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25 lb. Brisket in a UDS...please advise...

J

joeysmac

Guest
Good morning and happy Friday 13th!

I did a 8# Kroger brisket last weekend that turned out pretty good. It took about 9 hours in my UDS and I learned from a few minor mistakes and I expect to have great success with my next brisket....It looks like, however, that my next brisket is going to be a 25 #er from the butcher shop...:shocked:

My Father-In-Law is picking it up today and I've got too much going on this weekend to do it, but I think I'm going to tackle it next weekend...which gives me a week to get a game plan together. I'm a little intimidated by the fact that it is 3 times the size of the only brisket I've done, and the fact that it will probably cost about $50 or $60...no pressure.

I haven't seen it yet, and will post pics this evening. Does anyone have any experience smoking a huge brisket like this in a UDS? I'm confident my UDS will hold a good temp for 24 hours, but I've only let it go for about 18 max before letting the coals burn out so far.
 
I have smoked some big ones but 25lbs is a whopper. I would treat it just like an 18lb. I wrap at 170-180 depending on color and how the bark looks.
 
Trim it, separate the point and turbo cook it. Take the flat to 160-170 and foil it (@ 2hrs.)
Run the drum hotter than normal and hit the beef hard with smoke (I like cherry or oak) Check the internal temp at the 3+hr mark or an hour after you foiled, and go by feel-if the probe slides in like butter, remove it from the drum, drain off any au jus and reserve. This could take 3.5-4.5 hrs total. Wrap it in towels and hold in cambro or cooler for an hour, remove, vent and let rest, then slice. Take the point higher and foil, do the butter test, cube, drain liquid and add some thinned out BBQ sauce for fake burnt ends, refoil and toss back on the drum for an hour.

We cook a lot of Kobe briskets and they can pop in 3.5 hrs, CAB a little longer.

Remove the grate and replace the lid when doing all the prep, it'll keep the temps from skyrocketing.
 
If you want to learn some tricks for brisket on a drum smoker, ask me. I know more than enough tips on it. Just watch my brisket video.
 
Dang, that is one big piece of meat. I'd consider doing a combo slow&low, hot&fast cook...or just go hot & fast. Cooking the flat and point separated is a good idea, too. Of course, BigMista said allow two days, and I'd listen to him before listening to me :) He's a pro!
 
It's really hard to say because every piece of meat is different but even if you go hot and fast, I'd still allow at least 12 hours. Remember, it's done when it's done!
 
Thanks for the direction everyone. Do you think i run a risk of the meat drying out if i did it low and slow for the entire smoke (potentially in excess of 24 hrs)? I'm hesitant to get to creative with changing temperatures since it's only my second brisket and maybe my 5th smoke on the UDS...I'm leaning towards 225-250, foiling at 160, pulling off to rest at 190/butter probe...but is it really going to take 36 hours? Does the 90 min/lb. "rule" hold for brisket this large (from your experience)?

What temp range would be good for a faster cook? What kind of time frame do think i would expect?

Oh yeah...my FIL didn't pick the meat up tonight, so i will post pics tomorrow...
 
wow..I have never seen a brisket that big..biggest I have done is about 16 lbs I think
 
Dang 25#? Is it a Rhino brisket. I would love to get my hands on one of them for sure! :-D
 
Alright, so I don't know what the butcher (or my FIL) was smoking. My FIL picked it up and was telling me that the butcher said it was originally a 25# brisket and trimmed to 16#...not sure what all that means, but it's now a more manageable 16#. It was $2.79 and its USDA Select. Here are some photos...it's still a pretty big hunk of meat (more than I've ever done before). Looks like it should fit on my UDS no problem. I'm going to shoot for about a 18-20 hour smoke, turning it up once I foil it if I need to speed the process up. Any thoughts? Also, is this considered "cryo-packed" the way it comes from the butcher? Here are some pics:

IMAG0119.jpg


IMAG0121.jpg


IMAG0120.jpg
 
umm....looks to me like the butcher is blowing smoke...that looks like it's vac sealed from the original packer, still a big hunk of meat, trim the hard fat, run the drum around 300, and get to cooking!
 
Don't forget that once it's over 150 or so, it's not taking anymore smoke flavors so you can always pop it into the oven to finish it off.
 
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