Been wanting to do a brisket since I got a BGE.  Noticed that WM has had some lately.  Think I can talk a couple friend into coming over next sat to help eat.  Plan to watch a couple videos on YT, but I know we have people here that know a heck of a lot more than me.

Would any of you mind sharing a simple recipe / guide to cooking a brisket?

What Temp do I want to go for, and how long will it take to cook and then rest?

I have seen people suggesting trim the fat and then smoke fat down.

Wrapping in foil seems to not let the juices escape.  Right?


What I have:

Lg BGE
expander system
plate setter
kick ash basket
FOGO large lump


Should I get an injector?

Any help is appreciated,

Thank You,

Shinji

I've not done a Beef Brisket yet, but I did a few large Pork Butts, seems like a similar process.

Check this out.. https://www.traeger.com/learn/how-to-smoked-brisket

Not difficult
Only trim to remove loose pieces and any "sticking out"
I trim zero fat unless it interferes with the above
I only ever use salt and pepper. Good meat never needs BS spices and rubs.
Smoke @225F fat side UP.
I just walk away until my alarm goes off @160F
From here I look at the meat probe graph and see if we broke the stall
If so, I spray the meat, NOT the fat, with dilute Apple Cider every 30min (this keeps the bark from drying out, while not letting the fat cool)
From here, poke the fat every 45min or so until your finger easily pushes into it and it "melts".
This is where you want to wrap it, in butcher paper not foil.
Add extra fat to it, inside the butcher paper. It doesn't matter if this is butter, bacon grease, or extra beef tallow. Just nice clean fat.
Throw back onto heat (I switch to gas oven because no need to waste smoke pellets) at 225-250F until you hit around 205F
Pull it, wrap in old towel or 2, put in cooler.

The resting is not a simple time. If the meat cooked quickly (some does), you'll want it to rest longer (like 12-16hrs). If the meat cooked for a longer time, you can rest from 4-8hrs. Plenty of people will cry at this but it's 100% effective. I've put it into a cooler at 6pm and pulled it out for breakfast, the next day. It's still above 140F and all that fat has just had time to move right back into the meat and get everything perfect.

You follow this easy process and I guarantee you smiles and commendations

Allow yourself more time than you think you'd need. It's BBQ, so it's not done on a time schedule.  Start it out low overnight if you can and bump the temp up when you wake up in the morning.  If it finishes up around noon, it can rest til dinner. If you start too late in the morning, you'll have a bunch of hungry people standing around waiting for a brisket that just doesn't want to cook

rest it as long as you're able to.  like 4 hours minimum.

I like Malcom Reed's recipes as a base line for things.  He has a couple different brisket recipes.

https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=bbq+right+brisket

Have read that you budget 1-1.5 hours per pound.  Is that just for cook time then add the rest?  Or, does that include the rest?   If I want to do a 15lb brisket will it take 22.5 hours just to cook?  Give or take.  Trying to figure out if I put it on about 2100 would we be ready to eat around 1700-1800 the next day?

Thank you.

Shinji

Yeah, you're probably best to use 1.5hr/lb. Just know, I've had 4lb chuck roasts take 10hrs so the meat doesn't always follow the "rules".
Also, you're seriously underestimating the rest period. Do not rush it.
It's 100X better to have the meat rest for much much longer than you think, than to try and rush a cook/smoke.
With brisket, you can almost give yourself an extra day and everything will turn out perfect.
When the meat is wrapped to rest, it's still cooking. The fat is still rendering and it's migrating through the muscle tissue.
When you cut open a brisket and see that glistening "moistness", that's liquid fat, not water. That's perfection ;)

Find HowToBBQRight (Malcolm Reed) and Meat Church on YT. Many videos.

Showing is much more powerful than telling.

@Quiganomics

Sounds like I'm gonna start it of sat and eat on Sun.  Thank yall very much.

Will look up those people and take notes.

Thanks again,

Shinji

This is how I do mine:  250F on the smoker starting at 1800.  Take off 5 or 6 hours later - its taken all of the smoke it is going to take for the most part, the rest is just breaking down the brisket into the tender state.
Put in oven in a sealed pan, wrapped or what ever - I pour in a half cup of beef juice to ensure moistness.  Before I seal it I lather a layer of green chile on top -New Mexico!  
250F in the oven for 6 hours for fall apart brisket.  
I ain't staying up all night for a brisket - this system works for me very well.  

And yeah, just seasoning with Goya Adobo.  I serve BBQ sauce on the side for the heathens.

A good youtube channel to start with:

Meat Church

They have a bunch of different brisket videos including how they like to trim a brisket before cooking.

Most of the championship BBQ places here do more than salt and pepper. You want some kind of binder on it, most use either/or pickle juice and yellow (plain) mustard. Also seasoning is more than just S&P typically. Try 8 parts coarse ground pepper, 3 parts Lawry's, 3 parts kosher salt, and one part granulated garlic. Rub it down with a half and half mixture of hot dog mustard and pickle juice first before sprinkling the rub on.


You don't need to spray it. If you wrap you're going to get plenty of moisture.

Also yes, use butcher paper, unwaxed, not foil. Foil will trap the venting moisture and turn it soggy. Butcher paper will vent most of it, but allow a bit to remain behind and keep the meat juicy.

