I am doing two briskets for Mother's Day dinner today. They just happened to jump into my cart a couple days ago but that is another story.
Most briskets I do are usually in the 15-18 pound range. These were closer to 12 pounds so a bit smaller. Recently my brisket cooks have been taking longer than expected so I figured with the smaller briskets they will cook in around 12 hours. I started them at midnight on my Ranch kettle with a pretty big snake. Usually the ranch stays rock steady at 225-250 as long as the snake is there and when it gets towards the end (8 hours or so) I dump some more charcoal in and it keeps going.
So I put these on at midnight and the temps stayed steady through the night. When I woke up this morning at 7:30 the temp was a bit low (205) so I added some more charcoal and lit a few more briquettes to give it a quick boost. I also wrapped the briskets in butcher paper which I rarely do. The temp of the briskets was 150 degrees when we left for church and seemed to have stalled there so I figured they would just move along and be 180ish when I got home, cook up to 200ish for 2-3 more hours, and then have 4 hours or so to rest.
Well, I open the door and all I hear are alarms from my Smoke. I figured the temp might have dropped but no big deal, it just might take a bit longer. Of course not. The grill temp was 325 (I have rarely been able to get the Ranch over 275 with a reasonable snake) and the brisket was temping at 208. I spot checked a few other places and they were all in the 205-208 range.
I pulled them off the heat and got them safely resting in a cooler. They felt tender when I probed them but hopefully they didn't dry out too much or they aren't falling apart. I am really happy I wrapped them so hopefully that will preserve some of the moisture.
Just reinforces that briskets have a mind of their own and they do what they want to do. I am sure these will be fine but the next few hours of waiting are going to be excruciating.
Most briskets I do are usually in the 15-18 pound range. These were closer to 12 pounds so a bit smaller. Recently my brisket cooks have been taking longer than expected so I figured with the smaller briskets they will cook in around 12 hours. I started them at midnight on my Ranch kettle with a pretty big snake. Usually the ranch stays rock steady at 225-250 as long as the snake is there and when it gets towards the end (8 hours or so) I dump some more charcoal in and it keeps going.
So I put these on at midnight and the temps stayed steady through the night. When I woke up this morning at 7:30 the temp was a bit low (205) so I added some more charcoal and lit a few more briquettes to give it a quick boost. I also wrapped the briskets in butcher paper which I rarely do. The temp of the briskets was 150 degrees when we left for church and seemed to have stalled there so I figured they would just move along and be 180ish when I got home, cook up to 200ish for 2-3 more hours, and then have 4 hours or so to rest.
Well, I open the door and all I hear are alarms from my Smoke. I figured the temp might have dropped but no big deal, it just might take a bit longer. Of course not. The grill temp was 325 (I have rarely been able to get the Ranch over 275 with a reasonable snake) and the brisket was temping at 208. I spot checked a few other places and they were all in the 205-208 range.
I pulled them off the heat and got them safely resting in a cooler. They felt tender when I probed them but hopefully they didn't dry out too much or they aren't falling apart. I am really happy I wrapped them so hopefully that will preserve some of the moisture.
Just reinforces that briskets have a mind of their own and they do what they want to do. I am sure these will be fine but the next few hours of waiting are going to be excruciating.
be done, zackly when it's done, an not a minute sooner...
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