My first run at brisket (and some pork ribs)

[ivysmom]

OK, I have three smokes under my belt and the confidence is flowing -- time to tackle a brisket!

The large local butcher shop had the big boys and nothing was smaller than 16# (untrimmed) -- not quite willing to drop $50# on an experiment, so I went to the grocery and picked up a 6# er for something like $20. It was pre-trimmed and looked a little marbled (fat was "hard" which I believe is a good thing) and in a vacupack.

So, it came home along with a 5# rack of pork baby back ribs. Got the brisket prepped last night and it was in the fridge for 11 hours with an impromptu rub left over from my rootbeer butt chicken (chipotle based), some maple chipotle rub and some mesquite rub. It's smoking with mesquite chunks, so should be a good smoky-bite-y bark.

Ribs I just snaked into a Weber rib rack thingy that fits inside my WSM. Slathered some brown-sugar based BBQ sauce on it (with lots of help from the 4YO) and set it on the top rack above the brisket, which went directly on the grate This is my first meat actually TOUCHING the grate -- the previous 3 smokes had cans up their butts, were sitting on foil or in a glass dish. So, big change for me here, LOL. Everybody went over the coals and wood at 9 this morning. I'm hoping the ribs will be ready by halftime for the UT-OU game (around 12:30 :) Brisket will be for dinner... unless it stalls out, I'm figuring a 6# brisket would be about what... 7.5 - 8 hours for slicing, and then an hour to rest? Something like that.

I need to go get another temp sensor for the brisket -- the one I bought the first time around went in both the chicken and a pork butt (separate smokes) and never registered a temp, so it looks to be a dud.

Anyhow, here is a q-view of the brisket after it got a rubdown and wrapped for the night.

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• ivysmom
• Oct 13, 2012

Bottom side, marbled.

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• ivysmom
• Oct 13, 2012

Fat side. I didn't score it. Maybe I should have?

I'm excited :)

 

[ivysmom]

Looks like it hit 190 after 4 hours. Not bad. Question being, how long do I leave it in the smoker at this temp before taking it out to rest.
 

 

[s2k9k]

6#....190*.....4hours??? I think you better check the accuracy of your therms or else you got a track star brisket.

Probe it in multiple places with a known accurate therm and if it is at 190* go ahead and take it off if you are planning on slicing it, if you want to pull it let it go for another 10*.

 

[ivysmom]

It's a brand-new outta the box thermometer, so this is the maiden run. I noticed the water was running low when I looked again after 4.5 hours (it was up to 210 IT, and about 300 on the dome's thermo), so I added more water. Smoker temp went back down to 250-ish, but internal hung around at 210, so after 5hrs 15 minutes I pulled it off to rest. Stuck the thermo in at a few spots and it was a couple degrees cooler in the very thickest part, but otherwise it APPEARS to be done, according to the thermo.

No cooler here, unfort, so it's well-foiled and wrapped in a heavy bath towel to rest in the oven.

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• ivysmom
• Oct 13, 2012

Little guy on the grill right before being removed.

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• ivysmom
• Oct 13, 2012

Thermometer showing temp... it was at 205 for an hour, and before that it clocked 2.5+ hours at 180 or so. Got up to 170 and didn't ever stall, just gradually kept climbing.

IMAG1587.jpg

• ivysmom
• Oct 13, 2012

About to foil it. Bark looks pretty good, I think. I did not separate the point from the flat, btw... always liked that vein of fat in the middle on sliced brisket.

Btw, the ribs came out at 3 hours and were GREAT!

IMAG1584.jpg

• ivysmom
• Oct 13, 2012

 

[tis2fine]

That therm's target temp can be adjusted hold the "mode" button down for five seconds then use the "min" button to adjust up or the "sec" button to adjust down, you will have to do this every time, once the unit is powered down it does not hold that in memory like the ET732.

That was a really fast run on that brisket, I've not had one get to temp (190) less that ten hours they seem to stall at about 150 then again at 190, getting one to 200 another couple of hours.

Looks good though!

 

[ivysmom]

I wonder if it being 87 outside right now has anything to do with it? At any rate, we'll know in a couple hours.
 

 

[coronaca92879]

As long as that probe was going in and out like a hot knife threw butter you're fine. If the dome was at 300* you might have ran a little hot for a while causing the brisket not to stall out.

 

[scarbelly]

Do the toothpick test with it - if the toothpick goes in easy it is done, but man that is fast for a brisket  

 

[ivysmom]

OMG, y'all... it was great! Check it out :)

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• ivysmom
• Oct 13, 2012

Hello, smoke ring! The end furthest away from the point was a TAD dry, but it was definitely shreddable -- time for me to learn how to properly pull/shred/chop brisket. I've almost always had it sliced.

IMAG1589.jpg

• ivysmom
• Oct 13, 2012

As I mentioned earlier, I didn't separate the point from the flat -- I really like that moist layer between for flavor. Well, this is how it's supposed to look, IMO... like lace or netting when you pull the two sections away from each other. Mmmm!

