small brisket for small BGE

bobinaz · March 2012

Hi all. It has been many moons since I posted here. I have never done a brisket before and I want to cook it on my small BGE. The brisket is a 2.75 lb flat cut. Seems most all of the posts here about briskets mention the large BGE. Any tips about cooking a small brisket in a small egg? I plan on cooking indirect.... although I don't have a platesitter (yet) for my small....I'll figure out something. I plan on putting a rub on it tonight, then early am start up the small BGE...set to ~250...... I do have a temp probe.....should I wait for a few hours to insert it, or put it in at the begining and wait for the internal temp to reach ~185 - 190? Since it is a smaller brisket I figure the small egg should be able to hold enough lump for the cook. Thanks for any tips and suggestions.

BoB

woody's wood pit · March 2012

charcoal will not be your problem...put in the probe to start and watch your temp on both the egg and brisket...could start at about 225 and then let it come up if you need to..dont forget the wood for smoke during the first few hours...good luck (i have never had it with a flat but you hear about it all the time on the forum)

let us know how it turns out...

R2Egg2Q · March 2012

It'll be interesting to see what you come up with do this indirect. As Woody said already, insert the probe at the start. I haven't cooked a lot of flats as I really prefer a whole packer brisket. The only flat I've cooked in my Small was a corned flat to make some pastrami and that one I finished in a pressure cooker (Thirdeye's method). I did your typical platesetter and drip pan set up.

It sounds like you don't plan on foiling it. Another option would be to let it reach the 165-170 range and then foil it (some add a little beef broth into the foil).

Regardless of whether you foil or not, I wouldn't start checking it for probe tenderness until IT is at least 190. Pull it when the probe goes in with very little resistance. For me, this usually doesn't happen until the IT is over 200. After removing, I'd foil & cooler it for at least a 60 min rest and then slice against the grain (take notice of which way the grain runs before you put the rub on - you can notch a corner as well if that helps - harder to see the grain on a brisket when it is cooked).

Good luck!

bobinaz · March 2012

I put a rub on it last night....put in fridge overnight...I put it in at 8 this morning..... after two hours (10am) the temp stabilized to 245.... Do not have temp probe in meat yet.....I figured I wait for a few hours before I do that. Regarding my setup.... I do not have a small plate setter, or a small stone to use to deflect the heat. So what I used the the lid of a cast iron pot upside down setting on 1 1/2 half inch legs on top of main grill. Then on cast iron lid I have a smaller grill with the brisket sitting on that. The cast iron lid is concave so it will catch juices and I can add liquid if needed. I'll take a pic of it at the end of the cook.. I have about 3/4 in all around the cast iron lid for the heat and smoke to rise up arounf the meat...... I'll post here my progress.... BoB

bobinaz · March 2012

Well..... it took 9 hours for the small flat brisket to reach 190 internal temp. The out side was charred looking.... which was OK.... it was tasty, but alittle on the dry side. After I steamed some pieces in a pan with water it was better. If I do one that small again I think I will use a higher temp....maybe 260, put some water in the pan lid..... all in all.....for my first brisket.....I am OK with it. I will try to make it better next time. I took notes in my little green cookbook about the whole process. I have included a pic of my setup just after I took the brisket off.

BoB

small brisket for small BGE

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