Brisket on Weber with SnS question

[tbahder1]

I want to cook a brisket on the Weber kettle using the SnS. I previous have been cooking ribs, which took about 6 hours of charcoal, including startup. I understand that brisket will take 12 to 14 hours. This means that I will have to reload the SnS with charcoal at least once. Of course there will be a lot of ashes after the first round of charcoal. How do you deal with the ashes, since they will choke off the second round of charcoal? How do you reload the SnS with charcoal?

Also, how much wood do you use (how many chunks)? (I use oak chunks from my area trees.). I live in the Clearwater, Florida area.

How long does your typical brisket cook?

I assume you wrap the brisket in foil, or something else after a few hours?

Thanks!

[trasmc]

Please take what I'm about to say with a grain of salt, as I've cooked a whopping total of 1 brisket in my life (came out pretty good following all of Meathead's instructions on this site)! I used a 26" Weber with the SnS XL, and also have a Fireboard thermometer hooked up to a Pit Viper fan so I didn't have mess with the vent settings at all.

The total cook took 13 hours (a 10lb brisket before trimming) at 225, then followed by about 4 hours in a faux-cambro (so a total of about 17 hours). I wrapped it tightly in foil at about the 9.5 hour mark after it stalled.

As far as when I would add more coals, I would keep an eye on the ambient temperature probe, and when it started to fall below around 215 or 220 (and when the fan had to really rev up to keep things at temperature) I would pop the lid, give the coals a good stir, bang on the side of the kettle with my gloved hand and then use the "ash-sweep" things on the bottom of the kettle to move the ash into the ash-catcher. Probably not the terms Weber uses in their marketing material, but you know what I mean! I would also sweep the remaining (usually partly lit) coals to one side of the SnS, and since the lid was open anyway I would add more coals. I usually had to do this about every 5-6 hours, but keep in mind it was about 10 degrees and very windy, so you might get a longer interval between adding coals.

Also, when raking the coals, if you haven't already wrapped the brisket in some foil or butcher paper, you might want to at least cover it temporarily (I would use a single sheet of tinfoil), as some loose ash tends to get kicked up and I didn't want it to get on the brisket.

Hope this helps - and post pics when you're done!

[jfmorris]

tbahder1 I've cooked many briskets on my Weber Performer 22" kettle with the Slow 'N Sear. I'll try and help.

First - the time to cook depends on the temperature you cook at (225F, 250F, 275F) and the hunk of brisket you are cooking. For me, most 14 to 18 pound full packers take 14 to 16 hours on the kettle with the SNS. You can take the heat up to 300F without ill effect to get things done faster. I also wrap in foil once the thickest part of the flat reaches 170F or so, and the bark is set, and then monitor with my Smoke thermometer until the meat is up around 203 to 205. Pull it, and store in "faux cambro" (a cooler) wrapped in towels for at least 1-2 hours. The meat will still be steaming hot, but that rest seems to tenderize it and distribute moisture in the foil throughout the brisket.

Here is a hint on temperature probe placement. You want to go into the thickest part of the FLAT, without putting your probe into the deckle - the layer of fat between the flat and point. For me this is usually about mid-way along the length of a full packer brisket, and I put the probe in from the side.

Anyway, for me, depending on charcoal, I get anywhere from 6 hours to 12 hours on a load of charcoal in the SNS. I only add water at the very beginning of the cook, BTW, and don't top it off after that. When fuel starts running low, I use tongs, a charcoal scoop or an ash rake to rake all the ashes in the SNS down through the charcoal grate, and pull all remaining lit charcoal up into a pile at one end of the SNS. I then, with the meat covered with a piece of foil, work the ash sweeps in the kettle to make the ashes drop into the catch pan. If you have the basic kettle, it will drop into that pan below the kettle. I do that a few times, to be sure the bulk of the ash is cleared. I then pour charcoal in to fill up the rest of the SNS with fresh charcoal, so it will burn back across the basket again. Uncover the meat, and close the lid.

As far as wood, I use 3-4 smallish chunks of wood (golf to tennis ball sized) distributed across the top of the SNS basket. Usually by the time I refuel, the bark is set, and the meat won't be taking much more smoke. You can add a couple more chunks if you want when refueling. Some folks like a lot of smoke, some like less. My family is used to lots of smoke, but I know many who don't like it, and if your family doesn't, I would not add more wood at refueling time. And if you have hit 170F or so and wrapped in foil, smoke doesn't matter anymore at that point.

Remember how you got too much smoke on your first batch of ribs? You don't want to repeat that with your first brisket, so my advice is less rather than more wood... try 3 or 4 chunks of oak, and no more than that. If its not smoky enough - add more the next time.

Oak is a good choice for smoking wood with brisket - Texas style calls for post oak, and I use a bag of post oak chunks from B&B.

Hope that helps!

[jfmorris]

Another hint I will give is that charcoal brand and type greatly affect how often you have to refuel. Here are my burn times for a single load of charcoal at 225F grate level temperature, on a 22" kettle using the Slow 'N Sear (original).

- Weber Hardwood briquettes - 12+ hours
- B&B Lump - 10+ hours
- Kingsford Original (KBB) briquettes - 7-8 hours
- Royal Oak briquettes - 5-6 hours

I've also used B&B Char logs, but they are not a great fit in the SNS, due to their size, so I had to fill in around them with regular charcoal, so I didn't really time it.

