1st brisket dissaster

bigearl

Attempted my first brisket cooked entirely on the BGE this weekend. It was a 14.5 lb. choice full brisket.  I cut off a good amount of fat, but left 1/4" all around.  Cooked between 350-400 for about an hour and a half, then dropped the temp down to around 215-225.  I monitored it and found it stabilized for about an hour and a half and I went to bed at 3am.  I woke up at 8:30 to find the fire had gone out.  It looks like most of the lump burnt out (I used BGE brand lump and filled up the fire box and about midway up the fire ring).  I cooked indirect using the plate setter and had the brisket resting in the inverted rib rack with a drip pan of water underneath.  The only thing I can think of is that I burnt up too much of the lump on the front end trying to get it at 400 for that initial one hour burn.  Any suggestions/ ideas?

P.S. - I was able to salvage it by sticking it in the oven at 200 for another 7 hours.  

Village Idiot

Burning at the front end is the only thing I can think of.  I've done several briskets over 20 hours at 225-250, and had plenty left.

IrishDevl

When cooking a packer 14lb brisket why wouldn't you fill to the entire line?  I mean you can always put the fire out when completed and use it again.  I also don't fully understand the 400 for an hour part.  Low and slow from the beginning in my opinion - 250 or so.  I don't know what you gain by hitting  piece of tough meat with that heat level for an hour.  It has to cook for a long time over a low flame for it to turn out well, IMHO.  And from what I have been told BGE is the same as RO, and my experience with RO is it burns off quickly, so for a low/slow that would take 15hours or so I def. would fill the egg with lump. 

Chubbs

Maybe you tried to lower it too much. I don't cook anything under 250. If you had 215 on dome, that could have been less than 200 grate level. Next time keep temp no lower than 250 dome and make sure you have adequate air flow (no lump lodged in holes on lump grate).

bigearl

the thought was 400 for an hour or so to give it a burnt "bark".  I guess that was the wrong approach because it didn't have much of a bark anyway.  What's your suggestions on how to get it to look like this?

Chubbs

I would go 275 dome and leave it on egg unwrapped in foil the entire time until it hits 200 or so. Then double wrap with foil and towel and then cooler for an hour or two. Needs to be soft when sliding thermopen in to test temp. Once you pull it out of cooler, let it rest for a while before you slice. This method worked for me.

IrishDevl

Bigearl, I use yellow mustard and a nice rub, and have no issue getting that look over the entire cook time.  That bark will form overtime.

Flamethrower

Was it all new lump or a combo of new and used?

 

bigearl

combo new and used.

I did use yellow mustard and dry rub as well.

Chubbs

You said you cooked it in the oven 7 hours. It is easy to achieve that bark with mustard and rub in the egg, but not sure about your transfer to the oven.

boatbum

google - playing with fire and smoke

 

Good guide there, helped me alot.

smokinsooner

Here's the link BB was referring to:
http://playingwithfireandsmoke.blogspot.com/1996/03/brisket.html

This helped me out a lot too.

jimenezag

I also did a brisket this weekend, my first one ever, and it came out OK. I did a 14 lb packer Prime and it was in the Egg at 5 AM hoping it would finish by 5 or 6 to allow it a couple of hours rest with foil, towels and in a cooler. After the temp stabilized around 250 i went back to bed. Woke up a few hours later around10 or so and i saw the fire was out. Took the brisket out and saw there was barely any charcoal left. The middle was practically empty of charcoal. I guess next time i'll make sure to have it really full. I can't remember how high it was but I'll fill up to the line next time. 

I wrapped the brisket when it hit 155 degrees and left it to finish around 185. The brisket was finished around 3 PM and I had no choice but to wrap for almost 4 hours. There were parts of the meat that hit nearly 211 on my Thermapen.

In the end the brisket was not too bad but a little cold because of the long wrapping. Looking forward to trying again next time but I now know to calculate 10 hours especially since I tend to get Prime cuts. I also need to learn how to carve it better. I did against the grain but I still need practice.

danv23

Grab yourself a BBQGuru and never, ever, worry about that fire going out, ever again.  Load 'er up all the way and let 'er go,

paulheels

fill the firebox up every time before a long cook! ALL the WAY.  and you wont need the Guru or anything else.  Just get the temp set and monitor about 6 hrs later. use the lump!  EGG is efficient, you will have some left, prob enough to use for two or three small cooks.

Paul 

biznork

The Guru is amazing. I just cooked a brisket using it for the first time. Way easier than controlling the temp manually.

howmeisterg

I agree - just did a 25 hour cook (actually two cooks) - in an XL with a full load of Weekend Warrior, set the Stoker to 230F, took about 19 hours for a 13 lb packer brisket. Then took it off and did 4 racks of ribs for another 5 hours with the same load of lump! When I was done with the ribs, I probably could have gone another several hours low and slow. Amazing how efficient the Egg is!