Double brisket.

[Jocool]

I have a problem.

I'm cooking for the whole family tomorrow and I want to do a brisket with a whole mess of wings as well. With the number of people that will be coming, I figured a brisket of about 9-10 pounds just wasn't going to cut it after accoubting for shrinkage. So I bought a brisket and a half. The afore mentioned 10 pounder and a second smaller cut of about 6 pounds.

As I see it I have two options.  The first is to cook each one in it's own kettle and the wings in a third. Or I could wire in a second grate on top of the one in the kettle and do both in the one shot.

Which would you guys suggest would give me the most chance of having them cook at the same rate and time? I was a bit wirried that one would cook quicker than the other due to size. But the butcher says it won't be too much of an issue as they are both approximately the same thickness.


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[Chasing_smoke]

Hey Jo I know if you cook the smaller one on top of the other it will cook somewhat faster because the heat is hotter near the lid.   If you go that route just put it on a few hours later or pull it a few hours earlier and wrap it if they start at the same time.   If it was me I would cook it on two kettles because 2 is always better than 1 lol.  Please post pics!!

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[Jocool]

Smoke, so if I do it in 2 kettles, what tine differential should I use? I was thinking of at least 11 maybe 12 hours for the bigger one. Should I figure the smaller cut for about 9 hours?

And if I do them as a double decker one above the other, and put them at different times, would they come out with the same doneness or will the smaller one dry out too quickly because of the higher heat?

What temps do you guys cook your brisket to in any case?

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[Thin Blue Smoke]

Brisket to me means an opportunity for low and slow. I like to cook em at 225ish. I know they can be done at higher temps too. If you think you can have enough room in one kettle you should be able to cook them that way but I don't think you would want to try and time them to end together. I would get them both on and if one is done early, just wrap it in foil and put it in a cooler. I am far from a pro at Brisket but my experience has been that you can have two different briskets at the same weight and they can still cook drastically different even under the same conditions. I would think you are just going to have to watch them both to determine when they are done by the probe test. Of course, depending on which methods you choose to employ during your cook like foiling them or not, you can come up with different results.

[Chasing_smoke]

I've only cooked 2 briskets so far.. The first was a full packer(whole brisket point and flat) about 9lbs I think.   Took around 12 hours at 225ish to get done.   The second one was just a flat about 6lbs or so.   Took 5 hours at 275.   I'm not great with brisket, but the last one was just the flat and it was killer.   I took a piece of parchment paper and laid it over top of the raw brisket and used beef stock and a dash of rub to inject it.   By putting parchment paper over it you can see by the holes in the paper where you've injected so you don't miss any spots. I wrapped in foil at 160 degrees and put some of the stock in with it while it finished up. Then when serving time came I threw it on a hot grill real fast to bring the bark back.  I can't really tell you how long it will take since  both of my cooks were completely different.  If I did one grill I would place them on the same time and pull when no resistance hit the probe.   Then wrap and hold until ready.  Sorry Jo!

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[1buckie]

"but my experience has been that you can have two different briskets at the same weight and they can still cook drastically different even under the same conditions."


This is very true.......tough old toad of a piece of meat & it's hard to tell "when" even sometimes for experienced people.....
If you'd like to do them all on one, I'd set on the smaller one 3~4 hours later & you MAY come close to even doneness around the same time.......only downside of doing it that way I can think of is it might be harder to manage / add coals, depending on your setup........

Two different kettles is maybe easier, depending on how you work......I'm reluctant to TELL someone exactly what to do in a lot of cases, 'cause they may be perfectly comfortable with the "other" way of doing things......hope that makes sense.......^^^^^^^^

normally, I would run 240~260f.....moves a little faster w/o the risk of going wild & drying out........

[jcnaz]

I have never cooked a brisket, but I have an idea that I want the more edumacated members to evaluate.

My twisted logic would suggest cutting the larger brisket in half, then I would have three roughly equal pieces to deal with. hopefully they would be done at around the same time.

...or am I off base?

[1buckie]

I have never cooked a brisket, but I have an idea that I want the more edumacated members to evaluate.

My twisted logic would suggest cutting the larger brisket in half, then I would have three roughly equal pieces to deal with. hopefully they would be done at around the same time.

...or am I off base?

Not something that is really good for a 'cut in half' project......there's two different muscles that overlap each other..........you could separate those pieces, the point (fattier, thicker part) from the flat ( leaner, narrower, as in not as thick part) & do those separate.......

See Here ~~~~>

http://www.youtube.com/channel/UC556b-Cl0Fp02iMc96yoJbg

brisket is one of the 1st ones up & he does a great job of explaining it.....

It lays over at about a 30 degree angle across the whole piece, not like say a whole top sirloin, which is one big solid lump, basically the same texture all the way thru.......

[jcnaz]

I have never cooked a brisket, but I have an idea that I want the more edumacated members to evaluate.

My twisted logic would suggest cutting the larger brisket in half, then I would have three roughly equal pieces to deal with. hopefully they would be done at around the same time.

...or am I off base?

Not something that is really good for a 'cut in half' project......there's two different muscles that overlap each other..........you could separate those pieces, the point (fattier, thicker part) from the flat ( leaner, narrower, as in not as thick part) & do those separate.......

See Here ~~~~>

http://www.youtube.com/channel/UC556b-Cl0Fp02iMc96yoJbg

brisket is one of the 1st ones up & he does a great job of explaining it.....

It lays over at about a 30 degree angle across the whole piece, not like say a whole top sirloin, which is one big solid lump, basically the same texture all the way thru.......

Thank you for the schoolin' !  I will read/watch up on all of this before I attempt brisket.
Luckily my family loves smoked pork!! 

[1buckie]

This is off the brisket topic, but his Pulled Pork vid is really good too......

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LbzEa_juegs&list=PLJXFUkVvL7g6tSTue1GN9UEbc1K-9u0rE


Notice in particular how he just wrangles, wraps & rolls the thing around......no piddlin' ........just git'r'done.......that aspect is good for any large piece, don't baby the thing get it on & get cookin' !!!!!



  Jocool   
What happened, or is happening with your cookup?

[Jocool]

Thanks for the tips guys. It looks like I need a better grounding in butchery so I can understand this better.

In the meantime, I have one full brisket that went on at about 06:00 and it's choofing along nicely. I figured the smaller one needs less time, so it went on a second kettle at 10:00. And there will now be a third kettle for the wings. Happy days!

Now to go in and catch some Z's!

[feeshrman]

I don't know what to tell you, if it were mine I would have just bought one whole brisket 12-14 lbs and cooked it. Much easier than cooking two different sizes of meat.


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[Jocool]

Where's your sense of adventure!

[kendoll]

Hey Jo, where did you get the briskest from? Meat Emporium?

Ken

[Jocool]

Hey Jo, where did you get the briskest from? Meat Emporium?

Ken

Ivan's at Merrylands.

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