paper Wrapping technique, It is still wrapping after 6 hours or so but should improve Bark retention over Foil. We will see...
 
I have taken to a unwrapped-wrapped-unwrapped technique.... kind of like 3-2-1 ribs. I wrap at 165° with a bottle of good beer, take it to 180°, then unwrap and take it to finish (usually around 200°). This helps it through the stall, keeps it very moist, but the final unwrap is long enough to re-set the bark nicely.

It also gives me some nice juices in the foil from the wrap to serve the slices with..... but I also do like unwrapped briskets as well, I just cook them very low and slow to avoid drying them out when I do it that way.
 
I wrap, but based on the desired time in smoke rather than the stall point.

The strange coincidence is that my desired time in smoke pretty closely equals the stall point.

Good luck and good smoking.
 
I don't wrap my brisket but I put it in a tin foil pan from the start. By the time the meat is up to 190 degrees the brisket is swimming in Au jus. After I have let the meat rest and then cut it I put the slices back in the Au jus.
 
I personally believe that the answer has to do with your smoker!

Do you need that extra moisture?

Seriously you are changing a long smoke to a short smoke, why do you consider a 12 hour smoke short? LOL

If you are burning charcoal or wood, I can understand it. Cost of resources and that the moisture needed.

If you could be sure of an exact time of completion either way and needed to plan it, maybe.

But since I and currently using an electric, and don't need the moisture, don't need to worry about resources, in no hurry to finish, and love that lovely unsteamed bark. bAlthough since I got these store bought teeth the softer steam bark ain't bad.

I don't wrap, when I do it is just to increase my experience.  
 
I wrap after about 6 hours, with butcher paper 

gary S
 
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