I'm afraid of my brisket!!! HURRY

lecather

Ok I have my very FIRST brisket on the Egg (lg) and I am very concerned. I have had some "hair-on-the-arm" nasty flare ups when I burp my Egg. I have the meat already on the Egg and as per instructions of a dear friend who has a conventional smoker/cooker/grill - I am cooking the brisket as low as possible for 1 hour then flipping it. Then 1 more hour and removing and wrapping in foil and finishing the cooking for 6 more hours. The suggested temperature is 175 to 200 but I can't even seem to get it below 200 but its very close. At any rate - here is my dilema:

The meat is on the Egg and in about 20 minutes I will have to go out and "flip" it. I am so worried that either A - there will be a horrific flare up from all the beef fat (I did trim away alot) or B - my flame will go out all together.

How do I flip the brisket ... then an hour later remove it to wrap it in foil - without having a nasty flare up if there is a bunch of fat on the wood? Once its wrapped and on there for the 6 hours I'm not too concerned but this initial "flip" then an hour later the removal to wrap in foil has me concerned.

HELP!!! and HURRY!!!

Celtic Wolf

Why flip it?? Your dome should be at 250.. 200 is way too low.

No need to foil it either. As for the time to cook it will take 1-2 hours per pound. Your friend is leading you astray

Little Steven

lecather,

You should be aiming for 250*. That will give you 225* or so where the brisket is. If you are going to cook to 200* it will be reallly hard with the egg that low. Did you let the egg stabilise for a while after you lit it? You shouldn't have flashback at low temp on a stable egg.

Steve

Village Idiot

What Celtic Wolf said.

Eggsakley

What they all say. Cook unfoiled and unflipped for approx 90 min per pound and pull based on internal of 190-195 and wrap in foil and let rest for about 2 hrs. You will not be disappointed.

glc203

You need to cook it indirect with a drip pan and/or platesetter underneath. I go for 225 dome temp and put it in late (12:00 am) the night before. that gives me plenty of flex time for a late afternoon meal.

lecather

Ok thank you everyone! Update:

As per my fear the Egg went out ... removed the grill with meat atop - relit Egg - replaced meat and now have it somewhere around 270 ... can't seem to get it down to 250 yet but will keep playing with it. I am SO GLAD I don't have to flip or wrap! My friend doesn't have an Egg they have a barrel-style smoker so that could be why the difference in cooking.

How far open should the air sources be? I have the daisy wheel closed with just the vents very slightly open ... and the door at the bottom is only open between 1/4 to 1/2"! I am afraid of smothering the heat again tho - suggestions?

Thanks I will give an outcome update!

thirdeye

Just out of curosity, do you have a whole brisket or a flat? What is the weight? How close was the fat trimmed?

Little Steven

If your lump is lit properly you won't smother it. 1/8" or less is about 250 with the daisy open about 1/4.

Steve

lecather

How do I know if its whole or flat? Its not very thick on one end and I did trim some chunks of fat. Weight at purchase was 9.23 lbs. I have the daisy wheel closed but the vents are wide open now and I opened the bottom door to about an inch now as it was a little below 250 -seems to be staying right on 250 now. I did put some olive oil and Adams Rib rub on it - was told to do olive oil and lemon pepper but didn't have that and love rubs - will this be ok?

glc203

You'll want the wheel open up top, even if it's just a little bit. You'll get better air circulation. Usually a barely open wheel and the bottom open 1/2" gets my egg in the 225-250 range.

glc203

If it's whole it will definitely be thicker coming to a peak on one side. If it's a flat it will be fairly consistent in thickness throughout. At 8-9# it sounds like a flat. Whole is usually 13-17#.

CBBQ

For one, you should have the openings on the daisy wheel open a little bit for air flow. If you are "playing with it" that means your temp is not stable and you'll be chasing it every time. Once you get it stable, which for me I consider the egg staying at the target temp for at least twenty minutes to make sure it hasn't hit it on it's way to a higher one. When you put the meat on the temp will drop from the cold meat. Leave the settings alone. It'll get back there.

Celtic Wolf

Lemon Pepper is for pork, fish and poultry.. next time leave the olive oil off.

A whole brisket has a point on one end. Meat separeated by lots of flat. If you have a packer(whole) brisket the package would have said so..

I think before you cook anything else you should consult us and not this friend. :woohoo:

Ripnem

You must have some air/smoke escaping through the daisy wheel. Just a little bit, if not then air can't come in the bottom very well if at all.

