First Time Brisket - Tips?

[Thunder71]

We have some friends coming over on Sunday afternoon so I figured I'd cook something low and slow to keep me occupied during the day, decided on a brisket.

Never had one, never cooked one, not sure what to expect.

Plan is to use the snake method, and some rub, other than that I'm kind of grasping at straws.

I'm sure it's been posted before, and I'll go look again... one recent one none of the photos showed up, but I realize I should follow proper forum etiquette.

[Bosibus]

Brisket is a piece of meat that is hard to get perfect but it will always be good in my opinion even if you mess it up a little.  My advice is not pull it before it is done.  Done means that you can take your thermo and slide it in like butter.  You can use temperature as a reference but DO NOT use a number for when the meat is done, use your feel and thermo.   I foil mine usually around 160 and let it go the rest of the way until I pull.  You are going to want it to rest a bit but what I have learned is to open up the the foil and let the meat come back down in temperature in some instead of letting it rest in the foil without opening because the meat will just keep cooking inside the foil.  It has changed my briskets for the better without a doubt.

It is a piece of meat that when you do it right, it is a great feeling.  Good luck and post the results!

[Thunder71]

I failed at my first attempt on ribs, I'm hoping my second low and slow goes a little better.

I appreciate the tips/advice and will definitely been taking notes - thank you.

[HankB]

I just did a brisket yesterday and I'm happy with the results. I used my mini-WSM but there's no reason you could not do as well on a kettle using the snake method. I suggest shooting for a temperature of 250-300 because that works for me. You can see more detail on my cook at my blog. http://smpoke-on.blogspot.com/2013/08/a-little-brisket-and-bottom-round.html. (Brisket for lunch today., )

[Ethang]

I cooked my first on this past Sunday. Super easy cook and turned out well. Waiting out the stall took several drinks.

[Aawa]

First thing with the brisket is knowing how to trim it.  Aaron Franklin put out a really helpful video that shows you how to trim a brisket.  Link is below.  He also uses a rub that is a nice simple equal parts kosher salt, equal parts course ground pepper.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VmTzdMHu5KU&feature=c4-overview-vl&list=PLJXFUkVvL7g6tSTue1GN9UEbc1K-9u0rE

Now for cooking.  I did the ring of fire method in this thread here.  I did a hot and fast cook by doing a layer of 2, layer of 2, layer of 1 ring as opposed to the layer of 2 layer of 1 ring, and did a 12lb brisket in 5hrs and 15mins. 
http://weberkettleclub.com/forums/grilling-bbqing/real-time-prime-brisket-performance/

The drip pan in the middle i would put some water in to help hold your temps stable as keep the cooking chamber moist.  I didn't do that with my brisket cook in the link because it was raining that day so it was a very humid day as well as it was a prime packer and it had more marbling and fat in the meat.

Like Bosibus said, you need to tell when the brisket is done by feel.  Use internal temperature as a guide, but always use the probe test in the thickest part of the flat to determine when the brisket is done.  This will occur somewhere typically between 190-215 degrees internal temperature. Once the brisket probes tender you will want to rest it for minimum 1 hour, I rest mine 2-3 hours so that the meat fully relaxes and more of the juices can redistribute.  Before you rest it, make sure you vent off heat for 15-20mins so that the meat does not keep cooking when you rest it.  DO NOT throw out the fat/juices.  You will want to dip your slices into this when you slice the brisket.

When slicing brisket, go against the grain in pencil thin slices.  Once you get to the point turn it 90 degrees and then do slices that are like the thick pencils.  Aaron Franklin has a video of how to slice the meat.  Link is below.  After you slice the meat, just dip it in the juices so you get more beefy flavor goodness when eating.  Also DO NOT slice everything at one time.  Slice whatever you will eat.  This will help keep the rest of the meat you don't eat from drying out quickly.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sMIlyzRFUjU&list=PLJXFUkVvL7g6tSTue1GN9UEbc1K-9u0rE

Whether you wrap the brisket or not is up to you.  I tend to go nekkid and not wrap, but if your bark is getting to dark on you or you like a less smokey flavor feel free to wrap it in butchers paper or foil. 

Approximate time per pound for cooking brisket.

300-325 - 30mins per pound
275-300 - 1 hour per pound
250-275 - 1.5 hours per pound
225-250  - 2 hours per pound

Time your cook accordingly and make sure to build in an extra 2-3 hours extra to allow for resting or if any mishaps occur in your cook.

Once you get the feeling of how a brisket is supposed to be when done, you can pump out good to great briskets on a very consistent basis.

I'm looking forward to hear of your results and your pictures!

[Thunder71]

Holy smokes guys, thanks again for the excellent tips! I feel guilty leaving a short response but I'm going to soak all this in and watch some videos... I'll make up for it with my cook thread.

Again, VERY much appreciated - cheers!

[Bosibus]

Great post Aawa.

[1buckie]

Yes, all good stuff....esp. this from Aawa:

"I rest mine 2-3 hours so that the meat fully relaxes and more of the juices can redistribute.  Before you rest it, make sure you vent off heat for 15-20mins so that the meat does not keep cooking when you rest it.  DO NOT throw out the fat/juices.  You will want to dip your slices into this when you slice the brisket."

I've had good results with setting on a cookie rack, to keep it up out of the juice, in a pan with a little broth loose foiled for the last half of the cook......other methods are just as good....

http://weberkettleclub.com/forums/food-pr0n/brisket-prawn/msg7491/#msg7491

Only other thing is to find the limpest one you can when buying, but if you're past that part, drive on !!!!

[mike.stavlund]

Great to meet another Aaron Franklin fan, Aawa.  I've never eaten his stuff, but have several Texas friends who rave about his brisket.  And his videos are really informative.

[kendoll]

The good old dalmation rub! Thats what I used on my first ever brisket.

Need to go back to that again soon.

Ken

[HankB]

Great to meet another Aaron Franklin fan, Aawa.

Count me as another fan. He seems so honest and down to earth in those videos.

[Aawa]

Great to meet another Aaron Franklin fan, Aawa.

Count me as another fan. He seems so honest and down to earth in those videos.

He does seem honest, down to earth and very passionate about what he does.  He burst onto the Texas bbq scene and people rave about his bbq.  The video's give a glimpse on how he cooks and the advice he gives is very informative.

Hopefully someday I'll be in Austin so I can give his bbq a try.