First Smoked Brisket this past weekend. (Pics)

Thumpinbass · June 16, 2014, 03:04:19 AM

Hey guys! After reading the forums and some help from you guys, I managed to successfully do my first brisket. Here are pics along the way.

Started with a packed brisket from walmart. 15.62 lbs. trimmed the fat cap a little and applied the rub. And thin layer of mustard. Went with Jans rub since it was highly recommended on here.

Wrapped in plastic tightly and placed in fridge Friday evening around 5p est.

It's now Saturday. Trying to get it on around noon. Expecting about a 24 hr total cook. Looks good out of the plastic wrap.

In the DGS at 12:30p. Temp 220. Doing 4 hrs of smoke. 2 apple, 1 hickory, repeat for the 4 hrs.

Pic after the 4 hrs of smoke.

Change water in the pan every 4 hrs. DGS temp hovering around 230 most of the time. Fast forward now to 4:30am Sunday morning. Going to change water but IT is at 185 already after only 16 hrs cook. Original time to eat was 4pm. Since it looked like it was getting done early, moved that up to 1pm. At 6:30a, IT is at 195. Gotta pull it, but didn't want to FTC for 6 hrs. With the advice from Habanero Smoker, I foiled the brisket, added some beef broth and threw it back in the DGS at 170 degrees.

9:30am, I pull it out for the final time. FTC it til 12:30p. Opened it up and...

To me, looks great. It smelled great. Started cutting it. Juices stayed with the meat. You could squeeze the meat to see the juices flow.

I ended up filling up 2 of these dishes.

I now see where the flat and the point is on a brisket now after cutting it.

Needless to say, it had a small smoke ring to it. Very moist. It fell apart. You could cut it with a fork. No knife needed. Tasted great and everyone loved it. Even my daughter who doesn't like steak, loved it.

What I would do different next time is remove more of the fat cap. I had a video of me slicing it so you could see the juices but couldn't find a way to upload that. It was still piping hot after the FTC of about 3 hours.

I was worried about doing my first brisket since it wasn't cheap to get for me, but overall very pleased.

Allen

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River Rat · June 16, 2014, 05:37:41 AM

Thumpinbass,

Great looking brisket. i saw in your other thread that you're in the Harrisburgh area. i grew up in New Cumberland and get up there often to visit my Mom.

waycoolcat · June 16, 2014, 07:10:44 AM

It looks like your first effort for brisket turned out awesome. I have yet to do one myself, but I will soon. I thought this was great advise and will remember it for future cooks:

"Gotta pull it, but didn't want to FTC for 6 hrs. With the advice from Habanero Smoker, I foiled the brisket, added some beef broth and threw it back in the DGS at 170 degrees."

tailfeathers · June 16, 2014, 07:39:36 AM

Nice! Welcome to your new addiction!!

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Smoker John · June 16, 2014, 08:08:23 AM

Great job for your first brisket, looks tasty

Habanero Smoker · June 16, 2014, 12:55:31 PM

Looks like you have yourself a great smoked brisket. I hear what you say about the price. I'm waiting for brisket prices to drop in my area before I will purchase my next one.

pensrock · June 16, 2014, 01:17:51 PM

Looks great. I always separate the point and flat either before cooking or just before slicing. You want to be sure to slice across the grain for the best tenderness. I then normally put the point back in to get some burnt ends and then it will pull like pulled pork so you have brisket 3 ways, pulled, burnt ends and sliced. You can also put a small foil pan right below the brisket while its cooking and have some water and apple juice in the pan, that way after its done cooking you will have caught most of the dripping. Then defat the drippings and you have a great juice to serve with the meat or to reheat in. nice job. :)

pjplovedog · June 16, 2014, 02:10:17 PM

Nice Job!
That looks great. I've only done the flat part of a brisket, not finding too many full briskets around here these days. (even though they label it "whole") ::) Thanks for sharing the method with us and your photos are extremely helpful.
:)

iceman · June 16, 2014, 02:20:22 PM

Great job on the brisket. :)

tailfeathers · June 16, 2014, 02:26:36 PM

Got a small suggestion for you, and it has nothing to do with your method (great looking brisket by the way, congratulations). I always take all the racks out of my smoker except the ones that have food on them, just less to clean up afterward. Just being in the smoker they get dirty enough where I end up washing them, easier to just leave them out to begin with.