My first post on here, so I'll try to make it memorable 
.
I've had a PBC since about September, been putting it through it's paces. I've done quite a bit of chicken, ribs, pork butt, pork loin (comes out especially good). I've been avoiding brisket, which I love, because of a lack of time and I've had a hard time controlling the heat. Well, this past President's Day, my wife had to work, daycare was open for my son, and I got the go ahead to smoke a brisket.
I bought a 12lb prime brisket from Costco (smallest they had). I pulled it out the morning of smoke and let it come up to room temp, about an hour and a half. I trimmed up the really thick fat over the point, but left the flat pretty much untrimmed. Next step, I patted it dry, then put on my rub, just salt and pepper in a 50/50 ratio, with a little smoked paprika and garlic powder mixed in. I lit the PBC using the small Weber chimney, about 40 coals. I let the coals light up to where the flames were just peaking over the edge (about 11 minutes) , then poured it into the charcoal basket. I set the basket up right near the air vent off to that side, and poured the majority of the lit coals on that side of the basket, just a few on the other side. I did this because the 12 lber hangs down so far as to almost be touching the coals. I immediately put the lid on and rebar in to try to keep the temp down.
Now, it was time to put the meat on. I went in and got my brisket and hung it as far from the coals as possible, fat cap facing the heat. I let it smoke for a few hours, then put the temperature probe in it. Checked it periodically through out the day (just the temp, left the lid on
). I did hang the probe once to check the PBC temp once about midway through the cook, it was holding steady around 280. I pulled the brisket once it hit the stall, about 150 or so. Wrapped it in foil, poured a little bit of Worchestershire in the bottom, and put it back on the grill grate. Kept it there until it hit 200. Total cook time, about 6.75 hours.
I started it at 8am, it was done about 245pm, and this was for dinner, so I had to keep it warm. I left it wrapped in the foil, wrapped 2 towels around it, and shoved it in a smaller Igloo cooler. I ended up pulling it back out around 630pm to cut it, it was still good and warm
. Long story short, it was delicious. I wasn't quite as fork tender as I wanted, but once I cut it, you could cut the individual slices with a butter knife. Pics below!
Final thoughts: The fat right in the middle of the point didn't render quite as much as I wanted, I think that was a result of the faster cook time, in a traditional offset where it would be going for 12 hours plus, I think it would have enough time to fully render. First time cooking with a prime grade brisket, that's hard to screw up, which is nice. I do think it benefited by the amount of time I let it rest, though how much time it actually needed, I'm not sure.
TLDR version: came out great, will do again, really happy with my PBC!
. I've had a PBC since about September, been putting it through it's paces. I've done quite a bit of chicken, ribs, pork butt, pork loin (comes out especially good). I've been avoiding brisket, which I love, because of a lack of time and I've had a hard time controlling the heat. Well, this past President's Day, my wife had to work, daycare was open for my son, and I got the go ahead to smoke a brisket.
I bought a 12lb prime brisket from Costco (smallest they had). I pulled it out the morning of smoke and let it come up to room temp, about an hour and a half. I trimmed up the really thick fat over the point, but left the flat pretty much untrimmed. Next step, I patted it dry, then put on my rub, just salt and pepper in a 50/50 ratio, with a little smoked paprika and garlic powder mixed in. I lit the PBC using the small Weber chimney, about 40 coals. I let the coals light up to where the flames were just peaking over the edge (about 11 minutes) , then poured it into the charcoal basket. I set the basket up right near the air vent off to that side, and poured the majority of the lit coals on that side of the basket, just a few on the other side. I did this because the 12 lber hangs down so far as to almost be touching the coals. I immediately put the lid on and rebar in to try to keep the temp down.
Now, it was time to put the meat on. I went in and got my brisket and hung it as far from the coals as possible, fat cap facing the heat. I let it smoke for a few hours, then put the temperature probe in it. Checked it periodically through out the day (just the temp, left the lid on
). I did hang the probe once to check the PBC temp once about midway through the cook, it was holding steady around 280. I pulled the brisket once it hit the stall, about 150 or so. Wrapped it in foil, poured a little bit of Worchestershire in the bottom, and put it back on the grill grate. Kept it there until it hit 200. Total cook time, about 6.75 hours. I started it at 8am, it was done about 245pm, and this was for dinner, so I had to keep it warm. I left it wrapped in the foil, wrapped 2 towels around it, and shoved it in a smaller Igloo cooler. I ended up pulling it back out around 630pm to cut it, it was still good and warm
. Long story short, it was delicious. I wasn't quite as fork tender as I wanted, but once I cut it, you could cut the individual slices with a butter knife. Pics below!Final thoughts: The fat right in the middle of the point didn't render quite as much as I wanted, I think that was a result of the faster cook time, in a traditional offset where it would be going for 12 hours plus, I think it would have enough time to fully render. First time cooking with a prime grade brisket, that's hard to screw up, which is nice
. I do think it benefited by the amount of time I let it rest, though how much time it actually needed, I'm not sure. TLDR version: came out great, will do again, really happy with my PBC!
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