Gonna be a long night.

[GusRobin]

Seasoned my 6 rack (12 rack?) the other day and going to do a brisket tonight. Normally I do a 11-12 # --put in at 8pm with 4 hrs smoke, at midnight I change the water and go to bed until 6-7 am. Get up and change the water and cook until done -usually around 2 and FTC until 5ish for dinner.
They usually come out tender, but a bit on the dry side. So today I am going to follow a different recipe.
Rub and inject with beef broth, put in at 225* with 4 hrs smoke, when it hits 150* I'll Texas crutch - foil with a cup of beef broth until 200* then FTC. This recipe says the hole thing should take about 1 hr per lb with the crutch.
Which means I should put it in at about 3 am if i want to pull at 2, FTC and eat at 5.
So I'll put it in at 3am ( either watch a movie or sleep and set the alarm), then sleep and set the alarm for 7, get up and foil it.
Here is the beef:



Trimmed (this is not the fat side). All together I got about 1.5 # of fat (will freeze and use for sausage)



Wrapped and into the fridge for a few hours.



Guess I try to take a nap for a while. More to come later.

[Quarlow]

Sounds like a night of next to no sleep followed by a feast of fine dining. Good luck Gus.

[Keymaster]

Looks like a swell hunk of beef, can't wait to see it all smokey and sliced :)

[beefmann]

sounds like a good game plan,,, good luck

[KyNola]

Loves me some smoked brisket.  Great idea on foiling the brisket with some beef stock in the foil package.  Our friends SouthernSmoked and Ronbeaux taught me about foiling a brisket.  I think it makes a huge difference in the flavor, tenderness and overall cooking time.  Injecting the brisket with beef stock is another great idea for added flavor.

Looking forward to the finished product Gus.

[squirtthecat]

Gus!  Wake up!

[OU812]

Thats a great plan!

I do brisket that way most of the time, minus the injection and use beer rather than broth

[Smoker John]

Looks good so far

[GusRobin]

Came out ok but I guess I am either doing something wrong or expecting too much from a brisket. It was very tender but not as moist as I desired. It wasn't dry, but maybe I am expecting the type of moisture I get with pulled chuck. The point made some great burnt ends.
I did learn some things about my new set-up:
1) With the large cold smoke box I don't need to worry that much about changing the puck water since there is no grease to worry about. I do have to watch for the pucks piling up now and then, but that is normal.
2) My cabinet is not level, so I need to level it.
3) With a pan at the bottom of the cabinet, I can collect the drippings without having to have a separate pan.
4) I like the extra room of the 6 rack.
5) With all the rain we had it looks like I finally fixed the leak in my Bradley house.
6) Probably give up on briskets and do pulled beef chuck roasts instead.

Smoke part done. Here is the "cold box" setup



Smoked and at 150* and ready to go into the foil for the Texas crutch



In the pan to be foiled and then in the oven



Ready to FTC the point


Burnt ends, slaw, and corn

[beefmann]

looks good gus,,, next time try injecting some apple juice into the brisket before smoking.. about 10 % of its  weight should help to add juice into the brisket

[GusRobin]

I injected about a cup of beef broth before I started.