I'm a big believer in practice makes perfect, and the biggest gains are at the beginning, when the learning curve is steepest. In this lesson, I learned that the PBC can definitely go for 9 hours, maybe longer, on a single load of charcoal, that you shouldn't cut up the whole brisket, and that you can probably capture more moisture by wrapping the brisket at the beginning of the stall.
I bought a full packer brisket at Costco, trimmed it, and then, not knowing what I was doing, cut it into three pieces. The pieces were sort of a point, a flat, and a point/flat. Rubbed them with Pastorini's Texas rub on two of the pieces and PBC Beef Rub on the third. Put the brisket in the PBC at 0845 in the morning and let it go for 8.5 hours, until the IT hit 204. Put it into my covered roasting pan and left it there for about 7 hours.
It's pretty tasty, very smoky and bark-y, but it's drier than I wanted it to be. I was ready to wrap it at the stall but the stall actually went by pretty quickly, about 2.5 hours. I was having fun with the PBC, tinkering with opening the lid and manipulating the vent opening. I had two big pieces of mesquite wood on top of the charcoal that were smoking up a storm. Next time, I will keep the meat intact, as one piece, and I will wrap when the IT hits 160.
Here are some photos, taken at the beginning, the 4 hour mark, the 5 hour mark, the transition to the roasting pan, and finally when I sliced it. That's Charly, one of my Ridgebacks, peeking at the brisket in one of the slicing photos. The last photo is a sandwich with brisket, spicy pickles, sliced red onion, KC Masterpiece and homemade sauces, on sourdough toast. I can't tell you how delicious that sandwich was.
I bought a full packer brisket at Costco, trimmed it, and then, not knowing what I was doing, cut it into three pieces. The pieces were sort of a point, a flat, and a point/flat. Rubbed them with Pastorini's Texas rub on two of the pieces and PBC Beef Rub on the third. Put the brisket in the PBC at 0845 in the morning and let it go for 8.5 hours, until the IT hit 204. Put it into my covered roasting pan and left it there for about 7 hours.
It's pretty tasty, very smoky and bark-y, but it's drier than I wanted it to be. I was ready to wrap it at the stall but the stall actually went by pretty quickly, about 2.5 hours. I was having fun with the PBC, tinkering with opening the lid and manipulating the vent opening. I had two big pieces of mesquite wood on top of the charcoal that were smoking up a storm. Next time, I will keep the meat intact, as one piece, and I will wrap when the IT hits 160.
Here are some photos, taken at the beginning, the 4 hour mark, the 5 hour mark, the transition to the roasting pan, and finally when I sliced it. That's Charly, one of my Ridgebacks, peeking at the brisket in one of the slicing photos. The last photo is a sandwich with brisket, spicy pickles, sliced red onion, KC Masterpiece and homemade sauces, on sourdough toast. I can't tell you how delicious that sandwich was.
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