Print

Please login or register.
1 Hour 1 Day 1 Week 1 Month Forever
Login with username, password and session length

[JoeGrilling]

I just did my second brisket using the "basic" recipe with a Costco prime brisket.  It came out great.  However, I have having trouble estimating when the brisket will be done.  This brisket was 16.75 lbs.  My guess is I trimmed about 3 lbs of fat off.  The brisket was done in 10.5 hours.  I see estimates of 1 to 1.25 hours per lb.  My results were no way close to this.

My process with this cook were as follows:
>Trim brisket the night before, inject, repackage in a Food Saver bag, and refrigerate
>Place brisket on the grill (200 degF) at 5:00 AM
>Increase temperature to 240 degF at 8:00 AM
>Brisket hit 175 degF at around 2:00 PM
>Brisket was placed in an aluminum pan and foil covered.
>Brisket hit 205 degF at around 3:30 PM

Total cook time 10.5 hours.  I was assuming it would take at least 13 hours.  My setup is as follows:
>Traeger Texas Elite 34
>Savannah Stoker V4 Controller

What are other folks seeing for cook times with this recipe?

[ArborAgent]

I cook at 225º when I do a brisket and I would have put that brisket in at 10:00 PM the night before and expected it to finish around 3:00 PM.

My thoughts:

1. How accurate are your temp probes? I'd check those. I wonder if it was really sitting at 240º.
2. If it came out great, I wouldn't question it too much. Brisket can rest for hours. I use my oven set to 145º, other people use coolers.

[JoeGrilling]

I cook at 225º when I do a brisket and I would have put that brisket in at 10:00 PM the night before and expected it to finish around 3:00 PM.

My thoughts:

1. How accurate are your temp probes? I'd check those. I wonder if it was really sitting at 240º.
2. If it came out great, I wouldn't question it too much. Brisket can rest for hours. I use my oven set to 145º, other people use coolers.

I'll recheck my RTD for the controller versus the Maverick wireless unit I use for monitoring cooking progress.  The Maverick unit has two probes so I can check near the RTD and at the far end.  The controller RTD readout was in the past within a few degrees of a probe from the Maverick located close to it.

[bregent]

Your times sound normal to me. The last Costco prime brisket I cooked was almost exactly the same weight as yours. I ran at 180 for 6 hours, bumped to 225 and it ran for another 6. However, I don't cook brisket to temperature - I cook until it's tender. When I pulled it, the IT was 192 if I recall. If you rely on a specific internal temperature you run the risk of overcooking and drying it out.

[JoeGrilling]

Your times sound normal to me. The last Costco prime brisket I cooked was almost exactly the same weight as yours. I ran at 180 for 6 hours, bumped to 225 and it ran for another 6. However, I don't cook brisket to temperature - I cook until it's tender. When I pulled it, the IT was 192 if I recall. If you rely on a specific internal temperature you run the risk of overcooking and drying it out.

I'm curious.  Did you wrap the brisket at any point?  My brisket rose in temperature very quickly because of the wrap.

The only thing I think I'll try going forward is fat side down like Bentley prescribed.  The bottom of my brisket with fat side up had a little dry skin to it.  It fell off during carving so no one noticed.   I spray the top every hour with broth.  My thinking is the fat will protect the bottom from drying and the broth will keep the top moist.   

[ArborAgent]

Your times sound normal to me. The last Costco prime brisket I cooked was almost exactly the same weight as yours. I ran at 180 for 6 hours, bumped to 225 and it ran for another 6. However, I don't cook brisket to temperature - I cook until it's tender. When I pulled it, the IT was 192 if I recall. If you rely on a specific internal temperature you run the risk of overcooking and drying it out.

I'm curious.  Did you wrap the brisket at any point?  My brisket rose in temperature very quickly because of the wrap.

The only thing I think I'll try going forward is fat side down like Bentley prescribed.  The bottom of my brisket with fat side up had a little dry skin to it.  It fell off during carving so no one noticed.   I spray the top every hour with broth.  My thinking is the fat will protect the bottom from drying and the broth will keep the top moist.

I wrap in butcher paper. I don’t spray and I don’t see a difference wrt fat up or down.

[bregent]

Your times sound normal to me. The last Costco prime brisket I cooked was almost exactly the same weight as yours. I ran at 180 for 6 hours, bumped to 225 and it ran for another 6. However, I don't cook brisket to temperature - I cook until it's tender. When I pulled it, the IT was 192 if I recall. If you rely on a specific internal temperature you run the risk of overcooking and drying it out.

