East Texas BBQ sendoff

[rjcarleton]

I am smoking briskets for my nephew for his re-deployment to the War

and the eating time has been set for 2pm Saturday.Now figuring 12 hours for the briskets, that would have me outside at about 1am....not what i want to do.
I remember one time i smoked a brisket 6 hours, put it in the fridge for 8 hours and built another fire and smoked it another 6hrs or so.I think it turned out ok, but i cant really remember.I know the amount of time required for a brisket has put a crimp in others plans for having the meat ready for "lunch".....so can i get some suggestions that have worked for others?
Thanks!
Rick

 

[low&slow]

First off, welcome to the SMF rjcarleton. Tell your nephew that we appreciate everything that he is doing for us. And to keep safe over there.
Heres what I did last weekend and it worked great for me. Keep in mind I only do packer briskets. Put it in the smoker at 225 degrees at about 4:00-4:30pm. Smoke it until about 11pm or so, or until your ready to go to bed. Place it in a giant aluminum pan and cover with foil. Stab a remote thermometer in it and throw it in the oven (225 degrees). Set your thermometer to wake you up when the internal temp reaches 200 degrees. (Mine woke me up at 5:30am) Take it out of the oven and wrap it in towels and put it in a cooler. It will stay plenty hot for hours. I put mine in the cooler at 5:30am and took it out at 12:30pm and it was still too hot to touch with bare hands.
Good luck.

 

[bb53chevpro]

Welcome to the forum.
Andy.

 

[waysideranch]

Welcome to SMF.

 

[seboke]

Hey rj, first I want to echo low&slow - I've been overe there more than a couple of times and will be so glad when we never have to send anyone else.

also think l&s is right on the mark. I got a late start a couple months ago and finished my smoke at 0300. Had a brisket and a few butts that I wrapped in towels. Lined the cooler with towels on the bottom, put in the meat, covered with another towel. Couldn't get to them till about 6 later and they were still too hot to handle with bare hands.

 

[rjcarleton]

First, thanks for the welcomes.I have nosed around and fiound some great info here, think i'll stay a long time.I am retired and spend a lot of time perfecting my BBQ techniques and I believe you never quite get there, which is the most fun part.I have one of those electric turkey roasters with adjustable heat.I think i'll smoke it in my horizontal pit for about 6 hrs and wrap it in foil and pop it in the turkey cooker for another 6 hrs @ 225. Then wrap it in towels and pop it in the cooler till eatin time.
I am real close to my nephew, he's a First Sgt in Combat Engineers.We usually get off by ourselves and talk about things we don't share with the family.....things i saw some 40 years ago. War doesn't change, just the places.He got two purple hearts and a bronze star last tour and i hate to see him go back.He loves my BBQ, just wish i could cook one for all the troops over there.Remember the ones we have lost on Memorial Day.
Thanks for the tips guys, i'll get a pic of my horizontal pit up and let ya'll know how it turned out.I have located a bunch of dead pear wood close by and am going to try that.
Rick

 

[rjcarleton]

Well i smoked a 12 pounder slathered in mustard and garlic salt with paprika for 6 hours in the big horizontal at 200-230 for 6 hours using the Pear wood on a bed of charcoal.Then i wrapped it in foil and put it in the Turkey smoker at 220 and went to bed till it was 190 (7 hours later). Wrapped it in several towels over the foil and put it in the ice chest till we ate about 5 hours later.It was absolutely the most tender Brisket i ever had and a sweet taste on the bark.You could cut it with a fork and in an hour it was gone!My Nephew brought a buddy over that was going to Iraq with him and that boy could eat!
Glad i was able to do something for these boys before they go to War, wish i could do it for them all.Believe it or not briskets are on sale down here in Texas at HEB for 65 cents a pound.My freezer is full of them!

 

[jtj]

just grabbed a couple of 99 cents per lb briskets here in Dallas area, no HEB close to me.. heck i couldnt find an ad for them or I would have made another store match that price! Glad they liked it, tell em thanks for what they do for us...

I have timed several briskets for a couple/3 hours in smoke and finish in low heat in the oven so i could get some sleep without waking up every hour or so to check on the fire etc (sleep for three and it guarantees murphy went out there and put it out 2 hours before you checked on it!)... nothing better than waking up the next morning to a house full of smokey goodness... better than coffee smell for sure!