Like hydraulics

lecather

good place to "rest" would be in the oven or microwave? I've heard of people putting them in coolers - would the microwave work as well?

glc203

Not the microwave. An oven would be better given there's more insulation. Key is to wrap it up well in foil.

Ross in Ventura

If you are cooking your Brisket direct is one reason you are getting flare ups
I would cook it indirect

Ross

thirdeye

Whole brisket has two muscles that sort of overlap. The knottier/fattier muscle is the point. The other muscle is the flat. Usually the size is a dead giveaway, if you would have said it was 5#, it would have been a flat. Had you said 11#, it would have been a whole. You are kind of at the crossover size, and since you mentioned trimming chunks of fat, I bet you have a small whole one....which is good



Glad you got your pit temp where you want it. Some olive oil will work to anchor your rub. I'm not familiar with Adams Rib Rub, but if you want you can always add a sprinkle of pepper next time you are in the cooker. No sense changing too much in the middle of a cook.

Had it been a smaller flat that was trimmed real close, I would have recommended the foil finish that your buddy mentioned to you. But it sounds like you are on the right track for the cut of beef you have.

In the later stages of the cook, if it's getting too dark, (the brisket, not after sundown Heheehe) you could tent with foil, or put a layer underneath.

One thing you shouldn't do is put to much faith in a set time for cooking. Take the internal temp in the flat, and poke it with an ice pick after the internal gets above 190° to judge tenderness. Use cook time, internal temp, and tenderness to tell when it's ready to come off the cooker and rest.

gdenby

As said above, don't mind what your friend told you. Eggs and barrel cookers are so different, the methods are not even remotely the same.

So far, you seem to have had a very erratic cook. If you can get your temperature stable, you most likely have a long cook ahead. I have not done many briskets, but the longer they cooked, the better. You might want to consider finishing in your oven. Leave the brisket for as long as possible in the Egg with a dome of 250. I'd guess that by 5 p.m., the brisket will still be hovering in the 160 range. It will have a good smoke flavor by then, but still be very chewy.

You could wrap it in a double layer of HD foil, and put it in a hotter oven, maybe 350, and finish it up n another hour or two.

I'd say "take heart," my worst brisket was still edible, and even poor ones were eaten pretty quickly.

thirdeye

Hey Ross,

Good catch. I assumed he was cooking indirect.....


lecather, this is an indirect set-up. A legs up plate setter is resting on the fire ring, a drip pan is on the plate setter, and the cooking grid is on the legs of the plate setter.

lecather

SHE is cooking direct - just the meat on the grill. Ignorance sure ain't bliss - LOL

Just checked and now I'm back up to 300! UGH! closed the daisy wheel almost all the way and bottom door about 1/4" now if that. Will check again in 20 minutes.

This thing better taste really good (at midnight! lol)

thirdeye

Uh oh,

We need to re think this whole thing..... are you able to set up any kind of indirect set-up?

lecather

no I don't have the needed platesetter or drip pan. Should I just put it in the oven now?

thirdeye

I think so. Let's assume you have some smoke flavor in it, and some color on it too..... At least you have that going for you.

The standard drill for oven brisket is double wrapping it in foil, with the fat up. Put it into a 275° oven. You might want to hit it with more rub, cooking in foil retards some of the flavors.

To help you estimate time, a 5 pound flat will take 4 to 4-1/2 hours. If you take an internal temp before sealing the foil, maybe we can narrow down the cook time.

lecather

I have a picture but how do I post it?

GoonSlapper

I hope you aren't getting too frustrated. This same thing happened to me 2 weeks ago when I cooked my first pork butt. I didn't cook it with the indirect set up and I had temperature control problems. But in the end, it still turned out good. Since then, I've purchased more eggcessaries, mainly for the indirect setup.

Good luck, and these are the cooks that'll help us get better for the long term. This forum is great for all the knowledge and advice, but we still have a steep learning cube as BGE newbs. But it's a lot of fun!!!!

thirdeye

I don't think this forum has direct uploading, so you have to use a hosting service like Photobucket to store your photo's.

If you don't subscribe to a host, it's easy and free. But for now, attach the photo to an e-mail and send it to me. I'll get it up for everyone to see.

lecather

GoonSlapper thank you so much for that because yes I was ... I was envisioning just scrapping it and letting it be "semi-raw" dog food for my 3 Poodles!!!

thirdeye

This is the photo that lecather sent to me.

It is a whole one, which are almost always better than just a flat.

thirdeye

This is from The Naked Whiz site. It is THE site for all things ceramic.....


http://www.nakedwhiz.com/howtopostaphoto.htm