Two small pre-trimmed Briskets

[bobbybirds]

Hey all,

I have never done beef brisket and after reading the jteer's thread I am a bit nervous about a smoke I am doing today.

I already have a couple 8lb Boston butt's on the smoker as we speak and I have 2 - 3.5lb pre-trimmed briskets that I am waiting a few hours to put in the smoker as I am worried they will cook too quickly. This may seem like a stupid question but being as these are fairly thin pieces of meat (compared to the butt's), would it at all make sense to stack them together as if it were one thicker piece of meat and cook for a longer period of time or is it much better to leave them separate and cook them faster?

 

[gary s]

  Good morning and welcome to the forum, from a cloudy, cool and dreary day here in East Texas. Lots of great people with tons of information on just about  everything.

Gary

 

[beefy bill]

The will cook relatively quick, but I think it'll be ok unstacked. Just keep an eye on the internal temp as they will probably get to ready fairly quick. Stacking will keep a lot of surface area from getting smokey.

 

[bobbybirds]

That makes sense... I know time is not the key factor in this, but when they are small like this, and with my smoker hovering around 250*, should I expect a 4 to 5 hour "ish" cook on these? I am thinking strictly for time management as I would like these to be done a little after my butt's. I realize that it could vary for certain but I am just trying to give myself an approximate schedule...

 

[beefy bill]

I would say so, then keep em wrapped for a half hour or hour then slice...are you planning on resting the butts? they can rest for quite some time if necessary, and you can slice and pull and serve all at once if that's your plan..

 

[bobbybirds]

I would say so, then keep em wrapped for a half hour or hour then slice...are you planning on resting the butts? they can rest for quite some time if necessary, and you can slice and pull and serve all at once if that's your plan..

I was planning on resting the butts for at least an hour. The last ones I did sat for three hours wrapped in towels in a cooler and were still freaking awesome so I am not worried about that. I am just worried about overcooking these briskets. Thanks for the advice!

 

[beefy bill]

I start to check them around 180 with the probe test. If you start then you should be safe from overxooking