First successful brisket cook

R3K · July 2014

Well gents, I finally hit one not quite outta the park, but at least to the warning track. This was my fourth try and after watching some of Aaron Franklin's videos on YouTube, and reading tons of posts on this site (you guys are the Holy Grail of info by the way,) I finally got up the nerve to attempt an over nighter. I was a little concerned initially about losing my temp during the night, but considering I've done plenty of pork butts for extended periods during the day, and after reading this post by Noregard (http://eggheadforum.com/discussion/1168253/my-first-overnight-cook-tonight-questions-and-progress/p1), I finally got the guts to give it a try.

Picked up a 4.5lb brisket flat that was fairly lean but already had a thin fat cap on it. Rubbed it down with yellow mustard and hit it hard with a couple packets of Texas BBQ Rub I saw at the store and decided to try, then wrapped it in plastic wrap and put it in the fridge overnight. Set the Egg up gthe next morning according to what SGH said in the linked post. I lit the Egg about an hour before I planned to put the brisket on and I damn near got the desired 250 degree temp without touching the daisy wheel or bottom vent after I initially set it up. Once the Egg was stable, I put the brisket on about 9pm, closed the lid, and let it roll for about an hour and a half before I checked it. The temp was down to just over 200 degrees but I resisted the urge to make a change to the vent/daisy wheel and just went to bed. Got up and checked the Egg around 6am and it was dead on at 250! I checked temp with a digital remote thermometer I got from Lowe's and it was reading all kinds of crazy. It said that the internal temp was 224 degrees and I almost had a stroke! I then broke out an old school digital thermometer and it read about 150 or so (Thermapen was ordered earlier this evening. Enough nonsense!) and the probe wasn't super easy to push in so I continued to let it roll. Everything was looking good and probe was going in like butta around 1:30pm so I pulled the brisket, wrapped it in foil, and just let it sit on the cutting board for an hour before I cut it.

My only knock, and my reason for saying I didn't hit it out of the park, is that I didn't get hardly any smoke in it. If the pics uploaded correctly, you can see that there isn't ANY smoke ring at all. Looking back, I know I didn't have enough wood chunks mixed into the lump. I was more concerned with getting the right tenderness and moisture on the meat. Even after slicing it and letting some of the slices just sit on the cutting board while we ate, when I went back for seconds, the meat was still just as tender and moist as when I first sliced it! Anyway, just thought I'd share because it feels good to have finally got that monkey (making a good brisket) off my back. Now I just need to duplicate it a couple more times and I'll officially say that I can do a great brisket!