[Clark]

jfmorris I notice you did not list B&B briquets. Don't you use them? I've had good luck with them.

[jfmorris]

Clark I only recently bought a bag of B&B briquettes - I can find the lump more easily than the briquettes. I'm planning to use them for my next low and slow in the SNS.

[Alabama Smoke]

jfmorris, Jim, as you know I recently bought a Performer and I have one question regarding your well detailed comments above. Before you use the ash sweep to clear the charcoal dust from the bowl, you cover the brisket with foil. Are you simply laying it on top of the meat, or under or both? Seems to me like both the bottom and top sides would be vulnerable. Thanks in advance for your help. I appreciate all the help you offer folks here on AR.

[jfmorris]

I have the Drip 'N Griddle on the charcoal grate under the brisket. Any ash that rises from operating the sweep - and it usually isn't much - goes up and through the Slow 'N Sear. I am just keeping any of that ash from settling on the meat. And there is not as much ash flying around as you might think. With the lid off the kettle, it usually just rises straight up and goes no where near the meat - I don't always think to cover the meat and its never been a problem for my butts or brisket.

[rickgregory]

jfmorris covered it mostly but I want to call out two things:

1) Smoke at 275 not 225. All 225 does is lengthen the cook and if 275 is good enough for Aaron Franklin, it's good enough for me.
2) Find some B&B and use that. It burns noticeably longer than KBB.

AS for the ash, I'd simply bring out a plate with foil, move the brisket to it and fold the foil over, clear the ash and reload and then plop the brisket back on. If you think this will take you more than a few minutes, toss that plate with the brisket on into a preheated 275F oven.

[jfmorris]

I agree, and that is where I smoke more often these days. I've not charted burn times at 275 grate temp in a kettle though. Looks like I need to bust out my spreadsheet and do more testing!

[rickgregory]

jfmorris - I've been able to get 2-4 hours out of a dozen B&B briquettes in a 22" kettle with the temps around 240 or so. It's kind of amazing, actually.

[jfmorris]

Good to know. I have a bag of B&B briquettes to test at some point. Just gotta decide if they go in the kettle or the SNS Kamado. With this cold weather, probably the kamado!

[Jerod Broussard]

If you are not using a raised grate, I like to run fat cap up until that side is black black black, then flip to get bark on the other side/flat side. Don't monitor internal temp before you flip, it will only make you flip out when you see how much the temp drops after flipping flat side up.

[jfmorris]

I second this. Since the higher your are in a kettle, the hotter, I run fat cap up on my butts and brisket, until the bark looks good, then flip to get better bark on the side that was on the grate.

[tbahder1]

Thank you for the excellent detailed suggestions. All of your great descriptions of cooking brisket have given me courage to try cooking it myself. I have also gotten some B&B charcoal to use.

One questions that I still have: Usually, there is just me and my wife in the house. So a whole brisket is a huge amount of meat for the two of us. Do you freeze the remaining portions? Does it freeze well? (I have vacuum bags and a sealer that I can use to freeze the remaining cooked brisket.)

Thanks!

[rickgregory]

Another way to go is to find a well marbled chuck roast and practice on that. I do those occasionally as it's just me and they're delish. NOTE though, that you need to find one with good intramuscular marbling - see one I got recently here https://pitmaster.amazingribs.com/fo...916#post985916

[JoeSousa]

Most of my leftover brisket goes in the fridge and I just grab a slice every time I walk by the fridge. I almost like it cold out out of the fridge more than when it is warm.

If there is any left over after that I cut it up into chunks and make some brisket chili. That is also a great way to use any bits that might be a bit too barky, little leftovers from slicing, etc. I usually use 4 pounds of meat for a batch of chili and there is plenty of that left to freeze for future meals.

[HawkerXP]

Don't listen to any of them! Send all your leftovers to me. I'll keep them safe for you.

[jfmorris]

Thank you for the excellent detailed suggestions. All of your great descriptions of cooking brisket have given me courage to try cooking it myself. I have also gotten some B&B charcoal to use.

One questions that I still have: Usually, there is just me and my wife in the house. So a whole brisket is a huge amount of meat for the two of us. Do you freeze the remaining portions? Does it freeze well? (I have vacuum bags and a sealer that I can use to freeze the remaining cooked brisket.)

Thanks!

Even feeding 8 or more, I usually have leftover brisket, and it reheats well. What I do is typically slice the flat for serving on day one, but only slice what we will eat. Hint: Hot brisket dries out after carving - don't preslice the entire thing right after it comes off the smoker. The hot meat tends to lose all its juices.

For leftovers, I like to refrigerate so that the juices and fat pretty much solidify, THEN slice it into portions, which vacuum seal and freeze very well, and reheat well in the microwave or even in a skillet once thawed.

I recently found a vacuum sealed bag where I had cubed an entire smoked brisket point and frozen it months earlier. For New Year's Day with the kids, I pulled it out, browned it up in a cast iron skillet, and then baked in the oven at 250F with BBQ sauce, butter and brown sugar. It was like brisket candy, and that cubed point had been in the freezer for several months. So yes - it keeps well!

[FlashHokie]

Ah found brisket is glorious! It's been a while since I've smoked a brisket. Need to run to the store now! Thanks for the inspiration!