Brisket with butcher paper timing question

HostileHarry

Hey All -
I have about 10 packers under my belt. All have been Choice and/or Prime and I got lucky and grabbed 2x SRF Golds from last weeks sale. I have had a mixed bag of results, but my last 3 were pretty darn good. The last 3 brisket cooks I had the Stoker 2 rocking and really kept the temps stable and I pulled them at pretty good time. Still some of the flat was a little dry, but the closer I got to the points the better.

So I ordered some pink butcher paper and grabbed a Choice brisket for me pre-SRF Gold cook. This is my first go with butcher paper and I have a couple of questions as noted below:

1. The suggestion is to wrap @ 160, right?
2. When wrapping in paper, does this speed up the cook? It's not foil... so I'm wondering
3. Once it's probing like butter do you let it rest in the butcher paper for 20-40 minutes to stop cooking?
4. If I need to FTC so I just keep it in the butcher paper or should I foil it once it's had a chance to cool down?

Thank you,

4Runner

I would wrap when the bark looks good which most likely will be in the 160s. 

Not sure on speeding up cook but I would guess so.  I just put my probe in after the wrap and pulled at 195 or so

I rested in paper.  

Not sure about this but I just put mine wrapped in paper in a container in the oven at 165 to hold it.  Others my chime in.  

Foghorn

As @4Runner said, when the bark looks good and about 160.  I've wrapped a few with paper and it didn't seem to speed up the cook.  I probably wrapped one in too many layers of paper so it seemed to slow down the cook. 

I FTC'd them in the paper.  Only slice the brisket when people are ready to eat it and then drag the slice through the brisket juice that accumulates in the paper as you put it on the plate.

tarheelmatt

I wrapped the one I did last Saturday in paper after the stall, which upper 170s.  It was a weird cook that went fast from start to finish, but was tasty! 

HostileHarry

Cool. Thanks guys.

I'm trying to decide if I start late tonight (12lb maybe 10ish after trim) or early tomorrow morning. Typically I've started all around 10-11pm the night before and they have taken anywhere from 12 hours to 20 depending on temp and size.

I think I will start it tonight as late as possible and see how it goes. Probably wrap it around 6am when I wake up to take the dog out. I'll be working out of the house tomorrow so whenever it's ready I'll be here

tarheelmatt

Mine was around 10lbs.. Put it on at 2amish to eat it at 6pm. Was pulling it off at 12 noon!

4Runner

Sounds like a plan. I like to start the night before too. FWIW, I prefer the naked brisket over wrapped.  

HostileHarry

I'm about 15 hours into this cook at 225 with a Stoker (started last night). At about 5am I was at 165 and wrapped it in butcher paper, which was about 9 hours into the cook.

I'm at 183 now (bumped up temp to 250) and crawling along... the paper definitely SLOWED the cook down. I'm surprised that it did so.

Very interesting. I will take a photo when I pull it off and let you all know my thoughts.

blind99

Interesting.  Do you think that at such a low temperature you don't generate any steam, so the paper is just some extra insulation?

HostileHarry

blind99 said:

Interesting.  Do you think that at such a low temperature you don't generate any steam, so the paper is just some extra insulation?

I'm really not sure... but if you ever wanted to test how long 1 load of Rockwood lump can last... wrap up a brisket with some paper. lol

tarheelmatt

blind99 said:

Interesting.  Do you think that at such a low temperature you don't generate any steam, so the paper is just some extra insulation?

Are you asking what benefits the paper has?  

blind99

Have you found Rockwood in Chicago, or did you have to order?

HostileHarry

blind99 said:

Have you found Rockwood in Chicago, or did you have to order?

FireCraft order.