My First Overnight Smoked Whole Brisket
I tried my hand at an overnight smoked whole brisket this week, and for a first run I was pretty happy with the results. I almost always prefer the "moist" to the "lean" sections of brisket, and while that held true here as well, I could appreciate the lean slices in this smoke. I think it sat too long in the warming cooler, but overall a solid effort in preparation for my first KCBS sanctioned competition in mid-august. If you want to take a deep dive into my notes on the smoke, read on!
A whole brisket is mammoth, this one checked in at 14.88 lbs untrimmed, so not quite sure why I picked this week to make it when I'm flying parentally solo with just one kid in the house, who at 4, is not yet eating my barbecue. The brisket had a hefty fat cap, which I trimmed most of away trying to leave about an 1/4 inch intact for basting purposes. I ended up cutting away about 2-2.5 pounds of fat, and was left with roughly a 12.5 lb brisket. Most bbq logs I've read have noted 1 to 1.5 hrs per pound for a whole brisket, so I figured I might be as much as a 19 hr total smoking time. After my calculations, I figured I should get the brisket on the smoker at around 11pm, and hope to be in good shape for the next night's dinner. The following pictures show the brisket in the original packaging, trimmed, and then rubbed with my BBQB rub in a 2 parts rub to 1 part granulated brown sugar ratio. They also show a corner of the flat chopped off to help me find the grain when its time to slice:
I started the chimney around 10PM, trying the "minion method" in the WSM which calls for filling the charcoal pan full of unlit charcoal and then layering on 20-30 fully lit coals on top. It took a long time to get the cooker up to just 150, so I opened up the chute fully to get some serious airflow going. That worked, but it also produced a tremendous amount of smoke which became abundantly clear when I noticed my neighboor shining his flashlight into my patio at 11 at night making sure I wasn't setting the whole block on fire. Smoke was apparently being sucked into their bedroom through their AC... ugh, gotta love brooklyn rowhouse living! I felt terrible for causing alarm, but knew the smoke would diminsh once i sealed it all up. So I put the brisket on at 11pm, and checked every 20 minutes or so until I hit the temp I was after (225-250). Here's my cook log:
- 10:10p Chimney started with 30 bricks
- 10:30p Lit coals into WSM on top of full pan of unlit bricks.
- Topped with big chunks red oak, 2 big chunks hickory.
- Water pan filled with cold water
- All vents 100% open
- 10:45p Temp @ 150, decided to open chute fully
- 10:55p Temp @ 240, added brisket, fat side up
- 11:00p Temp @ 210 (serious drop!)
- 11:30p Temp @ 200
- 12:00a Temp @ 198 (decided to just hope the coals would get hot and went to bed with alarm set for 2am)
- 2:00a Temp @ 210 (woohoo! back to bed, set alarm for 4am)
- 4:00a Temp @ 220 (yeehaw! back to bed)
- 6:30a Kid wakes up for the morning, Temp @ 200
- 7:30a Temp @ 195, knocked pan around to loosen up ash, added 8 unlit bricks
- Time to bring the kid to school
- 9:00a Temp @ 230 (sweet! getting another round of shut eye)
- 11:30a Temp @ 205 -- Decided to take my first look at the brisket
- Bark looks great, mopped with an apple juice/oil/rub combo
- Took meat temp for first time, already at 185-195 throughout
- WTF! It's been 12.5 hours and I'm at temp
- Wraped in foil, tossed in a cooler, and hoped it could maintain until 8PM dinner time
- 6:00p Brisket temp dropped down to 145, figured I needed to maintain above 140 and placed in a 150 degree oven, still wrapped
- 7:30p Removed from oven, let sit
- 8:00p Sliced, and served.
Here are a few shots of the whole brisket aftert I took it off the smoker and wrapped in foil:
And then the final sliced shots:
And my tasting notes:
- Bark was full of flavor... loved it, wouldn't change a thing!
- Fat left on the fat cap was a little thick
- Slices from the point were outstanding
- Slices from the flat were, well, less moist... and likely a little overdone
- Smoke flavor was powerful, but not overwhelming... i think hickory was a bit too strong
Here's what I'd change next time:
- Plan for 1hr per pound, with a 2 hr extra window in case things move more slowly
- This clearly sat in foil in the warmer for too long
- Trim fat closer... there was plenty that did not render
- Same rub... totally loved it
- Skip hickory and do all oak
- Check temp earlier, probably at the 8 hr mark... also mop at that point
- Lightly sear the bottom side over hot coals to help crisp up the bark on the underside (which had steam touching it throughout the cook)
