Beginner Brisket

[BigSlick]

Got a cabinet style gas smoker for Xmas last year so I'm still pretty new to the art of smoking.

The first brisket I tried to smoke I got impatient with and pulled too early as it had not yet melted all of the internal fat away. It was a smoky, chewy train wreck.

Prepped my second brisket(a 6.8 pound flat) yesterday at around 5pm with mustard and a dry pecan rub. I left the brisket on the counter, wrapped in foil to come to room temp until putting it in the smoker last night at 9:30pm. The temp I maintained was 250F and I used pecan chips for the smoke.

I refilled the chip tray at 11:30pm and checked the smoker temp at midnight before turning in.

At 3:30am I woke to check the temp of the smoker and refill the water tray and again at 4:30am to check the internal temp of the meat.

As of 7:30 this morning the internal meat temp was around 160F. It took until 9:30 for it to reach 180F. I then pulled the brisket, double wrapping it with foil, adding some apple juice and putting it back in the smoker until the internal temp reached 190F. It got there at about 11:30am. I put the foil wrapped brisket in a towel and stored it inside an insulated cooler bag until the cheesy potatoes and beans were done at 12:30. The internal meat temp maintained at 185F.

After unwrapping the brisket I sliced it up for lunch. Here was the tender, falling apart, yummy sweet outcome:

I like seeing the smoke ring in brisket and it seems to be missing from wrapping the brisket in foil? Not needing a knife to eat this cut seemed worth the visual sacrifice.

[sounddust]

Holy smokes! Looks absolutely delectable. Congratulations and celebrations btw.

[jquest63]

Looks Fantastic!

[SmokinLightning]

Hey A$$hole, where was my lunch invite?

[ChicagoWhiteSox]

Looks great

[b0rderman]

wow that looks delicious...I really want to get a smoker and have a go at smoking a brisket...maybe I should start a new thread, but could you post up details of your set-up. I think I'm going to get a cheap Brinkman Smoke 'n Grill type set-up...charcoal, for starters. Any info about what you use would great!

[WYPirate]

I like seeing the smoke ring in brisket and it seems to be missing from wrapping the brisket in foil?

That's the mostly likely reason for your lack of smoke ring. Did your brisket still pick up the smoke flavor? Nice work BTW!

[tyler4178]

Well done!!

I have yet to try my hand at brisket, but will in the near future.

[BigSlick]

wow that looks delicious...I really want to get a smoker and have a go at smoking a brisket...maybe I should start a new thread, but could you post up details of your set-up. I think I'm going to get a cheap Brinkman Smoke 'n Grill type set-up...charcoal, for starters. Any info about what you use would great!

Set up is a Great Outdoors 34" gas smoker. Got it from Wally World for about $90. It has been a great tool for learning how to work with smoke without some of the headache associated with the charcoal learning curve. It's really cheating, but makes some damn fine food.

WY- It had a nice mild sweet smoke flavor, just missing the ring.

[Ethernut]

Slick there are two reasons for no smoke ring.

1. By letting the meat come up to room temp on the counter it cuts down on the amount of time meat can take smoke. Meat generally stops taking smoke at around 140. If the meat is at 140-150, no need to at any more smoke wood.

2. There has to be some salt in the rub for the nitrites in the smoke to react and create the ring.

Put the meat in the smoker directly from the fridge. Smoke for a couple hours on 225 then ramp up your heat to whatever you like. You'll have a ring.

[Kangaroo495]

Eeeeehhhhh. Wish I had a backyard

Looks incredible.

[BigSlick]

Slick there are two reasons for no smoke ring.

1. By letting the meat come up to room temp on the counter it cuts down on the amount of time meat can take smoke. Meat generally stops taking smoke at around 140. If the meat is at 140-150, no need to at any more smoke wood.

2. There has to be some salt in the rub for the nitrites in the smoke to react and create the ring.

Put the meat in the smoker directly from the fridge. Smoke for a couple hours on 225 then ramp up your heat to whatever you like. You'll have a ring.

Thanks for the info. That makes sense. I will change up my method on the next brisket and let you know how it goes. TD