Prime brisket is in! Wet age?

[Spinaker]

Taking this a bit further, just got my first ever Costco prime whole packer. My honey wants corned beef. Anyone started the corning process after wet aging? I intend to split flat from point, corn the flat, smoke the point.

Last time I split them and did not care for the results. I am smoking one tonight. I wet aged mine for about 35 days before curing. I keep the packer full. Every time, except the last, I cure the whole thing and smoke it whole. I love the pastrami slices right where the point meets the flat. Huge thick slices. The flavor is divine.

[Bruce54]

Spinnaker Couple things: Not doing pastrami (this time), just plain corned beef that we'll cook either simmered or sous vide. I really want to try doing some traditional slow smoke brisket with this, so some sort of splitting will be happening. Do you think a simple divide, cutting a 4 - 6 lb piece off the flat end to brine, then smoking the rest whole, would work better than truly splitting point from flat? FWIW, I'll be doing the smoking in a 22" kettle. This full packer just wouldn't fit anyway without some "modifications".

[DWCowles]

Never have dry age a brisket because of my job but since I’m gone for 30 days at a time that would be a perfect time to dry age a brisket. Will do it when I get back home.

[obiQsmoker]

Before connecting here w/you folks, had no idea about wet aging. Thanks for sharing your experience and tips!
Gotta run to Costco and snag a packer for, well, a few weeks from now.
Gotta say, this smoking thing sure adds a dimension of "plan-ahead". It’s a real shift for me to need to start planning for a cook well into next month. Whew - brain strain!

[RonB]

Just remember that you don't have to age for an exact time. I always look for ~ about 30 days, but I don't worry if it goes a few days more or less.

[obiQsmoker]

Duly noted. Thanks RonB!

[ckreef]

I was doing some reading a few months ago about wet aging. They were talking about 45-60 days after the packing date (not the sell by date). The packing date is usually stamped on the box the cryopacs came out of (in case you get that confused look).

[realdocBBQ]

I did one last Christmas, and figuring about 2 weeks back from the label, I was up over 80 days, I believe. It was incredible. Did another one a couple weeks ago, I was at about 7 weeks total using the same method.

Currently have a Sam's Angus Choice packer that is very well trimmed in the sous vide bath, not wet aged, though. I wanted to compare things. I've done a couple of Primes, the last Prime above was damned good, smoked, sous vide (44h 144°F), and smoked again, but got a tiny bit dry in the flat. Super tender, flavorful, but I decided to give it a try without putting it back on the smoker. So this one got smoked for about 5 hours or so, then into the water bath. It is sitting at 130°F now with 33h 16m left on a 67 hour bath. I plan to just take it out, pat it dry and sear it with the flamethrower this time - see if it keeps the flat more moist.

<edit> The other thing is, I decided to trim a lot more of the fat off of this one because the little bit of smoke I put on it won't penetrate the fat, and it doesn't need a fat cap to protect it from the heat, and the fat isn't super helpful in sous vide... so... I figured, WTH, I don't really need it.

[ecowper]

I trim almost all the fat cap, leaving at most 1/8”. It gets in the way of salt during the dry brine (if you do that) and forming the bark. Plus, thicker fat cap and people trim it off anyhow.