My Fifth Brisket

[DaveD]

Howdy kids, firing up a thread to document my fifth brisket cook. My first four have all come out really well, so since it ain't broke, I'm not going to try to fix it, and use the same process: running overnight on the SnS kettle with B&B coals & hickory chunks at about 250/120, then transfer to the Pit Boss pellet rig in the morning in a foil boat for the rest of the ride. Should finish around midday, and then it will rest in the oven at its lowest stable temp of about 170/75 for the afternoon until dinnertime.

Starting material is a Wild Fork Choice brisket, 10.15lb/4.6kg in the package, and I trimmed off fully 4lb/1.8kg before dry brining.



Before:

After:

Before:

After:


Dry brining now, and I'll hit it with Spiceology Cowboy Crust prior to putting it on.


More later!

[58limited]

That is a great looking piece of beef.

[captainlee]

Looks like you took most of that fat cap off. Interested in your results, I've thought of trimming more off but haven't tried that. Have a great smoke.

[DaveD]

Yep, I'm always pretty aggressive when trimming... I want as much meat exposed as possible to get plenty of rub and bark.

[captainlee]

I agree not a fan of extra fat but was always told to leave 1/4 " on, so I always have. I'll follow your post for your results. I've also seen them cooked with zero trimming.

[ecowper]

I’ve found that when I leave that 1/4” that many of us like, other folks inevitably trim it away. Now I just trim down to the meat and I have found that it really doesn’t make a difference.

[Jfrosty27]

Wild Fork for the win!

[Sid P]

I noticed just yesterday that Wild Fork has trimmed Choice briskets for $6.98/# vs $3.98 for untrimmed, and wondered about the economics. Looks like a fair trade if trimming four pounds off a ten pound brisket is normal.

Pic of trimmed brisket from Wild Fork’s website:

[captainlee]

Interesting.

[58limited]

I prefer untrimmed because: its usually cheaper and you get extras for other uses. Trim can be used for sausage, burgers, stew, beans, soups, tallow, stock, etc.

[texastweeter]

Use the fat trim for sausage and the lean for burgers or beans, or anything.

[captainlee]

So much of what's been taught is based on competition cooking which I don't do. Great to learn new stuff.

[DaveD]

Got the brisket rubbed up with Cowboy Crust (dayum but we love this stuff - thanks again, Secret Santa!) shortly after lighting the coals in the SnS kettle. Just put that bad boy on the grate - Houston, we have cleared the tower.





One more update before bedtime...

[DaveD]

Whoops, I forgot to post my update before bedtime...! ITs had reached about 130/55 by the time I turned in:



The kettle performed perfectly overnight. Temps are now 170/76 for the flat and 182/83 in the point. Firing up the pellet rig now for the transfer.



Here's the temperature plot - very steady temps all night long.

We are fully nominal... more later!

[realdocBBQ]

Looking forward to the AAR.

[texastweeter]

That's about 13 probes light for you.

[Steve B]

If I’m reading that correctly that’s one loooooong stall.
looks like it about 155* around 12:30-1:00 and hung out there until about 5;30-6:00. At least you weren’t awake to be pacing around waiting for it to come out of it. 😁

[DaveD]

Yep! Stallsville for sure, as expected. I've done this overnight each of my four previous times, and I intend to keep that approach... seems to work great.

[DaveD]

Just deployed the foil boat and transferred the brisket to the Pit Boss Copperhead running with hickory pellets - which doesn't really matter because the cut has already taken up all the smoke it's likely to by now. Set point is 225/107 and it's running at about 250/120.



As usual, ITs are hitting a short plateau after this step, which I expect will recover promptly as everything re-equilibrates. Continued nominal performance

[Steve B]

That cooking chamber on your PB looks entirely too clean. 😂

[DaveD]

Steve B Only because it got its annual clean not long ago, and has run only about 12 hours total since. I don't use it for long cooks anywhere nearly as often as I once did though, that's for sure.

[Smoked Transistors]

Love the foil boat method!

[bbqLuv]

So far so good. I am looking forward to number 6.

[fzxdoc]

This is a fun topic for following along. Looking great.

Kathryn

[captainlee]

Looks great!!!

[Hulagn1971]

Fantastic! Now I feel the need to smoke a brisket.

[DTro]

What time did you say we should be there?