Smoking a flat

[klflowers]

Keep drinking beer is always a sound plan.

[vtkess02]

Awesome, thanks all for the replies. I'll let you guys know how things turn out...

Sounds like I should err on the long side as far as time goes. I guess the nice thing there is, if it gets done early I can just toss it in the faux Cambrio and wait it out (keep drinking beer) until dinner...

[JCGrill]

Usually when I cook a packer the point gets done before the flat. With no point I would expect it to be done faster than it would with the point sitting on top, but not a great deal faster. I don't have any empirical data I can give you, but I would guess no more than 20% faster. So if you think 10 hours had it been a packer, maybe 8 since it is just a flat. There are a lot of variables that can affect time, so I don't think giving you a number of hours is likely to be accurate.

[Mr. Bones]

Sorry, never done no flat, all on its lonesome.

Howdy from Kansas Territory, Welcome to Th Pit!
Lookin forward to learnin along with, an from ya!

[Red Man]

Flats usually take me 7-9 hours, cooking at 250-275, wrapping in butcher paper at about 180 IT (after the bark is well set).

[mountainsmoker]

Welcome to the pit. How big is your flat that will determine cooking time, as will weather and other things such as cooking temp. So expect a bunch of answers. I usually cook mine at 275 and depending on size it will take 5-7 maybe even 8 hours. If you want to do a search at the top of the page and do a search for brisket flat. When the page comes just enter May 1, 2019 - May 6 2020. You will 3 pages to look through for ideas. You also need to click Pitmaster Club further down on the form.

[RonB]

Welcome to The Pit. Sorry, but I've never smoked flat, but someone will be along shortly that can help.

[vtkess02]

Hey everyone, sorry if this has been covered but I couldn't find it... the wife picked up a brisket for smoking on the KBQ this weekend, and lo and behold it's a flat instead of the packer I was hoping for. I've only smoked a handful of briskets in the past so I'm a bit of a novice. My general question is, is the process different for a flat than it is for a packer? Any tips or tricks unique to this cut of meat?

Obviously it'll take a lot shorter time, but any idea how much shorter? I've read that a typical flat cooks about as long as St Louis ribs - 5 hours or so. Does that sound like it's in the ballpark?

Thanks all. This is my first post. Love the site, love the message board!