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Basic Brisket Tutorial (pron heavy)

Chris - absolutely fantastic tutorial - clear, concise and to the "point". Thank you so much! :mad2: I'm just now finding this post. Been doing a lot of brisket reading to help improve our comp brisket. This thread confirmed what we have been doing right and helped solve what we've been doing wrong. Like others, on earlier briskets I was confused when the point would probe tender but the flat would still have resistance. Finally occurred to me that the point because of its higher fat content will probe tender well before the flat but keep cooking UNTIL the point and the flat probe the SAME. The point will not overcook in this time and as you said once separated can go back on the smoker for several more hours to make burnt ends w/o fear of drying it out.

So Chris - if this is Bigabyte Brisket 101, when can we expect the intermediate or advanced BB 201 or 301? I for one would love to know what extra steps you take when you really want to put out your best brisket! Thanks again!
 
Fantastic tutorial! :clap2:

Nice pics too.

This is one of favorite cuts on the Q. :cool:
 
This is the best tutorial I have seen so far, and I've been doing a lot of wandering around. Thanks agian Chris. I now have the confidence to try my first brisket without being a nervous wreck. Hopefully this weekend.:-D
 
Sorry just had to read it again. VERY COOL!!
 
Smiter Q said:
The point was very tender, the probe slid right in and out like butter. The flat was not tender however, I had to stick the probe in and it had some decent resistance. So I put the lid back on and checked it again in an hour. It still wasn't quite ready so I waited another hour, then it was done and tender in both the flat and the point. So this packer took 12 hours at 250 to get done.

QUESTION ABOUT THE ABOVE:
IS there a concern about drying out the point, while you waited another two hours for the flat?
Thanks and thanks for this awesome tutorial.
Click to expand...
I just saw this question or the first time.

I've never had a dry point cooking this way. The moisture in brisket is truly more from the gelatin and fat, and the point is just swimming in this stuff. Heck, in fact, after that two extra hours that the point cooked, I then chopped that point up for burnt ends and cooked it another 4 hours. They were still not dry even though the point meat cooked for 6 hours after it became tender. Don't ever try that with the flat though. The flat would become very dry and even burnt.
 
What can you say other than THANK YOU!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! You are what makes this site great........
 
Awesome tutorial! I can't wait to finish my UDS now!
 
I followed this tutorial two weeks in a row. The first attempt was a 6.5 pound pre-seasoned super-trimmed packer. It went cold into the smoker fat-side up at 250 for almost 10 hours and until both the point and flat were "tender". The idea was to smoke it 1.5 hours per pound.

The brisket turned out overcooked and dry due to the fat-side being up. Taste was good so it got turned into chopped beef and chili. And I got a good idea on how to treat a brisket in the BGE.

The second was a 10 pound untrimmed packer. I let it come to room temp overnight before applying a simple dry rub consisting of homemade garlic powder, chili powder, cumin, salt and fresh-ground pepper. Went into the smoker fat side down.

I tested it at 6 hours just for giggles and big surprise! It wasn't done! Then at 10. The flat wasn't quite there. Another hour and it was ready. So a total of 11 hours in the BGE and it came out PERFECT!

Not to toot my own horn overmuch but this is the absolute best brisket I've ever had including anything available locally. Sorry Rudy's...

Thanks and kudos to bigabyte for the remarkable and simple tutorial. Brisket made easy. :clap2:
 
eugeque said:
I followed this tutorial two weeks in a row. The first attempt was a 6.5 pound pre-seasoned super-trimmed packer. It went cold into the smoker fat-side up at 250 for almost 10 hours and until both the point and flat were "tender". The idea was to smoke it 1.5 hours per pound.

The brisket turned out overcooked and dry due to the fat-side being up. Taste was good so it got turned into chopped beef and chili. And I got a good idea on how to treat a brisket in the BGE.

The second was a 10 pound untrimmed packer. I let it come to room temp overnight before applying a simple dry rub consisting of homemade garlic powder, chili powder, cumin, salt and fresh-ground pepper. Went into the smoker fat side down.

I tested it at 6 hours just for giggles and big surprise! It wasn't done! Then at 10. The flat wasn't quite there. Another hour and it was ready. So a total of 11 hours in the BGE and it came out PERFECT!

Not to toot my own horn overmuch but this is the absolute best brisket I've ever had including anything available locally. Sorry Rudy's...

Thanks and kudos to bigabyte for the remarkable and simple tutorial. Brisket made easy. :clap2:
Click to expand...
Each person has their own belief on which way the fat side should go, but I am convinced it works best as a heat shield. If your heat comes from below (like in a BGE), then I cook fat side down. If the heat comes from above (like in an offset because the heat goes to the top of the cooker and flows out to the stack) then the fat side goes up. Not everyone agrees with that though, and as long as they can turn out good brisket with their method, that's all that matters.

Glad to hear you enjoyed the brisket.:thumb:
 
I am Cooking a brisket today

Following the very detailed and informative tutorial. I am using a Large BGE with a new addition a BBQGuru DigiQ DX controller . I just started this 2 hours ago and am very excited to do the first probe in 8 more hours.
 
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