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First time brisket cooker!

Alright fellas, I'm almost ready to pull off my first pork butt and already looking ahead to my next cook this week. I bought a nice 10-12lb brisket that I want to have ready for dinner on Thursday night. I am planning on throwing it on the egg late Wednesday night and let it go overnight and most of the day. My questions for this cook are... When should I put it on if I want to shoot for a 6pm dinner time on Thursday (approx of course). Some suggestions for a nice rub and of course last but not least cooking temp and choice of smoking wood?
Demorest, Ga.    1MBGE

Comments

  • SGH
    SGH Posts: 28,791
    BckPorchGriln
    You already know what im going to say but here it goes again.
     I like to cook at 225-250. This will work out to about 1 1/2 hour a pound give or take a little depending on several variables. I will list them if you ask.
     For home use i keep the rub simple. Salt pepper and garlic salt.
     For wood oak or a 50/50 mix of oak and pecan.
     I cook to feel not time or temp.
     I do start checking for doneness at 180 and pull when it is to my liking.
     Some times i ftc some times i dont. Just depends on the meat and what im trying to accomplish.
     Hope this helps.

    Location- Just "this side" of Biloxi, Ms.

    Status- Standing by.

    The greatest barrier against all wisdom, the stronghold against knowledge itself, is the single thought, in ones mind, that they already have it all figured out. 

  • Ok so.... Flip the brisket half way through the cook or just leave it be???
    Demorest, Ga.    1MBGE
  • grege345
    grege345 Posts: 3,515
    Leave it be. Put point towards the back of the egg. I wouldn't flip.
    LBGE& SBGE———————————————•———————– Pennsylvania / poconos

  • dldawes1
    dldawes1 Posts: 2,208
    @backporchgrillin....good luck. Check back in if you have any other questions. Someone here will have an answer.

    Donnie Dawes - RNNL8 BBQ - Carrollton, KY  

    TWIN XLBGEs, 1-Beautiful wife, 1 XS Yorkie

    I'm keeping serious from now on...no more joking around from me...Meatheads !! 


  • well I put my brisket on last night at 11 and checked it a few times before going to bed and grill temp was holding steady at 250F. I checked temp at 4 and it was still holding right at 250F. IT was aprrox 130. So I went back to sleep and woke up to check at 730... Well for the lack of better words let's just say I had what NASA would call a catastrophic failure... here are some pics to document such misery... The grill temp when I went to check was no higher than 70 and my IT was 130F. It had a great looking smoke ring further down on the flat closer to the point but still extremely tough and dry... Needless to say I've got some adjustments to make for my next brisket... I've come up with a list of things that I think went wrong.
    1. Winds got a little to high and flash burn of my lump and burnt up everything so it got really hot then just died off?
    2. Drippings on the fire cause a flash fire and burnt up all of the goodness that was to be my brisket?
    3. I have no idea what happened...

    Any ideas fellas?
    Demorest, Ga.    1MBGE
  • buzd504
    buzd504 Posts: 3,824
    You shouldn't be able to have a fire without the oxygen (which is closed off by your vents).  How full was the egg and what kind of lump did you use?
    NOLA
  • grege345
    grege345 Posts: 3,515
    So the internal temp never got higher than 130 degrees?
    LBGE& SBGE———————————————•———————– Pennsylvania / poconos

  • buzd504 said:
    You shouldn't be able to have a fire without the oxygen (which is closed off by your vents).  How full was the egg and what kind of lump did you use?
    Yeah that's what I was thinking too so I'm not sure what in the world happened... I had the egg filled with BGE lump all the way to the top of the firebox touching the edges of the fire ring... Just bought some Rockwood Lump today at the hardware store so hoping the next couple of cooks will do even better with that. I've heard and read lots of good things so my expectations are high.
    grege345 said:
    So the internal temp never got higher than 130 degrees?
    The last time I checked it before going to sleep it was somewhere in that neighborhood and when I woke up with the fire out the brisket I'm guessing had cooled down from whatever it was at before the coal went out.
    Demorest, Ga.    1MBGE
  • buzd504
    buzd504 Posts: 3,824
    Should have gone about to the top of the fire ring.
    NOLA
  • Really? I didn't know that you could go that high... Rookie mistake with low and slow cooks huh?
    Demorest, Ga.    1MBGE
  • buzd504
    buzd504 Posts: 3,824

    I don't know, I'm still learning too.  I ran out of lump once on what should have been an easy cook, and I didn't fill it all the way up either.  Obviously, the higher in the egg, the width increases, so there's significantly more lump the higher you go.  Since you're controlling temperature via airflow anyway, there's not any reason not to fill it up on an indirect. 

    I learned that the hard way.
    NOLA
  • Hmmmmm.... makes sense to me, I'll have to try and remedy this problem the next go around. Thanks @buzd504!
    Demorest, Ga.    1MBGE
  • grege345
    grege345 Posts: 3,515
    @ 4am it was at 130 and it was at 130 when you checked again at 7am? Something doesn't add up.
    LBGE& SBGE———————————————•———————– Pennsylvania / poconos