Brisket yields

[Bigmista]

Folks are always asking about yields so I cooked four briskets this weekend in my spicewine trailer at 225 degrees and recorded my findings. They were actually a little surprising. Here is a spreadsheet with the data.

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/pub?key=0AhwMIQZggLekdDN3eDZfTkh4T0VMeS1iV0pXMHhyYmc&output=html

Let me know what you think.

 

[jeffry1970]

Very interesting.
I usually calculate 50%
Did you trim as you always would? Sounds like a lot of fat. Was there a need to trim post cook?

 

[jeffry1970]

Your cooked yield is % of raw weight or trimmed weight?

 

[mchar69]

Your cooked yield is % of raw weight or trimmed weight?

Math tells me it's raw weight. #1 yielded 7 pounds to a 15 lb. raw or about 46%.
That's something to account for, I thought 65% was the #. Whoa.

 

[jeffry1970]

Too lazy to do the math. Like I said I always used 50% when calculating. Everyone trims different as well.

 

[Bbq Bubba]

Not surprised. I cook 32 brisket a night and can tell you the yeild down to the lb. I use 47% as my average. I also cook at 225ish overnight.

 

[Ron_L]

Not surprised. I cook 32 brisket a night and can tell you the yeild down to the lb. I use 47% as my average. I also cook at 225ish overnight.

Are you doing any trimming, Bubba? (I suspect no based on the volume)

 

[bizznessman]

We do do not trim prior to cook. We have found that our finished product has a higher moisture content if we do not pre-trim. Of course this could be due to the specific product we purchase and how it is raised and handled prior to being received by us. Our % of loss in cook tends to average around 47%, therefore yielding a post-cook of 53% finished product.

One caveat that may apply is that we smoke for 4 hrs and then foil wrap to finish the cook with approx another 6 hrs. We run a continuous 250F for the entire cook. The foil wrap seems to help to infuse the juices back into the brisket during out 1-2 hr "rest" after removing from the smoker.

 

[Bigmista]

I do a pretty aggressive trim pre-cook since I am cooking in a cabinet smoker and don't the extra fat to protect the meat. I trim most of the fat off the point so I can apply rub directly to the meat and smoke can permeate the meat more freely.

Keep in mind this may change when I start cooking in an Ole Hickory.

 

[HBMTN]

Your math makes sense. I have not investigated it to this detail however I have taken a few brisket catering jobs and figured it based on a 50% yield. I weighed the unused brisket and figured based on the left overs that guests were taking an average of 6.25oz from the buffet when the average pork take is around 4 to 4.5oz.

I'd say based on your calculations guest are not taking as much as I thought and I'm loosing the 6% on my expected yield. Thanks Big Mista I'll check in to this further and adjust as needed.

 

[Bbq Bubba]

Are you doing any trimming, Bubba? (I suspect no based on the volume)

Actually yes, we trim fairly aggressively so the product put on the cutting board is ready to slice and serve.

 

[SmokinJohn]

Thank you for the info!

 

[landarc]

I have always used 50%, mostly because I am bad at math.

I do have to say, we were discussing this past weekend how much loss there is off of brisket and corned beef when cooked to tender.

 

[BBQ Nuts]

Our last 2 brisket cooks were 42% and 44% yield.