First brisket tomorrow

[JeffJ]

Nice bark, good juiciness and nice smoke ring. Well done!

[Hondo]

One of life's simple pleasures... pbc brisket... it doesn't get much better than this...

Nice job! It looks great!

[HC in SC]

Not sure what brisket prices look like in your neck of the woods, but here in SC they are thru the roof. I can get top sirloin cheaper than I can brisket usually. Instead of brisket, I have been smoking chuck roasts making pulled beef. I cook them the same way as briskets - same rub / brining, pull and wrap with small amount of beef broth at 170 and then pull wrapped meat at 200.

If you arent using the turkey hanger on the PBC for your turkey cook, make sure you open the neck flap and cut off the pope's nose on the aft section. Cooking a turkey on the PBC grate is awesome too, but liquid has a tendency to build up in the bird's cavity causing slower cooks and variable temps in the meat. You can also just use your hot gloves and pick the bird up out of the cooker and dump excess liquid build up.

Good luck!

[New2Cue]

Thanks very much guys! Can't wait to do another brisket. Next up though is an 18-pound fresh turkey for Thanksgiving

[PappyBBQ]

Wow. Home Run!

[Jon Solberg]

NICE! WTG Man. Congrats to you!

[fzxdoc]

That is one beautiful brisket, New2Cue ! Hearty congrats on a job well done.

Kathryn

[smokinfatties]

Nice! I am giving my first brisket a shot this week!!

[boftx]

Looks good! And you can make a mean batch of chili or stew with the leftovers if you want. BTW, the Montreal rub is almost identical to what I make from scratch, I've started using it instead on most beef cuts now. Though I will add some dill weed on cuts like a roast or tri-tip.

[Jerod Broussard]

Very nice man!!!!

[Jerod Broussard]

I would allow a 10 hour cook. If it gets done too early (over 2 hours until dinner), just let it rest at room temp, when it gets down to 150 internal, stick it in a 170 degree oven.

[Jerod Broussard]

The Pit Barrel cooks pretty fast due to the hanging of the meat and what that offers, then there are no vents on the top, so things stay pretty even steven. Running 250 it will keep up with other cookers running 300.

[New2Cue]

Brisket was delicious! I've never liked the brisket that I've had elsewhere because it's always been too dry, but this was really moist and fantastic. For my next one, I'm going to use something other than Montreal seasoning. It's pretty good, but a bit too much of a salty bite to it.

Here are the particulars of the cook:

-- 12 pound brisket, full packer
-- trimmed and applied rub the night before
-- total cook time in the PBC: 7.5 hours
-- wrapped around 165 about five hours in, added Lagunitas IPA to the wrapped brisket
-- rest time: 3 hours in a cooler (was very hot when I took it out)
-- used three chunks of Post Oak

Many thanks to everyone again. The brisket is a bit of an intimidating cook the first time (especially given the size and price), but it actually wasn't too bad when all was said and done. The great thing about brisket is that you can let it rest for a long time after you pull it from the PBC (Noah's video says up to 6 hours) - makes for a lot less of a stressful situation than when your wife is trying to figure out when to start the sides

[New2Cue]

Thanks very much guys. Huskee, I couldn't get up that early, but did get up at 6:45 Let the brisket sit while I started the PBC up. Brisket went on at around 7:45, and I pulled it to wrap around 12:30. Added some Lagunitas IPA to the foil and now playing the waiting game. I seem to be at the stall as the temps haven't moved much in the last half hour.

Thankfully I decided to trim the brisket last night. My first brisket, and it took me a little bit to get familiar with the meat and layout of the chunks of fat. I had watched a few Youtube videos earlier in the evening, so had a decent idea of what to do. Then I added my rub of Montreal seasoning and a light dusting of PBC All Purpose. One of these days I need to try out MH's rub recipes, but the Montreal at least seemed closest to the Aaron Franklin rub of mostly coarse salt and pepper. My butcher also had stocked Texas Post Oak chunks, so I'm trying that out (apparently they had a ton of demand for it after the Washington Post had an article on Franklin's brisket methods).

Couple of other notes on the cook:

1. I set up the brisket with the two hook method as on the videos, but the brisket hung too close to the basket for my liking. I set up a third hook midway down the brisket and hung it on the other rebar, so the brisket was more on a diagonal than straight down. A couple of hours later when the meat had shrunk, I removed that hook.

2. For whatever reason, the PBC decided to run much hotter today. Usually I'm fighting to get the temps above 225. Today it was in the 350 range for a good half hour, then two hours later (I went back to bed) it was below 300. Not sure if it's the weather, the fact that I moved the barrel a good 5 or so feet away from my detached garage (usually I have the door open and keep it closer to the garage in case of rain), or a combination. In any event, it's been sitting in the 270-300 range very consistently this afternoon.


I'll post some final pics later tonight -- unless of course I mess it up!

[Danjohnston949]

New2Cue, My first Brisket took 2 Days! Forgot to light the Smoker the first Day? You'll do fine Cook by the Thermometer and You Can't Go Wrong! Take some Pic's to show us! Allow your self Plenty Of Time, as an old Flight Instructor once told me the three most Useless Things are; Runway Behind You, Air Space Above You, and Fuel in Someone Else's Tank? 👍👍👍👍👍. Dan