18# Brisket

spbb

I'm doing a 18# choice brisket before trimming on a large. Planning oncooking at  250-275   

1. What's the best way to make sure it fits?

2. I picked up a ThermoWorks Smoke recently. What is the best grate temperature for low and. slow?
3. About how long do you think it will take? Eating around 6pm Sunday

TIA!

ryantt

The time it will take is tricky, because ever cow is different.  What I would suggest is to start it early cooking it in the 275 range.  Cook it until it is tender that will be in the  200° range.  I always wrap my briskets once they are the color I want. 

Now with all of that said it took almost 15hrs to cook a 20lb brisket at 275-300 wrapped at 165 

shameless photo plug of Chef Norah Grace
 

hoosier_egger

Wrap a brick in foil and drape the brisket over that. You can remove the brick after shrinkage occurs 

JohnInCarolina

1. Bend it over something, like a brick wrapped in foil or something similar.

2. I would go 225-250.  

3. Hard to predict.  I’d guess at least 12 hrs, and probably closer to 16.  You’ll get longer estimates but mine never seem to take all that long, although it has been awhile since I tried a choice brisket.

lousubcap

Just to add to the clutter:

1.  As above, drape it til it fits flat.

2.  If you are cooking "Planning oncooking at  250-275" (I'm guessing dome temp there) then the grate temp will be what it is.  Make sure your dome thermo is calibrated.

3.  The key is to get the cow finished inside the FTC window.  Ideally 2-4 hours early but...Regarding how long, at the 250-275 I would plan on an hour/lb to start with and then see where you are 4-5 hours into the cook.  Remember there can be quite a stall although the higher the cook temp the shorter the stall. 

Edit:  depending on the trim job you can remove 2-4 lbs before the cook-so make a solid estimate of the post-trim weight.

Above all, enjoy the cook-the most fun cook on any Q rig due to all the audibles that inevitably arise. 

jtcBoynton

spbb said:

...

2. I picked up a ThermoWorks Smoke recently. What is the best grate temperature for low and slow?
...

Why use grate temp? Too many variables that cause grate temperature fluctuations even when the fire heat output hasn't changed.  Just use the Smoke probe in the dome.