Another 1 brisket 2 butt 4 chicken question thread

mojo

Hope this doesn't annoy anyone, I know there are plenty of other threads illustrating 2 butts/1 brisket, but I am interested in getting some fresh opinions. I'm attending a picnic tomorrow, must leave house at 10:00 a.m. I am preparing 2 pork shoulders (both around 8 and 1/4 pounds), 1 brisket (around 10 pounds), and 4 chickens. I have only cooked 1 brisket EVER in my BGE and it was delicious and juicy, although I prepared it using the 'fast' cooking method so I've never done a 'low & slow' brisket.

My plan is to put the brisket (rubbed with Raising the Steaks) on the lower deck of my adjustable rig, 2 butts (Elder Ward's rub recipe) on the upper deck and cook at around 225 indirect, with hickory and cherry for smoke. I have a DigiQ so I'm not concerned about temperature control. I was going to wrap the brisket in HDAF at around 160 internal to keep it moist until done. I was hoping to pull all the meat off the BGE at around 0830, which would give me time to ramp up the temp to around 375-400 for the final stage of my cook. I was then going to put all 4 spatchcocked birds onto the BGE at 0900, as they should be done in about an hour.

So, that's my plan, here are my questions:

1. Should I put the brisket on at the same time as the butts or a few hours later, as I think it might cook faster than the butts?
2. Should I be concerned about the fat from the pork dripping down onto my brisket?
3. Will 4 large roaster chickens spatchcocked fit on the large BGE? I was thinking 2 on the upper deck and 2 below.

Thanks for any input you may have!

Frank from Houma

First - you are not annoying anyone

My thoughts

Butts over brisket is mightyfine. I would normally put them all on at the same time knowing the the brisket will rest in a cooler for a while waiting on the butts. Since you plan to foil at 160 the brisket will be done even sooner, therefore I would put the brisket on a couple hours after the butts - that will also render some of the fat on butts.

I don't normally trim butt fat would might be adviseable to do some major trimming with butts over brisket.



I would plan on starting the chickens a little earlier. My chickens normally take about 1-1/4 hours at 400 dome. Putting 4 on at the same time is adding substantially more mass and it will take longer to get back to 400. I would plan on at least 1-1/2 hours (maybe 1-3/4) for the chickens.

Just my thoughts - Good luck with it.

mojo

Thanks, and beautiful photo! Hope mine turns out as good. I'll heed your advice regarding the birds, but I have always been able to finish 2 spatchcocked chickens in under an hour in the past.

Frank from Houma

I think you should go with your eggsperience

Good luck with it

Meant to add that I would probably go 250 instead of 225 on the butts and brisket - just me

mojo

Sounds good.

OK, here's another question. So the butts are on and smoking nicely. I added a large fist-sized chunk of hickory and a similarly-sized chunk of cherry wood. Common BGE wisdom is to allow the wood to smoke for several minutes before adding the food. Hmm, not sure why, maybe the initial burn is a little pungent?? At any rate, I've always heeded that advice. I am concerned that if I add the brisket in 2 hours, most of my smoke wood will be gone and I'll be tempted to add more wood to get a good smokey flavor and smoke ring on the brisket. Will that be a problem, as I've never added wood to food that is already cooking.

Thanks again for your help and interest.

Tripmaker

For what it is worth, I put the brisket in at the same time as the butts. Everything gets smoked at the same time. I pull the brisket off when it is done, wrap it in foil, then pack it in newspaper in a cooler to wait on the butts. I have never foiled the brisket when cooking and it always comes out juicy. In fact I'm doing exactly that cook tonight for tomorrow. Full packer brisket 14+ lbs. and 18+ pork shoulder.