So over the past years I have smoked almost every cut of meat I can think of and gotten to the point I am pretty darns good at most of them IMO. The one cut I have avoided due to reading about how hard it is to get right is a brisket but that is about to change this weekend. We just had a cow butchered and I am going to smoke the brisket on Saturday or Sunday and was looking for any tips or suggestions. I have read up on it quite a bit on the BBQ brethren forum and what I do know is it will be low and slow but I can't decide whether I want to wrap it or not once I am about halfway through the cook. What do you all say?
Never smoked a brisket, only eaten. So all I can say is, "What time?" My guess is it will turn out fine.
Keep it at 225 or less. I think beef benefits from this more than any other meat. A thick fat cap helps too. Some butchers take too much off IMO. The foil thing is like asking if ford or chevy is better.....different strokes for diff. folks. I would personally foil the first one about halfway thru the cook, just as insurance as to not dry it out. You can always open the foil if you feel like it.
Foiling helps raise the internal temp if you're having trouble (caused by evaporative cooling), but I try not to unless it gets stubborn because I think you get a better bark on it with no foil.
Definitely better bark with no foil. But I did not want to risk drying it out. I just did one and foiled it at 165, took it to 205, wrapped in towels in cooler for 2 hours, and it tuned out to be the best one I ever did. Could cut it like butter and just as juicy.
I've done 4 briskets in the 2 years I've owned my smoker. First one was terrible have been getting progressively better after each one. Here is the last one I did on Memorial day weekend, it came out pretty good. 200 for 3 hours, than 240 till I/T of 175, put in a foil pan with 1/2 cup beef stock and wrapped top of pan with aluminum foil, cook at 240 till I/T hits 200 If a full packer brisket separate the point from the flat and chop point into cubes, put cubes in foil pan add a little rub and bbq sauce and put back on smoker for burnt ends
Especially for what you are doing, use the Texas crutch. I fiddle with cheapies from Walmart and have had a few come out good with out having wrapped them. Usually they are drier. First time I ever had brisket was at a maintenance conference in Dallas. Conference was at the Fairmont and the first lunch was brisket with the normal fixins. I ate my self stupid then fixed two plates for my room fridge. I snuck into the kitchen and got some schoolin' from the pit master.
Well it is unthawing in the fridge and should be ready for Sunday. Still haven't decided what I am doing with it yet lol
I rubbed and wrapped the brisket last night and then weighed it to get an idea of the cooking time. It was off a fairly small cow and was only about 5.5 pounds. I also chunked up the Hickory last night for the smoking today. The brisket will be headed on in about 30 minutes.
Good for you! That's how you learn. I think you will be fine. For the record I routinely cook ribs around 250 degrees on purpose and have great luck with them.
Getting ready to head on. I am a little worried about this one getting dry since it is small so I am going to wrap it with a 1/4 cup of beef broth once it hits 160.
Man I love my Kamado Joe! It took about 25 minutes this morning to slowly bring it up to 225 degrees and once it got there I shut it down and walked away to go to church. Just got back about 4 hours later and here is where the temp was. Couple more degrees an I am going to wrap it!
i use a disposable aluminum pan to put the brisket and beef stock in when it is time to wrap, than wrap the top of pan with foil. its a little easier to deal with especially with bigger briskets
And yet another crappy cell phone picture....... The brisket is off the smoker rested and now in my belly and it was really good. I liked the rub I made and it had a great smoked flavor from the hickory! Most importantly it wasn't dry at all in fact I wonder if I really needed to wrap it? O well for the first time doing it I consider it a success and it was devoured by everyone here. Oddly enough it stalled big time at right about 180 and sat there forever..... Not real sure what was up with the that as most meats I cook usually seem to stall earlier.
I'm late to this thread. Sorry. Brisket is how I got hooked on BBQ. I lived in Texas for a short bit. Low and slow and mesquite. Not everyone likes mesquite because it is so strong. The difference with brisket compared to other BBQs is no sauce. The main flavor is the rub and bark. Bark is super important. I have used foil but I like it better without.
That's about what they do depending upon fat content and size. This is when you need a mop sauce(well throughout cook) and water pan beneath you need to keep humidity high and heat near about's constant, I overshoot to 300-375 and then it'll ease back down to 225 before reloading some coals
Well since I will put mine in at 4am tomorrow I will weigh in! Two things in Texas we smoke brisket and eat!!! Now that being said I am no pro by any means but I have eaten lost of brisket and yes lost of it was great and others not so much. But I can say that most people don't put enough rub on it for me!! I only smoke on hickory!! Sweet light flavor! I use lots of minced garlic and other stuff but I smoke mine until the internal yep is 165 then I wrap it until it hits 205 then pull it out put it in a ice chest and wait a couple of hours. Now you can also cheat if you are smoking and don't have time to finish @165° you can wrap it in foil put in the oven and @225° and walk away. I will post pics in the morning!!
