What's the least amount of time you would dry brine a brisket?

[hoovarmin]

I'm serving brisket tomorrow and I'm debating starting tonight before bed vs. setting an alarm to start early. I started the dry brine at about 2pm today, and I don't want to begin before the salt has done it's magic. If that means getting up super early, then so be it. What say you all?

[RonB]

I seem to recall reading that salt penetrates about 1/4" per hour per surface, (top and bottom), so that means a total of 1/2" per hour. A 3" thick brisket should take 6 hours, but I still prefer at least overnight.

[RonB]

realdocBBQ - good point - pun intended.

[hoovarmin]

realdocBBQ I've never heard that salt can't penetrate fat, are you sure that's true?

[realdocBBQ]

When I've dry brined in the past, I've seen undissolved kosher salt crystals sitting on top of fat chunks when other areas have absorbed the salt.

[bbqLuv]

Too many variables.
Pellet grills do a great job on overnight cooks.
(1) The Weekday Brisket - How to smoke a brisket during the week. From work! - YouTube

[hoovarmin]

Yeah, those pellet grills are amazing. But with my Kamado, once a temp is dialed in it stays there with no fiddling whatsoever. Pretty incredible, actually. That said, I opted to wait til this morning to get started.

[fkrall]

Weber kettle, lump charcoal guy; trying brisket and a gifted Traeger for the first time. This video is exactly what I need--thanks!

[holehogg]

Get up early 😊 and enjoy the fresh morning mist.

[hoovarmin]

Exactly. I started at 4 AM and could hear the waves breaking on the beach because there was no road noise from A1A. Really nice.

[Steve R.]

I would inject in this situation. Actually, pretty much all situations.

[hoovarmin]

I was going to inject with tallow but learned last night that someone threw out the tallow I had in the fridge. Not happy about that, to say the least.

[realdocBBQ]

I think I may try to inject my next one with some beef broth and MSG. I just can't seem to get the flat right no matter what, and dry brining and injecting seem like 2 things to give a shot to (literally).

[Spinaker]

I have put my rub on and thrown it on the smoker right away. To me long brining times are a luxury, I have always been fine with simply throwing the rub on and letting it buck. That being said, longer brine times do help, but I rarely get ahead of it.

[smokin fool]

My method of choice also or poor planning depending on your point of view.
Once and a while I will get my act together and dry brined overnight, really I find very little difference at the end of the day.

[Andrrr]

How’s the brisket doing?

[Jerod Broussard]

Pretty sure I've done a 30 second dry brine.

[hoovarmin]

Andrrr it turned out great. Came off the Big Joe around 3 PM and into the Cambro for 3 hours. I was surprised by the bark since it was cooked in the Kamado with very little airflow. Family gobbled it up and all that was left was about 1/4th of the point.

[Sid P]

Well done, it looks amazing! What rub did you use?

[hoovarmin]

I used Malcom Reed's Killer Hog's TX Brisket Rub. It's a good one. I also mopped a little with the BBQ juice from the free side.