HELP!

hizzoner

Maybe I'm too impusilve.....I bought a half of a brisket this evening at the grocery store and decided to put it on tonight. I just finished cleaning the Egg and relaoding it with new lump. I'm gonna dust this piece of meat with a rub and toss it into the inverted rib rack overnight at 225.


Any pointers?

Inverted plate setter and rib rack with drip pan at 225


I've got the charcoal lighting right now

hizzoner

Come to think of it....since I've had thre glasses of cabarnet tonight.....I'm gonna set the temp to right at 200 and hope it ain't burnt in the monrning

Celtic Wolf

Just lay it flat on the grate. I assume you are setup for indirect with a drip pan. 250 dome is a better temp..

How much does this half a brisket weight.

Celtic Wolf

200 is too low. The fire just might go out and it will take forever to reach a meat temp 195.

hizzoner

I don't need this slab of meat redy for 20 hours


does that change things?

hizzoner

It's 6.5 lbs. and about 5" thick in the middle.


I'm cooking it fat cap up.......cause that's the way Daddy did it. LOL

Celtic Wolf

At the most it will take 13 hours to cook that piece of meat. Closer to 9 or 10.

You put it on now it will be done before morning.

hizzoner

well damn!.....guess I'll set the alarm. Thanks, that is what I was looking for.

Is there a caluclation I can look at in the future?

hizzoner

I snuffed it till early morning and have the brisket in the ice box covered in black pepper and homemade rub

Hoss

Good move!

hizzoner

at least I still get to go to bed smelling like hickory

hizzoner

I reckon this is a "flat" like I've seen mentioned elsewhere. I've got it in the fridge with a good rub (mine)


Should I mop this slab towards the end of cooking with anything? Suggestions>?

FearlessGrill

Hizzoner,

For brisket, the 'formula', if you can call it that, is to estimate about 90 minutes per pound, which is why CW suggested 9-10 hours for your 6.5lb brisket. However, this varies by the piece of meat. Some will finish quicker, and some slower, all else being equal.

My usual approach for long cooks is to work backwards from the time I want to serve, and to leave a buffer, since you're better off being done early than keeping guests waiting for dinner. So if I had a brisket like yours and wanted to eat dinner at 6pm, I'd calculate as follows:

Lighting Egg and Stabilizing Temp: 1/2 hour
Cook Time of 90 min / lb: 10 hours
Rest After Cooking: At least 1/2 hour
Slicing and Plating: 15 minutes
Buffer: At least one hour, and more if I need to have the brisket off the Egg earlier in order to use it to cook appetizers or another dish

This would come to about 12 hours. Therefore, I'd prepare my Egg before it got dark the night before, and light at 6am, putting the brisket in at 6:30. I'd start with the dome temp at 250 as CW suggests, since your grid temp will actually be lower than that, and monitor during the day (a remote thermometer is good for this). If your brisket is cooking really fast, turn the heat down to 220 or so to slow it down. When it's done, wrap in a couple of layers of foil, wrap in a towel, and put in a cooler until you're ready to serve.

For a guide to cooking a brisket on the Egg, here's a link to a writeup of one of my recent cooks on our blog. This one came out really good.

http://www.fearlesskitchen.com/2009/07/recipe-a-better-brisket-guest-post-from-fearless-grill-.html

Good luck,

-John

hizzoner

A lot of good info......thanks