10 lb brisket. Overnight or up early?

gmac

I can't decide if I should put this on tonight at 225 or get up early tomorrow and go hotter. It's not overly fatty and I'm afraid of both drying it out and being ready too early. 
It's either 20 hrs lower or 12 hotter. 

Most briskest's I have done have been bigger than this one and I went overnight but in this case I'm not sure if that's the right call. 

JohnInCarolina

Get up early.  Set your alarm, get some rest.

lousubcap

I don't know your target eat time but back that up a couple of hours for the well-deserved FTC and that's the latest you want to finish the cook.  Give yourself an hour or two prior to that so you are not sweating the finish-line and that's the objective.  
So, figure around 0.8 to 1.1 hrs/lb with about 270-280*F on the calibrated dome.  That's the next piece-then if that ends up a 0 dark thirty number, light the BGE right now-give it a couple of hours to get dialed in and stable and go from there.  And if that time has already passed, fire it up start slow and realize that unless you have a lot of sugar in your rub you can easily ramp up to the low 300"s to punch it home.
Would that it were simple-but the above is based on running w/o a controller-if you have one of those then just fire and forget.  

gmac

Well, just for closure here's what I did.
Got up at 3 am and filled and lit the egg. Going with hickory chips and apple. 
Seasoned the brisket with salt and pepper all over plus paprika and onion powder on the top. 
Im a water pan guy (which I know can be debated but I've had bad results without it). Put the egg together and water and let it ride until 4 am to get temp and put the brisket on and went back to bed. Got up every couple hrs to check but I'm usually pretty confident in my egg to hold temp. 

Its been running 275 now for 6 hrs and its probing 165 in the flat. I'm feeling good about the choice. Would like to pull it off to FTC in about 6 hrs so I will watch it for another 2 hrs and then wrap in foil. I don't have any paper but if I can find a big paper bag I will use that. 

Here we are at 6 hrs in. 

blind99

How big is the brisket? It's looking good! I run them 275-285 grate (which may look higher at the dome) and never need to wrap. 

gmac

It was 4.8 kg prior to trimming and I didn't trim hard because it was so small so I'm saying pretty close to 10 lbs. 

lousubcap

I'm sure you have got this one dialed in.  However, I will toss this link out there as some wrap (or not) insights:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lnRRDSYgdmw
Wrap (ideally with BP) if the bark is set and the cook is not finished or wrap with foil to speed the cook along or run nekked to the finish.  Different techniques and different out-comes.  Regardless, a banquet awaits.  Enjoy the remainder of the cook and eats.

gmac

Update!
Probing like cold butter. Just about there. 
Gonna pull it off fairly soon (when the butter is warm) and gonna do a bunch of burnt ends. Probably 1/2 the flat and point. 



The sausages are last falls venison sausages that will get cubed up for an appetizer (because I was gonna cook them last night over a campfire with the kids but the wind never went down so no campfire...). 

lousubcap

I am continuing to fail at the quest to save burnt ends for pork belly and savor the best part of the brisket (point) for straight-up consumption  However, your protein so enjoy as I'm sure you will.  The texture will be such that you won't need any type cleaver to do the slice and dice, although I know where a very sharp one resides.    

lkapigian

lousubcap said:

I don't know your target eat time but back that up a couple of hours for the well-deserved FTC and that's the latest you want to finish the cook.  Give yourself an hour or two prior to that so you are not sweating the finish-line and that's the objective.  
So, figure around 0.8 to 1.1 hrs/lb with about 270-280*F on the calibrated dome.  That's the next piece-then if that ends up a 0 dark thirty number, light the BGE right now-give it a couple of hours to get dialed in and stable and go from there.  And if that time has already passed, fire it up start slow and realize that unless you have a lot of sugar in your rub you can easily ramp up to the low 300"s to punch it home.
Would that it were simple-but the above is based on running w/o a controller-if you have one of those then just fire and forget.  

Props, copy and paste this into every Brisket Thread 

gmac

lkapigian said:

lousubcap said:

I don't know your target eat time but back that up a couple of hours for the well-deserved FTC and that's the latest you want to finish the cook.  Give yourself an hour or two prior to that so you are not sweating the finish-line and that's the objective.  
So, figure around 0.8 to 1.1 hrs/lb with about 270-280*F on the calibrated dome.  That's the next piece-then if that ends up a 0 dark thirty number, light the BGE right now-give it a couple of hours to get dialed in and stable and go from there.  And if that time has already passed, fire it up start slow and realize that unless you have a lot of sugar in your rub you can easily ramp up to the low 300"s to punch it home.
Would that it were simple-but the above is based on running w/o a controller-if you have one of those then just fire and forget.  

Props, copy and paste this into every Brisket Thread 

I'm sure it is great advice. @lousubcap never gives bad advice but I got lost at "zero dark thirty" and what that means. I tried to convert it to metric but I gave up and started drinking. But it's Sunday so I usually start drinking early anyway. 

As for burnt ends vs no. The Mrs likes sauce and burnt ends so that's what she gets. I would go straight slices but I know what side my bread is buttered.