Video quality isn't all that great (I was eager to keep slicing) but you can see how darned MOIST it was, even after resting for nearly 3 hours in an oven that was off. Yumm!

So, I'm going to chalk this up to beginners' luck and stumbling onto a terrific brisket out of the gate, since it took far LESS time than I anticipated. I went with internal temp as my guide rather than sticking to the expected timeframe, and it that technique certainly did not disappoint! Thanks to everyone who has ever written "tips" about how to cook a brisket. It took a lot of the "guesswork" out of it for me, and I think I did my dad proud with this first effort!

 

[s2k9k]

That looks Awesome!!! Soooo Juicyyyyy!!!

I might have to try a high temp brisket!

 

[oldschoolbbq]

Let us know how it fared. That was fast , should have been about 9hrs. @ optimum conditions ; do a boil test on your therm. and leaving the door closed does some good holding in the heat ,when you look, you lose heat and extend the cook. Just sayin'

Have fun and ...

 

[ivysmom]

Thanks! And yup, oldschool -- I opened the smoker three times total in the 5.25 hours, all out of necessity, rather than to peek. First to insert the thermo after I bought it (about an hour in); second to remove the ribs (3 hours in) and last to add water to the bowl when the temp went way up (at about the 4 hour mark). The dome was only off for removing the ribs -- otherwise, I opened that side door. I've got it all sliced and chopped up now. Made two sandwiches immediately, and the rest went into ziplocks in the fridge. Even DH who is a "yup, it's meat" type of person (not much detail or actual FEEDBACK from him, regarding food) said it was pretty good. That's a high compliment around this house :D
 

 

[so ms smoker]

Nice smoke ring on there!  Glad it turned out great for you.

  Mike

 

[frosty]

Good job Neighbor!  Looks like a total success.

 

[roller]

Nice job !

 

[sqwib]

Awesome!

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• sqwib
• Oct 18, 2012

 

[ivysmom]

Just thought I'd show how things went with my first full-sized packer (11#). I rubbed it last night around 10pm, and let it... what's the verb, absorb? On the dining room table wrapped in clingwrap until 4am (rather than overnight 9pm to 8am in the fridge like I did with the first guy). Much milder rub this time around -- more maple, no chipotle. I laid out all the fuel and tools around midnight and set my alarm for 4:20 (get it? 4:20? smoking :) Woke up on my own at 3:45, so headed out and got the Minion chimney going. I gotta say, the sight of those glowing embers in the middle of the night just warm's a gals heart... especially when it is ENTIRELY "alone" time for me... a rarity with a 4YO in the house who is definitely a Mommy's girl.

So, around 4:30 the meat went on. I monitored the WSM's dome temp until it crept over 200 and hovered steady for awhile, and went back to bed at 5. Slept goood ... it was a nice and chilly 54 at 4am (that's chilly for these parts). Woke around 7:30 and saw the IT had gotten up to 125, so it's doing the low and slow well. Around 10:30 the dome temp was a little high, so I added water and a bit more briquettes and mesquite chunks (which included a small contained flash fire as I squirted some lighter fluid in there -- not gonna do THAT again!). IT hit 192 at about the 8.5 hour mark, so I pulled it off (along with the 2 St. Louis spare rib racks I'd added at 9:30) and foiled and wrapped in a town to rest in the kitchen oven (off). Ran some errands, home around 3pm to slice and oh MY... the thick end self-shredded as the knife moved through so easily. Thinner end looks like it'll slice. I have a big bowl full of shredded and super moist and tasty brisket waiting for DH and friends to return from a little outing. Guh! So good :)

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• ivysmom
• Oct 20, 2012

The 4am Minion glow :)

Ahhh, smoking serenity.

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• ivysmom
• Oct 20, 2012

Finished product. Is bark supposed to be crunchy or crispy at all? Mine haven't been... except for the chicken, but I suspect that's more the skin than the rub, per se.

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• ivysmom
• Oct 20, 2012

On slice. You can see easily that this is the shredding end. In fact, in the top-right corner, the underside of the brisket was shredding as I just pulled the slice away to photograph it. Yup, not much manual labor required on this one at all!

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• ivysmom
• Oct 20, 2012

About 1/4 of it, shredded up. There was a lot of fat on this one, so I've got plenty of "drippings" to use in some Yorkshire pudding in the future. Yum! That'll be so much better than using oil :)

I'm thrilled with the first two briskets (oh and the spare ribs in the smoker with it came out AWESOME, too :)

 

[pgsmoker64]

Beautiful!!!  You've come a long way in a short time so I am guessing you are now in an involved relationship with your WSM...gotta love it.

Great job

 

[sqwib]

Looks great

 

[leejay99]

Really looks great!

 My only concern is leaving it out at room temperature for 6 hours.  

Lee