Brisket for 12-15 people, how much & how long?

Chad

This next weekend I'll be having some people over and promised to do a brisket. I've told them show up around 6:00pm and food should be good to go shortly after.

What size brisket would you guys do? and what time would you put it on the grill for 6:00 eating?

I was thinking 14lb brisket, and starting it at 10:00pm the night before.

I'll also be cooking some other things, but brisket is the one thing I'm worried about.

Thanks

Fidel

I would think that would be plenty of brisket.

I would start it earlier. if it gets done even 5 hours before you plan to eat, you can wrap and cooler it before slicing. At 1.5 hours per pound it will probably take 20-21 hours. It may go faster or it may take longer. Briskets are funny like that. The one thing you can do if you get in a pinch is wrap it in foil after it breaks the plateau and bump the heat a little to 275 or so. Add some broth or other liquid and it should be fine.

Captain Obvious

I egged my first 13.5lb brisket this weekend. Mine spent 15 hours on the egg. The temp did creep up to 275 for a couple hours, but it was pretty close to 225 most of the time.

I trimmed off 3lbs and 4oz of fat from the brisket before cooking, which means total cooking weight was a little over 10lbs. Therefore the 1.5 hours per pound was almost dead on for post trimmed weight.

FYI, this was a packers cut. I didn't seperate the point from the flat until after the flat was done. I left roughly 1/4 inch of fat on. I followed someone elses advice and placed it fat side down with the point at the back of the egg, and I'm pleased with the results. I did foil at 170F, and it seems most suggest doing so at around 165F.

I think your start time of 10PM sounds reaonable if your brisket is 10 to 11 pounds trimmed. If it's 14lbs trimmed, then I agree with Fidel that you need to start earlier.