Beef Brisket Review

Hello Brethern, I have a rather detailed review of my Smoked Beef Brisket that I did Saturday 10/14/2014. I would love to get some feed back, good, bad, ugly, suggestions, comments. My Smoker is the infamous ECB. I did season the brisket overnight (mustard & AW **** Season from Big Cock Ranch in Texas). I did not trim the fat cap and I smoked it fat cap up.

Thank You

Smoking 7lb beef brisket.
Today drizzling overcast no breeze. I am Smoking first time in the garage do to the rain it is
54 degrees @ 8am
Brisket temp 58 degrees
Two handfuls of Apple wood for smoke to start

Started @ 7:55am with Snake method
50 briquets
15 briquets in Chimney
Temp only 190 at 8:20am
Going to add another
20 briquets from Chimney on
top of the remaining unlit briquets
Instant rise to 250 degrees
Seven mins later shut bottom vent temp @ 275 degrees
Brisket on @ 8:35 ********
Temp about 280
@ 8:50 temp 260
@ 9:10 temp 245
@ 9:20 temp 235 breeze starting more like gust of wind
9:35 first hour done temp is @ 220 gauge on grate reads 250

10:10am add 20 briquets from chimney and 15 unlit briquets and than scooped some of the spent briquets on top of the unlit briquets. The temp Gauge was showing 185 the grate gauge was at 215. The temp is now at 260
10:25 temp holding at 260 will now add more smoke two handfuls of Apple wood
Two hour mark all is well temp holding @ 250

Three hour mark, I have started another chimney of 20 briquets the temp gauge reads 175 the gauge on the grate is 225, meat temp is 140 added 17 unlit briquets and scooped the spent briquets on top and added 20 briquets from the chimney also they are on opposite side of the spent briquets in the charcoal pan. I also emptied the ashes out. I sprits the brisket with some Apple Juice and Makers Mark.
The temp is again rising will close bottom vent when temp reaches 250. 11:50 am closed the bottom vent.


Four our mark temp gauge reads 245 grate is probably around 270 not going to take cover off this hour unless temp drops drastically.

Five hour mark brisket at 165, removed and wrapped in aluminum foil. Temp on grate was at 225. Once again I emptied the charcoal pan of ashes, added 17 unlit briquets and covered them with spent briquets also added 20 pre lit from the chimney on the opposite side of the charcoal pan. I also added water to the water pan. Will most likely not look until the Seventh hour and take a temp of brisket. (I think the water has slowed down the temperature rise.) the temp did not rise like I thought it is 2:35pm the temp on the gauge reads 210 so, I am thinking the grate temp maybe between 225-250

Six hour mark, brisket temp reads 180, so I am adding another 20 briquets pre lit and another 15 unlit briquets and covered with spent briquets

Seven hour mark brisket temp @ 190. I have moved the Brisket up to the gas grill do to time (SURPRISE) have temp @ 275
I just unwrapped the brisket to try and get the bark back with 23 mins left to the Eight hour mark. Take off grill with 15 mins left to the eight hour mark, temp 195. Ok, now I have cut the point off and put the flat wrapped in tin foil with the juices and placed in a cooler.
I chopped the point up and placed in a pan with the drippings added more
Of the AW **** Seasoning and the BBQ Sauce we made up today:
1 cup Stubs BBQ Sauce
1/2 cup of Apple Juice
1/4 cup Honey
1 tlbs of hot Sauce
It is back on the grill uncovered for an hour temp around 275/300

We thought it came out excellent, So excited:clap: to eat, I forgot to take a photo of the burnt ends after the cook.

ITBFQ said:

Just goes to show you can cook good Q on just about anything! Nice job.

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Thank You

robbq said:

It looks good! I started out with a cheapo Master Forge that is just like the ECB and it turned out some quite good stuff. You might want to try using minion method instead of snake method, because you wouldn't have to mess around and add fuel nearly as much. Mine would settle in at 275 every time and would run for quite a while. At around 4 hours it would start to choke itself from the ash, but knocking off the ash with a stick would usually be enough to get it back on track.

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Thank You for the suggestion, will try on the next long Smoke

SuburbSlicker said:

"Today drizzling overcast no breeze. I am Smoking first time in the garage do to the rain"

Brother, that's some tasty looking briskie, but I'm a little concerned with your method there.

As a firefighter, I've been to three house fires which started from people cooking in the garage and the grill getting away from them for whatever reason. That's too big a risk in my book. If it's raining, try one of those Soccer Mom tents you see all over the Little League field. A small one will cost you $79 and save you some big headaches later.

Any kind of indoor cooking also runs the risk of poisoning your home and family with carbon monoxide. Any kind of grilling done with charcoal or gas indoors (even if you have the door open and you think you've ventilated well enough) is very dangerous. Though CO is heavier than air, it can easily travel through spaces between walls, at floor height, through vents, etc. If you have a CO detector, it might -- repeat might -- give you some early warning, but it might not depending on where it's placed and where you placed your cooker. Here's some more info: http://www.ncdhhs.gov/docs/copoison.htm

For the sake of your health and your family, go buy a tent for rainy days and keep cooking for a long time!

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Thanks will definitely do for next rainy day.

I would like to thank everyone who found the time to read my extra long detailed Smoke. Great feed back from all with some good suggestion and safety tips.:mrgreen::mrgreen:

Thank You,
JC

Chris89Stang said:

Looks good!

How did you smoke the brisket in the future?


j/k :biggrin1:

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I got some help from Marty McFly & Doc Brown. lol:laugh: