"Brisket" on the Mini

Somebody had a question about doing a brisket or similar low and slow, indirect cooks on the Mini, so I figured that I would attempt it.
I have already done a slab of ribs on the Mini and my guests ate them all up. They said that they were very good.
I picked up the "brisket" at Raley's. The reason for the quotation marks is that this was half a brisket,2.6lbs, but that is how they sell them at Raley's.
It worked well for me, because it was the perfect size for the Mini.


I have 2 fire bricks that I used for my indirect setup.
They fit inside the Mini without a problem.
I removed the fire ring so that both of the bricks would fit.
I figured I would build my fire a bit more carefully than usual. I placed medium sized pieces of lump on the bottom, making sure that the airholes were not blocked. I placed 2 larger pieces of lump on top of that and than sprinkled whatever smaller pieces of lump I had left over from the previous cook. All the lump was up to the top of the firebox.
Lit it with a Weber cube and the fire was good to go in 8 minutes.
Put some hickory chunks and let them catch fire and burn for about 10 minutes until the smoke was not as heavy.


I put the firebricks perpendicular on top of each other, added the grateon top of it, so it would leave some room between the brick and the aluminum pan.


The brisket was seasoned with a rub from Raley's, I think it was called Ultimate Steak and Roast Rub and I seasoned with some garlic salt and paprika, and left it in the fridge overnight.
Brisket was placed in a 8 3/4" aluminum pie pan and in the Mini. No problems with the fit and it was not even touching the thermometer probe.

The Mini held 280ish for about 30 minutes, so I placed the brisket inside. The temp dropped to 210, but ended up going back to 250.

It held 250 for close to 3 hours, where the brisket ended up around 158. When the temperature in the Mini dropped to 215, I took the brisket off, put Dave's Famous sauce on it and wrapped it in aluminum foil. I had to stir the ashes, because they were blocking the air holes and most of the lump was burned.
I made sure that all the remaining lump was right in the middle of the firebox and placed the brisket back in.

The temperature climbed back to 240. I had to leave my house for an hour and when I came back, the brisket was at 189 and the lump was gone. Mini read 190.

I took the brisket off, wrapped it in two towels and placed it in my empty cooler.
It felt very soft and I had to resist the urge of opening it and cutting it up.
I will post pictures of the finished product later