You don't usually need to add extra fat. If you do, take some of the trimmings that you took from the brisket and throw them in a pot in your smoker to render them down. If you cook fat side up, that's more than enough fat in the meat to keep it juicy.

I have to disagree, a bit.
I've made and eaten a ton of meat. I prefer beef to have S&P, well before and rub or sauce. Pork, chicken, sure, but beef, to me, is best w/ S&P.
I spray the bark so it doesn't get hard and dry. It works and I've seen plenty of pitmasters do it.
Adding extra fat 100% makes a difference. Each will impart a new flavor, but this is where "moisture" comes from, it's not water it's fat content.

I do use mustard as binder.

Looks like I need to plan for 18-22 hours cook.

Fatcap up.

Wrap in butcher paper at 165 degrees.

Cook to 203-205.

Rest at least 4 hours, hopefully longer.

Use a drip pan with apple cider.


Thank you all again.

Do not wrap it until you can push your finger into/through the fat, easily. Time and temp will vary here, but it'll be close to 170F

So have I. I typically don't sauce beef unless it's getting chopped and thrown into a sandwich. Maybe a bit of sauce for dipping on sliced, or if I'm doing something special like marinating them such as with galbi or bulgogi.


I've never had wrapped brisket or any other beef bark get hard and dry. The only reason why you spray the wrapping paper is so it doesn't stick. The butcher paper doesn't, as I said, let all of the moisture out. Keeping some of the moisture in keeps the bark from getting dry but without keeping it all in and turning it soggy. Even if it becomes an issue you can fix it in the oven real quick.


You're literally the first person I've heard say it adds an appreciable difference for brisket. I've seen it for a few other cuts, particularly where you braise.

For the OP: if you've already purchased the brisket, go for it. But in the future, if you want to learn how to cook brisket, get some chuck roasts. Similar piece of meat from a nearby section, more forgiving than brisket, cooks the same way, with a similar profile, and is cheaper.

FastEddy (world champion bbq pitmaster) even adds additional fat while the brisket is still on the grill. Just a single reference of someone you might have heard of...
I agree w/ the chuck roast, it's actually my wife's favorite thing smoked. Even when compared to my homemade Pastrami (which is awesome) or my dry-aged ribeye.
Doing a 4lb chuck tonight.

Brisket thread with no photos? What is this madness?

BGE owner for 10 yrs.
Have done about a dozen briskets so far.
Kamados are different than other smokers.
I use just S, P and garlic powder for seasoning. Oak and pecan for smoke.
You want to cook fat cap down as it will protect the brisket from the heat below.
Do NOT use a drip with liquid. There will be enough moisture in a BGE while cooking. All the liquid will do is be a heat sink.
Spraying the brisket is fine as mentioned.
Wrapping, cook final temp and rest are all good. As mentioned resting longer is better.

Will update with photos once I do the cook.

@Shinji_Ikari


For a BGE I'd go with a 11-13 lb brisket, trim the fat cap down to 1/4", remove the mohawk on the point end. Cut out the hard fatty deposit on the meat side as well as any fat/silverskin you can remove without getting deep into the meat. Trim the thin part of the flat off and round off all edges, it will help keep it from drying out.

Season heavily with kosher salt and coarse black pepper, it's a big hunk of meat and can handle a lot of seasoning. If you want to use a binder, I would suggest Golden Mountain Seasoning Sauce. It works really good with brisket.

I'd try to keep the temp at about 240f and burn lump charcoal and oak chunks. I spritz with water if it starts to dry out, but do so sparingly if you feel the need. If I see my ends getting too charred or dry, I will cover the effected area only with some foil.

DO NOT WRAP TOO EARLY, IT WILL INHIBIT BARK FROM FORMING. I used to wrap halfway through, I have since stopped doing so and now wrap at 190f when I take it off the smoker. When you pull it off, then you wrap in butcher paper with some tallow.

Hold it wrapped in your oven at its lowest setting for 8 or so hours, this step is crucial. It will help finish the cooking process. I usually put the brisket on the top rack and a pan with water under it. An hour before you plan to slice, turn off the oven to let the temp of the brisket come down a bit...if you slice it hot it will likely shred, you want slices, not pulled beef.

Slice against the grain, and remember the direction of the grain changes at the point.


I typically smoke a brisket at LEAST twice a month and this is my preferred way.

Cheers.

Apologies for no pics, we had some kids over that were well past hungry.

Thank you everyone for the recipes, tips, and tricks!

Did a 13.5 lb brisket that I had to trim down, thank God for a farm sink, opened and dried it in the sink, put on baking sheet, trimmed ( not enough), and tossed the trimmings in the sink.  Used a members rub ( added some other stuff I have), was able to keep the temp close to 225 (except a few times I had to stoke the fire).  Wrapped with pink paper around 170 (it got there in about 5 hours).  Put it on at noon Saturday, at about 0840 I put it to rest wrapped in towels inside a cooler.  Sliced at 1700 Sunday.  Do think it was power done, the ends were tearing.

All in all everyone was happy and it tasted good.  Having leftovers for dinner tonight.

Thanks again,

Shinji

Does WM mean wally mart?  They have ungraded brisket at my store priced at the same point as USDA Prime at the Costco.  Wally used to have good prices, now they suck.  

I was lucky on this day and found last day of sale briskets severely marked down.  I left two for other lucky peeps.



This may have been Frys, but I have found the same at Wally only one time.