First brisket cook on the PBC for the Super Bowl

[doctorak]

Got up at 5:15 am, had them on the smoker by 6:30. The cooker started hot, around 400, and gradually settled down to about 280 after 45-60 minutes. About an hour later (2 hours in) the briskets had already come up to 120 and the cooker was still holding a bit hot around 280-290, so I plugged the holes with some foil until it came down to 225, but I may have overdone it because it settled in around 205 for a while, and the meat was holding at 145. I wasn't expecting a stall this early (3 hours into the cook) so I figured maybe the cooker was a bit to cool. I managed to get it back up to 260 and left it there, and the meat started to slowly climb up til it held in the 152-154 range for a good hour, so I crutched it up at 156 (probing with the thermapen there were some spots up around 162).

I'm honestly not sure if the "stall" at 145 was a real stall (I wasn't expecting it this low) or if the PBC temp was just low and having trouble coming up, because it pretty much started to climb when the PBC got up to 260 again. At the wrap it was a decent bark (although being my first brisket cook, I'm actually not sure what a "good" bark is), and it's possible I crutched it before actually hitting a stall.

Anyway, I crutched it around 11:30, so I'm hoping the bark doesn't soften too much and that it turns out ok, but I'm a bit worried I either missed the crutch and it will be dry, or that I didn't let the bark settle in enough. Time will tell.

If anyone happens to see this in the next hour or so, I have a question about checking temps:

I understand that you don't want to poke holes in the foil used for the crutch to let steam out, but how do I check various points in the meat with my Thermapen, and how do I check for doneness, once it hits around 195? Anyone have good tips?

Attached is a pic going on the smoker this morning and another before one of the two went in the crutch.

[doctorak]

Success!At IT of 192, about 6.5 hours into the cook, the coals ran out of juice. I unfortunately didn't notice for a good 30 minutes at least since I was trying to take a quick snooze, but by the time I got there it was holding at 192 with an oven temp of 145-ish, so I don't think it affected much. Rather than heat up more coals I just transferred them to my gasser and kept it at a decent temp to finish them off.

One came off at 1:45 at 196 IT, the other at around 2:45 pm at 203 IT, they stayed in the cambro (dropped from 203 to around 180ish before slicing.

It was a hit. If I'm being nitpicky, they could have been a tad juicier and the bark could've crisped up a bit, but they were delicious.

Thanks so much to everyone for all your help! I'd consider it a very successful first PBC brisket (with hopefully many more to follow!)

[tbob4]

Looks fantastic!

[EdF]

They look real nice, too!

[UncleFester]

I know I'm behind on this, but those look fantastic!

[lschweig]

Good job and nice smoke ring.

[Steve B]

Looks great. Nice and juicy. Yummy

[DWCowles]

Beautiful!

[LarryO47]

Fantastic cook!!!!!!

[kill2grill]

Nice job! So what wood did you end up going with for the cook?

[doctorak]

Just one hunk of hickory. Being a relative novice (and having wayyy over-smoked some ribs on the PBC when I first got it), I decided to take Meathead's advice of "less is more" and just give it that hint of wood.

[doctorak]

VERY open to suggestions for next time, though!

[RonB]

doctorak - my suggestion would be to not slice the brisket ahead of time. They dry out quickly, so you want to slice it as close to eatin' time as possible. The last one I did I had people fill their plates with sides and then come to the "carving station" where I sliced and placed on their plate. Everyone loved it.

[doctorak]

doctorak - my suggestion would be to not slice the brisket ahead of time. They dry out quickly, so you want to slice it as close to eatin' time as possible. The last one I did I had people fill their plates with sides and then come to the "carving station" where I sliced and placed on their plate. Everyone loved it.

Thanks for the advice RonB. I did indeed slice it at serving time. I managed to get my photo right before the guests started getting their hands in there to eat.

[RonB]

Good - you must have been paying attention...

[HawkerXP]

That looks really nice doctorak . You fit both of them slabs on the PBC grate when wrapped?

[doctorak]

HawkerXP Yep, barely. Could not have fit anything else on though. I didn't take a picture unfortunately. I was a little worried about that when I bought them, but there was enough shrinkage to get them down to size and fit on the grate. My backup was the gasser (which I ended up using later for different reasons) and/or the oven...although with the cooking my wife was doing all day for the party I'm not sure she would've appreciate me using the oven for a few hours.

[HawkerXP]

I have a 16 pounder in the freezer that I hope to do on the PBC. I may have to cut it to keep off the coals.