I'm curious.  Did you wrap the brisket at any point?  My brisket rose in temperature very quickly because of the wrap.

The only thing I think I'll try going forward is fat side down like Bentley prescribed.  The bottom of my brisket with fat side up had a little dry skin to it.  It fell off during carving so no one noticed.   I spray the top every hour with broth.  My thinking is the fat will protect the bottom from drying and the broth will keep the top moist.

I don't spritz and only wrap if the color is getting too dark. I prefer fat up because the fat does drip over the sides and keep them from drying out.

[Bentley]

I kept reading this and think, well, not sure how to help.  Then finally, this clicked in my mind.  That recipe was based on USDA Select.  Back in the day when I started cooking them, was the norm and usually all I could get. 

I have probably cooked 5 USDA Prime Brisket in 15 years, and I have destroyed all of them, I just cannot seem to cook them.  The last 2 were at a Competition last May, and I placed last with both of them, a 1st for me!  The only constant with them was they all cooked faster then a Select or Choice.

That is not any help, but all I could think to tell you.

I just did my second brisket using the "basic" recipe with a Costco prime brisket.

[ZCZ]

Have not done much brisket but here is what I was able to gather from Larry at the Royal in 2010.  This timing scheme was in preparation for the standard turn-in time at a comp which I think is 1:30 PM (correct me if I am wrong).

Start at 6 or 7 PM the night before.  Cook at 190° for 6-8 hours.  Turn up to 250° and let it run at that temp until you are done.  Wrap in foil at 8-9 AM then back on the grill until the internal reaches 200° - 207°.  If temp is reached well before turn-in wrap the brisket in a towel and place in a cooler to keep warm.

Larry said he could tell his brisket was done by the way it smelled and the way it felt.  He said it should shake like jello.

He would know as I think he cooked a lot of brisket.

Z

[ArborAgent]

I think it's interesting how much variation there is in cooking methods.

I keep it simple 225º till done.

Wrap around 160º - 170º in butcher paper.

Cook till IT of 197º. Pull and let rest for at least an hour, ideally 4.

It's been a consistently solid way for me to do brisket.

[JoeGrilling]

I kept reading this and think, well, not sure how to help.  Then finally, this clicked in my mind.  That recipe was based on USDA Select.  Back in the day when I started cooking them, was the norm and usually all I could get. 

I have probably cooked 5 USDA Prime Brisket in 15 years, and I have destroyed all of them, I just cannot seem to cook them.  The last 2 were at a Competition last May, and I placed last with both of them, a 1st for me!  The only constant with them was they all cooked faster then a Select or Choice.

That is not any help, but all I could think to tell you.

I just did my second brisket using the "basic" recipe with a Costco prime brisket.

There are many variables to consider including meat grade.  I just checked a temperature profile that was done using a Tappecue on my big barrel while trying to tune my SSv4.  The smoke stack end was averaging 10 deg F higher than the RTD end over an hour with a set point at 225 deg F.  It makes me wonder if I should be pointing the point end of the brisket toward the stack end and lowering the temperature settings maybe 5 deg F.     

[Mrhdvrod]

In my experience, the better the cut the shorter the cook time. A Costco prime for me ( 12-17 lbs pre trim) cooks in 5-7 hours but I prefer to use hot and fast on my Hunsaker drum, usually 315 - 330 range. I wrap in butcher paper at 3-4 hours in depending on color. I do not spritz and the only gadget I use is my instant read for probing.

 I did a Waygu brisket 14 lbs and it cooked in 4.5 hours total.
Choice from sams club 14 -17lbs usually take 8-10 hours.

[Rick]

So weird.  I've only done two Wagyu's.  It was my last two competitions.  I got 17th out of 76 (169.12) and 7th out of 37 (173.76).

In both cases they took longer than my primes that I usually cook.  Granted, the 169.12 brisket was a bit over.  It was on the cooker for 7 hours.  In hindsight, I should have had it off in 6.5 hours.  The 173.76 brisket was a 6.5 hour cook and in my opinion, was close to perfect doneness.  That's running at 300 degree and wrapping about 3 hours into the cook.

My primes were usually 5.5 hour cooks. Generally speaking, they were probably smaller due to more trimming.  I got 3 calls out of 7 comps.  Kicking out my high score (174.xx) and my low score (162.xx), I averaged 169.12 in 5 cooks with primes.

I'm going back to Primes next year.  Easier to get and much cheaper.  I didn't notice that big of a difference in my scores/placing to justify the cost.