first brisket

glenn

I have a 7 pound cryovack brisket that my wife bought at wally world
realy ugly cut of meat real thick on 1 end (mabe 4-1/2 inch ) and thin on the other mabe an inch or less with a big fat cap
I gave it a bath in worstersher (hell I cant spell that) and rubbed it down heavy with my favorite home made rub
filled the fire box with lump and threw in a chunk of pecan (probably a 1/2 pound chunk) stoked up my large bge to 220 and tossed it in fat side down ( cause I read some where thats what you were supose to do.)
It has been cookin now for about 7 hours. meat is at 161 dome is at 218 and I wanna go to bed. but before I do can ayone who might not have any thing else to do, please give me an idea of how much longer this beast neads to cook and do I realy need to take it out when the internal hits 165 and wrap in in foil.
and do I need to mop . any help would be appreciated.
thanx
Glenn

BBQfan1

Glenn,
I usually cook mine fat side up (so it runs over/through roast as it 'melts'). If you're not basting/mopping/spritzing it with liquid, I'd say give it a flip over and end to end to avoid any overexposure to potential hot spots.
218 dome is pretty low temp. Are you cooking it direct (as in no barrier between the fire and meat on the grill)?
161 is pretty solid into the 'plateau' which is the time in the cook where much of the energy absorbed by the meat is going into breaking down collagens and connective tissues. It will appear that it's 'stopped cooking' for anywhere from 2 to 5 hours, but that is what's going on and it's the essential part of the cook, so don't try to 'force it' thru that timeframe by increasing temp dramatically.
What I would do, after doing the rotate/flip is head off to bed and set the alarm for 2 hours later. Repeat every 2 to 3 hours just to ensure that cook is progressing alright and fire has remained lit. Make adjustments only if necessary.
Once it breaks the plateau, you can use a kitchen fork to test the doneness level. Insert into roast and give a twist.... very resistant=keep cooking, some give=almost there and little/no resistence=congrats, yer done!
Depending on time of the night you can either wrap in foil and hold in a small cooler or cooler bag for 3-4 hours (add some beef broth if you like), or let rest on countertop for 20 mins-half-hour and start eatin'.
A 'goal' temperature would only be a rough estimate as each brisket is different depending upon its grade, size and individual molecular makeup! Chances are you'll see the results you're after between 185-192... but that's just a 'generalization' at best.
I'd say you probably still have a good 6 or 7 hrs of rendering ahead of you if you're just into that plateau zone now.
Good luck!
Qfan

glenn

BBQfan1,
Thanks for the input
Im gonna go turn it over soon as I finish here
Funny thing thoug
The dome had been stable at 218 for a couple of hours the for no apparent reason the temp just took off went up to 270
so I scurried out and closed the vents (top and bottom) all the way down but the temp is still rising guess its time to get the water hose;)

glenn

BBQfan1,
I am cookin indirect with an inverted platesetter with a drip pan between the legs ( just a dry pan no water )
then the main grid on top and then the brisket on the grid
probably a basic setup.
thanx again
Glenn

BBQfan1

Glenn,
I think Nature Boy posted about something similar with his brisket cook... It takes a while for the meat, the platesetter mass and the cooker itself to get up in temp and then after that it can take off a bit. 270 dome is a little high, but at the grid you could still be in the 230-250 range which isn't too outrageous; don't overcompensate by shutting vents TOO far.
I was up in bed myself and realized that my flip/rotate advise could prove terrible if you were in fact going direct. That exposed trimmed meat surface being face down to the fire would almost assuredly cause that 1/8th-1/4" layer of hard dry meat. Was relieved to hear you say you were going indirect.
continued good luck with the cook,
Qfan

glenn

BBQfan1,
I checked on my brisket again at 2:00 AM the dome had dropped to 210 so I adjusted the daisy wheel just a tad and after about 20 minutes It settled in on 238 I think I like it there. Another funny thing the internal temp dropped from 161 to 155 the cook has now been going for about 10 hours.Must be that collegen rendering plateu thing.
Got my probe alarms (redi-check ET-73) set so off to bed I go again and hope that nothing bad happens.
Think Im gonna invest in one of
those BBQ Guru thing-ama-gigs for my next all-nighter.
And if I can figure out how I will post a pic of the finished product (even if it turns out crappy.
I really do appreciate your help and I hope that I am not being annoying.
Thanx again
Glenn

ToyCollector

Glenn,[p]Post some pics when it is done. I am doing my second brisket but this one is a whopper full cut at 10.7 lbs. It is PARKED in the 160* range right now. Hope it gets past the collagen plateau in time for a late dinner (It's 4:30PM Eastern as I post this).