Can I do a decent brisket if I separate the Point & Flat before smoking, to shorten the cooking time

winojeff

I have a 16+ pound prime packer brisket, but I'd like to shorten the cook time at 225 by separating the point & flat prior to smoking. Then monitoring each 'half', wrapping separately, etc., as each gets to temp. With a water pan. Suggestions??
Thanks.

EggonLI

Nah, just bump up the temp.

winojeff

Duhh!! Brain blocked. Too much wine, I guess.
Thanks.
J

lousubcap

I have never done a "split cook" so no help in that regard.  But if you are looking for beef goodness when finished I would not separate.  This link may have some useful info:  FWIW-
Brisket plans, asking for comments and suggestions 
Edit: no need for a water pan as it will depress the cook temp while acting as a heat sink, then when the water has evaporated, the temp will rise to the "no water" vent settings.  You do need an air-gapped drip pan.  Just an opinion...

Mosca

I just did this on Sunday and it was spectacular. Untrimmed weight 14.9 lbs. I tiered the muscles. For the early part of the cook the upper tier was hotter, around stall time they equalized. Use two Mavericks. I used a DigiQ and a Maverick, and probed with a Thermapen (I'm nervous like that). I put the probes as close to my Egg's hot spot as I could get.

At at the beginning of the cook the lower rack was 225 and the upper 242, the stabilized temp was 235 lower with upper varying from 232 to 238 (DigiQ rounds off to target). 

The point was done before the flat. After FTC on the point I bumped the pit temp up to 260 to help finish the flat. Meat hit the grates around 730AM. Point was done @ 5:45, flat an hour later. Dinner was about 8PM.

Mosca

I understand that separating point from flat goes against CW, but over two weeks of asking this question across multiple forums, the only reason I was given for not doing it was just that: "We've always done it THIS way." 

Which I get. If you get good results, do what you know, because otherwise you risk wasting an entire day of cooking and $50 or more, and not having a great dinner waiting at the end!

On on the other hand, those who convinced me to separate the two gave some pretty good reasons:

1) They are different muscles with different characteristics, and they will cook differently. And they do. One was done well before the other, even though I swapped their positions several times during the cook.

2) A full packer brisket is much thicker at one end than at the other. Left whole, the thin end is at temp well before the thick end. Separating point from flat evens out the thickness and promotes even cooking throughout.

3) Size. That full packer doesn't fit on a LBGE. Yeah, I know, I read about bricks. But people use bricks because cooking the brisket whole is what they do. It's all circular. (h/t Firesign Theater.)

4) You asked about it in your question. Time. You can start at midnight. Or you can start at 6AM (my target time, but I overslept). One way, a cook takes a day and a half, the other way it takes a day. And all you had to do was cut through that layer of fat, which takes a couple minutes.


I had the advantage of never having done a whole packer, so I didn't have any previous experience to lead me one way or the other. I'm certain that briskets cooked whole come out great. But splitting them doesn't kill them. I split a SRF Kobe Gold brisket and lived to write about it. If you have compelling reasons to want to split them, then do it with the confidence that your results will not suffer.

winojeff

Thanks, guys, for all the advice. And, especially to lousubcap for your link:Brisket plans, asking for comments and suggestions.

I'll likely leave it whole, at 225 for a couple of hours for the smoke ring, then bump it up to 290 or 300 and monitor it. FTC when the thick part of the flat hits 160. I'm shooting to pull it and let it rest under towels around 4 p.m. Dinner's at 6.
So,I might have to bump the temp up a bit in the foil if necessary. I love my Guru!! And you fabulous Eggers!!!