My First Brisket

[dlatin]

First off, thanks for all the help this past week as I prepared to smoke my first brisket. I just got a Weber Smokey Mountain after reading such great reviews about its ease of use. This thing was great, I didn't need to worry as much as I did because the WSM is pretty easy. Combine that with all the knowledge from this site and you'll see how it turned out.

Bought a 10.5 pound brisket from Costco, along with 9 pounds of spare ribs.

Plan was to eat at 6:00PM with a bunch of friends.

Rubbed both down Friday night

Woke up Saturday at 4:00, pulled the brisket out of the fridge and started the chimney, filled the charcoal ring to utilize the Minion Method. Poured about 20 lit coals on top of the unlit coals in the ring. I assembled the WSM, poured water in the bowl and waited for the temp to get up to about 220. This actually took longer than I expected.

Brisket on at 5:00 AM. I measured the temp at the grate and it was pretty darn easy to maintain right at 225*.

4 hours in a rotated it, not sure this was necessary on a WSM now that I think about it.

I put the ribs on at 11:00, utilizing Hornian's fool proof 3/2/1 Method.

Pulled the brisket off the smoke about 1:20, put a thermometer in her, wrapped her up and into the oven at 225* she goes. She measured in at 176* prior to the oven, I was hoping for about 160*

2:00 - time to pull the ribs off the smoke, wrap in foil, then into the oven for 2 hours, these ribs were already so tender.

took about 2 hours to get to 190* for the brisket, pulled it out of the oven, removed the probe and wrapped up and put in a cooler until dinner

After 2 hours in the oven, as Hornian mentions in his post, they are practically falling off the bones, the final hour is used to firm them up a bit, I almost skipped this step because I liked how they were so tender and full of juicy deliciousness. I had a change of heart and followed Hornians method. Put them on smoker for an hour. Here's how they looked when I pulled them off.

They were still very tender and you could wiggle the bones and they'd come right out.

I wrapped them back up in foil and put them in the cooler to keep ms. brisket company until it was time to eat.

5:30 - pulled the brisket out to rest prior to cutting. Here she is.

Didn't get a picture of the ribs post-cooler because they were devoured pretty quickly.

Here's the meat shot, not much of a smoke ring but the brisket had a great smokey flavor, was very moist and tender. BTW - I used OAK.

The brisket was so great, and the ribs were pretty unbelievable. Not sure if it was the Oak or my rub concoction or everything put togeher, but it was some of the best brisket and ribs I've had.

My only complaint now is, with a WSM, you are limited on space. We had 12 adults pretty much devour what I had. I don't think I can fit a bigger brisket on, and the ribs barely fit.

Thanks again for all the help!

[borat}Great Sucess![borat}

 

[MeaHorn]

Looks awesome, man. Thanks for taking the time to post the pictures.

 

[hornian]

In reply to:

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[MeaHorn]

Space is limited, but it's not impossible to smoke alot on a WSM.

You could have done a 12lb brisket on both top and bottom racks. Pulled them off after 6 hours and finished them in the oven.

Then you could use a rib rack to stand 6 of those half racks on the top grate and 6 more on the bottom grate.

It's not impossible, it just requires a little bit of creativity. When I'm cooking for a bunch I often start the briskets the day before and then do the short cook items on the day of the party.

It'd be nicer to have a huge pit for those big parties, but more often that not I'm cooking for 6-10, not 12-20 people. Doesn't matter, I still want a big pit and a Big Green Egg too.

 

[chuychanga]

Awesome!

 

[NCAAFBALLROX]

Great photos. I almost took a bite out of my monitor.

Oh, & what Hornian said. Even though the quality of the metal is a bit lower (i.e. thinner) than what it used to be, I'd go with a Bandera again if the need was there.

I can fit just about everything I need & with proper staging, I've cooked for about 60 people before.

Great pics on this thread, though. I am not sure what to tell you about the smoke ring... that's gotta be some kind of an issue worth checking out.

 

[dlatin]

Thanks, it really was great.

I didn't even notice the lack of smoke ring at first until I looked at the pictures because it was so delicious. The ribs actually had a really nice smoke ring.

I'm torn about the space issue, I may look into what Mea says. I really like the ease of use of the WSM. I also really like the water bowl, I have to think that contributed to the moistness of the meat.

 

[Blain]

Man, I really don't see how y'all aren't getting any smoke rings.

 

[jimmyjazz]

Did you slice it with the grain or against it? I can't really tell from the photos. Looks like it might be sliced with the grain, which will lead to a tougher cut to chew.

 

[chickendog!]

I use a similar sized <gasp> electric <gasp> smoker and second the rib rack recommendation. Definitely worth looking into if you plan on cooking ribs regularly.

For the record, I've already requested the Bandera as birthday present.

 

[dlatin]

I sliced against the grain, I have a good portion of it already sliced on the platter in the upper left corner of the picture that would have shown this better. Looking at this picture it is tough to telll. The stuff at the top left of the cutting board is the fat I carved off.

The meat wasn't tough or chewey. I said above it was pretty much perfect. Juicy, smokey, delicious...