Advice 22 lb. brisket

[Geary58]

Someone came to me advice on cooking a monster brisket have never smoked one that big, I usually allow about an hour & 1/2 per pound at 225 degrees. Wondering if the same would apply here.

[UncleSpike]

Wow, that's a big one!
I would probably try smoke it at about 250 for about 16 hours, and then wrap it to bring it up to temp. I would guess that if you try bring it all the way to temp without wrapping, you will dry some of it out...

But I really have no idea.

[RonB]

For one that big, I suggest 275°. I can't help with the time though.

[STEbbq]

Trim heavily, smoke at 275, consider splitting into point and flat, or plan on a very long cook. 15-20 hours would not be surprising but you could get it down to maybe 12-14 if you split.

[JLR]

What are you smoking it on?

[Mosca]

I did a 22 pounder a few years back. It was a Creekstone prime. LBGE, in the dead of winter, maybe Dec 11th? (Edit: December 18th into 19th, 2020.) Outside temps were close to 0°, I think overnight was 4°. (Edit: I looked it up, it was 10°.) I had to use a heat gun to unfreeze the BGE lid from base!

Pit temp varied from 250° to 270°. It took about 17 hours (Edit: 14 hours, meat went on at 7ish and came off at 9:30 next morning), but my fire cratered in the middle of the night; the pit temp dropped to near 200°, and I needed to restart it. (That is why I remember it was really effin’ cold that night.) The cook started when it was light out, so that would have been around 4 in the afternoon (Edit, that’s when I defrosted the BGE, meat went on at 7PM), and it finished middle of next morning. I took it to the luncheon around 11AM. I did NOT separate point and flat; I usually do. I measured temp in the flat only, from right underneath the point (but obviously not in the fat seam). I don’t remember the finishing temp, but my brisket is probably not be the same as yours. I went for “probes like butter” and “all jiggly”. Which is what I recommend.

STEbbq recommends judicious trimming, and I strongly agree. Square that sucker up. Cut off anything you wouldn’t serve to anyone, not just the fat but also that half inch thick piece of flat that always dries out. Use the meat trimmings for something else. Maybe throw them over the smoke for a couple hours, then put a quick sear on them and chop them, and toss them in the beans.

Have fun, and enjoy!

Final edit: I looked up the post I made for this cook, because I remember it mostly for everything going completely wrong, and the brisket coming out spectacular anyhow. Of course my memory was faulty on many counts. I corrected myself inline, leaving my original words because, well, I did write them.

https://pitmaster.amazingribs.com/forum/the-pit-mastery-program/misc-or-general-food-discusison/957669-this-weekend’s-brisket-cook-will-be-problematic

[Mlambert603]

My business partner and I always look for 18lb + briskets. We love cooking the bigger ones. Just did 2 - 21 pounders for a catering job on July 3rd. Trim very well, round off your corners and never be afraid to put a little foil over the small tip on the flat before the wrap. We use pellet smokers. We do 250 until 170 then wrap - we use foil. Finish to probe tender which for us in Southwest NH tends to be around 200-203. Then we rest... we are huge advocates of long rests for our briskets - 4-6hrs - we just put them in our Cambro but coolers do the same exact thing. I would recommend cutting until the temp drops below 160 but that's just my preference. The briskets we did for the 3rd took approx 16hrs. Wrapped in foil at approx. 12hrs (was sitting is stall forever at 165-166 so we wrapped early).

[Brisket Syndicate]

It should cook about the same. Just be prepared for a longer cook time. You could speed things up by cooking at a higher temp before wrapping, then lowering the temp once the brisket is wrapped.

[Troutman]

It also may depend on the gradation of the brisket itself. If it's select versus American wagyu for instance, the time may be as much as 25% less for the wagyu. The more the fat content, the faster it will render down regardless of size. What I'm also not seeing in the comments is every brisket is different. To try and estimate time is only that, an estimate. You have to cook it to probe tender, that could be hours longer than estimated for a large slug of meat like that. Expect the worst and hope for the better. Good luck !!