S&S for brisket advice.

[Mbloto]

In the next week or so I will be attempting my first beef brisket. The local butcher had whole Wagyu brisket on sale for $9.00 a pound and I couldn't pass it up as its regularly $25.00 a pound. Asked for the smallest one they had and ended up with a 12 pounder.

I understand this could be a 10-12 hour cook and wondered if I should use the snake method on my weber kettle or use the slow and sear. I know the snake will burn long enough and is easy to add on to but gives me a smaller cook area.

The slow and sear will provide a larger cook area but I'm worried about keeping it going for that extended time. I've done 6 hour cooks with out an issue or having to add coals. But this brisket is going to take twice that long.

Any advice on how to maintain the low temp on the slow and sear for 12 hours? How to add coals when needed?

Of course any advice on cooking a brisket is always welcome.

Dave

[Red Man]

I have no problem adding coals to the SnS. Add before they get too low. Remove brisket or loosely wrap with foil to keep the ash off. Sweep ash, push remaining coals to one side of SnS, fill with unlit coals. I try to time it with when the brisket is ready to wrap. You will get a lot of ash flying around, your temp in the cooker will drop, and you’ll get some white smoke while the new coals start and the cooker gets back up to temp. If you’re not ready to wrap yet, it will still be just fine.

[RonB]

^ This ^

[ecowper]

One thing to note is that Wagyu brisket is likely to cook faster than Choice or Prime.

[scottranda]

Truth

[Clark]

Why is that?

[ecowper]

Clark I assume that it is because the fat is better spread through out the meat, the muscles are more tender/less worked, and better quality. I’ve never tested the why, but my observation from the one time I cooked Wagyu brisket is that it went much faster than a Prime brisket.

[Mbloto]

Thanks for the tips and clues, guys!

Dave

[jfmorris]

Mbloto I just did a 16 pound prime brisket overnight on my kettle using the SNS. I didn't add fuel to the SNS until it had been more than 12 hours. I've found that high end hardwood briquettes, Weber in this case, can burn for 12+ hours in the SNS, with one load of charcoal, smoking at 225F cooking temperature at the grate.

Here are times for charcoals I have tested, on a kettle at 225F grate level temp, using a single load in the SNS:

- Weber briquettes - 12+ hours
- B&B lump - 10+ hours
- Kingsford original (KBB around here) - 7 to 8 hours
- Royal Oak briquettes - 5 to 6 hours

I hope that helps! I do recommend the SNS for this cook if you can find good charcoal to run unattended. It makes it much easier to refuel or add additional wood, compared to the snake. I used a snake before I had the SNS, and its a good way to go, but as you said, cuts down the cooking area.

For what its worth, doing a 2x2 snake, with wood chunks every few inches, I rarely got more than 8-10 hours at the most before the snake had burned all the way around the kettle (with just a few inch gap between start and end of the snake).

[ecowper]

besides, setting up a snake is a pain in the ass

[Mbloto]

The cook with the S&S went perfect. The brisket was a bit to large for my kettle so I cut off a chunk of the flat and threw it in the slow cooker, made great stew.

On the kettle, once the brisket hit 160 I double wrapped it in heavy duty foil and continued to cook till 203 degrees. Then wrapped in a towel and placed in a small cooler for 2 hours.
Added a bunch of hot coals to the S&S and seared the brisket for a minute or two on each side. Smoky, juicy, tender!
By the way, after 2 hours in the cooler there was a good cup or so of juice left in the foil, made a great dipping sauce for the brisket sandwiches.

[JoeSousa]

I use the SNS for briskets all the time. If the temperature starts dropping (anywhere from 6-10 hours depending on how hot you are cooking) just lay a piece of foil over the brisket to keep ash off, knock the ash off the remaining coals, push them all over to one end of the SNS, and throw in some more coals. It might take a bit of fiddling to get things back at the temp you want but shouldn't be too bad.