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4WardMotion
03-01-2012, 10:30 PM
Hello BBQ Experts,

Well, it is my birthday on Saturday and I have decided to take on a huge task. I have decided to smoke an 8lb Boston Butt and a 6lb Brisket for the family. The thing is, I have never smoked either before. So I need some help.

I will be using a Weber 22.5 grill to accomplish this task. What is the best way to smoke these two pieces of meat? I have read a lot of posts with some wrapping in foil at a certain temp on the butt, but I would like to hear your recommendations for each and how long? I know this is a big task, but I guess I gotta start somewhere, so why not jump in with both feet.

Would love to hear your start to finish recommendations and your success stories. Maybe if I am real lucky the family will be begging me for more when all is said and done.

Thanks for the help! I hope to share pictures of my job if all goes well.

4WardMotion

4WardMotion
03-02-2012, 10:22 AM
Ok, I have been going through a lot of posts on here and feel I have a pretty good idea of how to do the pork butt, but I have not found a whole lot on the brisket, except that it is one of the harder pieces of meat to smoke.

So, with that said, can I get some pointers on how to do a brisket?

Thanks!

4WardMotion

BBQ4FUN
03-02-2012, 10:30 AM
Go down to the bottom search bar and type in brisket. There are a lot of brisket cooking threads on the forum. Good Luck!!

Ron_L
03-02-2012, 10:36 AM
I'm not going to say that butts are easier, but they are more forgiving if your temp varies during the cook and have a bigger sweet spot where they come out great. A brisket is more sensitive to temp swings and have a smaller sweet spot.

Bigabyte put together an excellent brisket tutorial that you should read...

http://www.bbq-brethren.com/forum/showthread.php?t=57882

When I cook briskets at home I inject with a mixture of beef stock, garlic onion and rub. I heat the stock, garlic, onion and rub to just below boiling and then let it cool and strain out the bits and inject 4 hours before cooking. Injecting isn't mandatory but I like the results. Once injected I rub heavily with either Montreal Steak Seasoning or Plowboy BBQ Bovine Bold rub and put the brisket in the fridge or a cooler to sit for the four hours.

If I have time I like to cook my briskets at around 225 - 240 degrees and in my FEC-100 they take about an hour per pound. I cook packers that are at least 12 lbs.

I do foil, but that's my preference and not mandatory. I'm a little different than most guys in that I don't pay attention to internal temp when foiling. I foil based on bark color. I add in some liquid when I foil, usually some of the injection mixture (about 1/2 cup) and seal the foil tightly around the brisket so it doesn't steam in the foil. Beer is also good in the foil, especially a dark beer. In my FEC I usually get the color that I want at about 10 hours. From there I monitor the feel of the brisket and I am looking for my Thermapen probe to go in with little resistance. I'm not looking for a specific temp but I use the Thermapen probe since it's always handy. Some briskets are done at 190 and others not until they get over 200. It depends on the amount in internal fat and connective tissue that has to render.

If I don't have time I'll cook at 300-ish and a 12 lb packer is usually done in 6 hours or so. I still foil based on color and I still look for the brisket to be probe tender, but with a hot and fast cook the internal temp is usually higher before the probe goes in easily.

Either way, once it brisket is done I remove it from the cooker and open the foil for 10 minutes or so to stop the cooking and then I put it into a dry, preheated cooler and insulate it with clean towels or newspaper and let it rest for at least two hours. I do this with butts, too.

I hope that helps.

msuman
03-02-2012, 10:45 AM
Im planing on doing a butt on my weber tomorrow also. Hopefully it will turn out ok.

Brian in Maine
03-02-2012, 10:45 AM
That sounds like a lot to try your first time out. (Especially on a 22 1/2 " kettle). If I were you, I'd try the butt, as they are more forgiving. I have never smoked either on a kettle, but others here have, and can probably give you more specifics as to the technique. One thing that I would caution any first timer about is over smoking. Almost everyone I know that started BBQing used too much smoke the first time out.

Cack
03-02-2012, 10:49 AM
I've done 2 butts now around that size. If you want a good bark (some crunch occasionally) don't foil. I foiled the first cook and the pork was great. I didn't foil the second and it was exqually great, but had some good bark on it. If you're going to foil ... it seems most people suggest around the 160 inner temp range.

My only tips would be ... inject the crap out of it ... rub the crap out of it ... get the beer ready

P.S. for a little plug ... my 2 butt cooks are on my blog in my sig if you want to see how i did it (although my smoker is completely different)

cheeaa
03-02-2012, 03:08 PM
Im planing on doing a butt on my weber tomorrow also. Hopefully it will turn out ok.

lol... I am doing my first one tomorrow on the weber as well.

What I'm going to do is keep it simple and easy. As a fellow first timer here's what I;m going to do. I'm going to rub it up tonight but tomorrow am just going to get it in there and let it go at around 275 or so until it gets to around 180, then keep checking until I feel this buttah I've been hearing about. I don't think foil is necessary and is really only to speed it up from what I gather. I have all day and night with plenty of beer, so I dont care. But, I will put it in a cooler whenever it's done and then pull it sunday morning.

Ag76
03-08-2012, 09:36 PM
lol... I am doing my first one tomorrow on the weber as well.

What I'm going to do is keep it simple and easy. As a fellow first timer here's what I;m going to do. I'm going to rub it up tonight but tomorrow am just going to get it in there and let it go at around 275 or so until it gets to around 180, then keep checking until I feel this buttah I've been hearing about. I don't think foil is necessary and is really only to speed it up from what I gather. I have all day and night with plenty of beer, so I dont care. But, I will put it in a cooler whenever it's done and then pull it sunday morning.

The butt should be ready for pulled pork at 195-200 internal temp.