Timing a large brisket

tau_ceti

I’m making a 16 pound packer brisket for my daughter’s high school graduation Saturday. It should be ready at 6. Assuming a few hours in the cooler, when should I put it on my large egg? I have a CyberQ so temperature control at 240 should not be a problem. Assuming 1.5 hours per pound, it seems like I should start 24 hours in advance but that seems awfully early to me. Any thoughts welcome.

lkapigian

@lousubcap is the expert, for me if im slicing warm, I give myself up to 24 hours on brisket never cook by hours per pound , let it ride till the bark is set wrap and I am an oven man after that. 200- 225 is till tender then I set the oven @ 170 and just keep it warm...

lkapigian

On another note, I know this is unusual but works very well for me...pre cook brisket, chill, slice chilled on a meat slicer...rehest later. Gives me a lot of latitude the day of the event, dinner party or just dinner for 2. I do the same with tritip , pulled pork etc

DainW

The saying here is the cow drives the cook. I think it’s more than just the cow sometimes, and believe that weather and relative humidity come into play as well. Not sure where you’re at geographically, but I’m in Oklahoma and put a 14 lb brisket trimmed down to 11 lbs or so on for Memorial Day weekend. Put it on at midnight and we didn’t eat until almost 9 the next night. I think it was like 90% humidity that weekend though which caused a pro-longed stall, and I ran 250 the whole time on the flame boss. I’d give myself 24 hours at least. You can always FTC longer if you need to, but you can’t make a brisket cook faster. 

Edit: I may start cooking my briskets at hotter temps during the summer/high humidity times, like 275-300 range to try to build up momentum going into the stall. 

lousubcap

@tau_ceti - Just sent a PM to your forum in-box that contains about all I have regarding brisket cooks.  You will likely trim 1-2 lbs (or more) of fat before you start the process.  FWIW-

Mark_B_Good

So my buddy did a turbo method a couple of weeks ago.  He did a 13 lb brisket, started at 8 am, cooked indirect at 275F. Then when internal hit 160F, he wrapped it.  We took it to 205F internal (I got there half way to help him with some work, and also finish this cook off). It was ready at around 5 pm. So 8h total.  For you, I'd start at say 6 am.

tau_ceti

I decided I would cook at a lower temperature so I put it on at 12 midnight. We are having a 5:30 dinner so I figured that it should cook until 130 or so. But for some reason my cyberq cloud didn’t listen. The put temperature should be 240, but when I woke up it was 250 and the fan was blowing. Huh? I’ve written support.

The food is at 185 and I plan to cook until 202. Seems like it’s past any stall. Hoping I can nurse it along at a lower temperature so it rises more slowly.

lkapigian

tau_ceti said:

I decided I would cook at a lower temperature so I put it on at 12 midnight. We are having a 5:30 dinner so I figured that it should cook until 130 or so. But for some reason my cyberq cloud didn’t listen. The put temperature should be 240, but when I woke up it was 250 and the fan was blowing. Huh? I’ve written support.

The food is at 185 and I plan to cook until 202. Seems like it’s past any stall. Hoping I can nurse it along at a lower temperature so it rises more slowly.

You are fine and the oven is your friend if need be, in fact the longer rest will improve it

lousubcap

Pull when it probes tender in the thickest part of the flat.  202*F may or may not be the number.  FWIW-

Foghorn

Feel free to close down the vents a little and cook at a lower temp - or not.  There can be a second stall but most likely scenario is that you’ll be done in a few hours and you’ll need to hold it for 5-8 hours.  

It should do well in FTC for that long.  Just keep the meat temp over 140 until you slice.  

I’ve got 5 on right now.  2 are about ready and we’re not serving for 9 more hours.  But I’ll FTC them together in a Yeti 85 (I think - not my cooler) for that long and they should do fine.  Especially as I add more hot briskets…

Take some pics and let us know how it turned out.  

lousubcap

@Foghorn - while on the subject of pics...  Care to share or start a new thread? 
BTW- hope you had help feeding sticks all night.  
Edit: saw the brisket pics in the WAYDRN thread.  Looking great.  

tau_ceti

Ah yes photos! So I did something a little different with rub this time and I think it’s going to work out well. I accidentally bought 18 ounces of white pepper for cooking Chinese food on Amazon this week. I thought I was buying 1.8 ounces. So I took the standard salt and pepper rub recipe and substituted white pepper for half the pepper. Nothing really that shocking, half tellicherry and half white. Spoke with a friend who is Swedish and she said that they use it in their cooling all the time too. Cool! Also I used mustard to stick the spices to the brisket. Anyway, I tried a little burnt piece I was cooking on the side and it was fabulous. 

Here is the brisket as it is right now. On the advice of @l@lousubcap I draped the brisket over my rib rack so it fit perfectly in the egg. I’m creating a stall by lowering the temperature manually. I should be fine. 

tau_ceti

Oh yeah, I forgot, the lump I am using! I was in Caldwell, NJ the other day and went to the local Ace Hardware, a BGE retailer. I love my egg, but I don’t want to do any more harm to our environment that I have to so I don’t really love that BGE has switched to Brazilian hardwood. I’d rather have it come from a place that cares more about it’s lumber. Well, they had Lumberjack lump from the European Union in stock. I looked it up on Naked Whiz and  … it’s their #2 ranked lump. It IS indeed nice stuff. 

Foghorn

Excellent.  Looks like this is going to be a win all around.  Just stay focused.  

BigGreenKev

tau_ceti said:

Oh yeah, I forgot, the lump I am using! I was in Caldwell, NJ the other day and went to the local Ace Hardware, a BGE retailer. I love my egg, but I don’t want to do any more harm to our environment that I have to so I don’t really love that BGE has switched to Brazilian hardwood. I’d rather have it come from a place that cares more about it’s lumber. Well, they had Lumberjack lump from the European Union in stock. I looked it up on Naked Whiz and  … it’s their #2 ranked lump. It IS indeed nice stuff. 

Curious to hear how you like it. I've never heard of it before. What is the cost of a bag and how many lbs? I'm intrigued.  If BGE is now Brazilian hardwood, does that mean RO is too? That's my go to but I haven't noticed any change.

WoodworkerBED

The BGE Brazilian Hardwood lump is Eucalyptus.  Eucalyptus is plantation grown, and is primarily grown for the paper industry.  It makes great pulp.  I assume the Eucalyptus lump that BGE is selling is primarily derived from waste from one of the pulp mills.  By the way, I have found it to be excellent, but certainly overpriced when compared to Royal Oak.

iudex

tau_ceti said:

Oh yeah, I forgot, the lump I am using! I was in Caldwell, NJ the other day and went to the local Ace Hardware, a BGE retailer. I love my egg, but I don’t want to do any more harm to our environment that I have to so I don’t really love that BGE has switched to Brazilian hardwood. I’d rather have it come from a place that cares more about it’s lumber. Well, they had Lumberjack lump from the European Union in stock. I looked it up on Naked Whiz and  … it’s their #2 ranked lump. It IS indeed nice stuff. 

What baffles me, is they do not actually sell this in the EU. Very strange. 

Had to chuckle a bit that they claim there is no soot. Never heard anyone giving that remark when it came to charcoal use