cooking my first brisket

I am probably posting this a bit late but hopefully somebody will read today and offer some guidance.

I basically want to me eating my brisket my about 6pm tomorrow evening (Sat 20th Sep)

I know the advice is to allow plenty of time so working on about 15-18 hours that means I really need to start the cook at midnight tonight!

No problem with this in principle but mainly worried I'm going to get up about 6am to check it and find I needed to add charcoal a couple of hours earlier.
I have the ET73 and can set an alarm but would like to go to bed and not worry.

Is there a fullproof method of getting a good long cook period guaranteed (say 10 hours)?
I have the Excel 20 by the way

Do I just get as much charcoal in the basket as possible?

Any help appreciated

Well I put it in the oven at 6.30pm yesterday evening after using a rub of salt, black pepper, mustard powder, brown sugar and hot smoked paprika.
I then injected the meat with a beef stock.





The oven hovered around 275 until about midnight and as it rapidly dropped I loaded another chimney full in before going to bed.
ET73 alarm went off about 4.00am this morning as the temp had climbed above 300. Not sure why as i checked water bowl but still half full. Topped up bowl and closed vents a little and back to bed.
meat stalled at 170 - lovely

rock steady at 225 when I woke again at 7.00am but falling off again so added more charcoal (cold this time) and meat was at 176.

Now 11.45 so nearly 18 hours and meat still only at 190.

the meat seems to have a nice bark around it and seems quite springy to touch. I hope I haven't messed it up.

Staying patient!

Ok

Its nearly 3.30pm Saturday.
The meat is stuck at 195 degrees and has been for 3 hours.

have I done something wrong? 21 hours and it hasn't reached 200 degrees target temp.

I didn't want to crutch as I am of the school that its not pure smokin'.

Gonna wait until we need to serve and check to see if its edible I suppose.

I will leave it to rest for 30 mins or so

A bit confused and disappointed so any guidance, comments or help for the next time. I cant take up so long just to cook a brisket.

Hello redmax

Here is a link with a very easy brisket recipe broken down into easy steps

http://www.macsbbq.com/recipes/beef/brisket

From Paul

happy smoking

Thanks Paul

I was following it but like I said it never got above 198 aafter 21 hours.
I was trying to understand if I had done anything wrong.

hi again redmax

From what i have read i cant see anything you had done that is wrong.
there is not a precise time scale when it comes to cooking for long periods as it all depends on the
cut of meat you could of left it a bit longer and it would of most likely got up to the temp
you wanted it to.

Even if you give yourself plenty of time so it is cooked before well before hand that's fine you can let is rest and then wrap it depending on when you want to eat it.
i have even done mine a day before and then let it cool down and place it in a Pyrex dish and then
get some really good beef stock and pour enough stock over the brisket so it is about 3/4 full and leave the brisket in the stock over night in the fridge and then i heat it up in the oven the next day to the temp i want to eat it and it is falling apart in your mouth. and it still keep that lovely smoky flavor.
That way i can get on with what else i want to do

hope that helps

happy smoking

paul

Cool
Thanks Paul for your reassurances.

I take it you mean a normal oven to re-heat and not back on to the smoke again??

The meat did taste beautiful but I really need to master the carving method.

I'm trying a pork shoulder this weekend.

Any tips on re-heating pulled pork if I cook in advance?

Cheers

Mark

Hi Mark

Yes I did mean heating it back up in the oven re the brisket.

With regards to pulled pork and reheating;

Once it's cooked, pull it off the smoker, wrap it in tinfoil, and refrigerate it once it's cooled, for longer storage, freeze it.

To reheat it, bring it back up to room temperature, get a new sheet of foil and grease it with butter. Don't be shy.

Put a couple teaspoons of butter on top of the joint and heat it slowly back up to temp, it should pull a beauty.
You should get away with heating it at about 325F until your internal is back up to 165F (food safe temperature), you can use the smoker or an oven for this.
If you need anything else, please don't hesitate to call (01726 851495)

Paul.