My first attempt this weekend to smoke a brisket on my Weber. Any tips?? I have about a six lb brisket and I am practicing to do a larger one for a wedding reception in July.
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Mmmm...Brisket...:-)
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What kind of Weber?
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I actually did one yesterday. Second time using a smoker and first with a brisket. The brisket was around 5 lbs. It cooked in about 5 hours at 250 degrees.
Recommendations
1.Make sure you have charcoal ready to put in. I used wood charcoal that only lasted for about 1.5-2 hours so I had to definitely make sure I had some ready to put in otherwise temp drops quickly (especially if your smoker has many areas for heat to escape). Toward the end I switched to a mix of the wood charcoal and regular charcoal and that actually kept for longer and produced more heat.
2. I used hickory to get the smokey flavor and it worked out really good. I used bigger chunks so they lasted longer and produced more smoke. I'm sure you know to soak the chips too. I did overnight and some for just 4 hours and I didn't see much of a difference.
3. Try not to look at it too much. Obviously the less you look at it the faster and better it will cook.
4. Place a thermometer on the same rack as where the meat will be. Just to make sure you are cooking at the right temp.
5. The outer layer of mine got pretty crispy. The inside was perfect just the outside was very good. I would either put the meat on the highest rack and have a water bowl between your fire and meat, or have your meat in a aluminum pan/aluminum foil so the outside doesn't burn.
6. Use a dry rub and let it sit overnight at least. Many can be found online. I'm trying to formulate my own secret recipe so I can't share it :-)

Good luck let us know how it comes out!! I wanted to take some pictures but I forget. Next week I'm gonna do a corned beef so I'll try to post some pics.
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I like mesquite and a Texas rub. 1-3 hours with the rub (wrapped in plastic wrap) works fine for me. Don't look at it at all. Add wood chips (keep some soaking) about every half hour- 45 minutes. I use a charcoal smoker and add coal every 45-minutes to 1 hour.

Found that smoking for 3 hours or so and then either putting in a 250 oven in a covered roasting pan with some liquid (I use a little bbq sauce, splash of bourbon and a half cup or so of water) for another 2-3 hours makes it really tender. Or you could just put it in the covered pan back on the smoker (no wood anymore) until the coals cool.
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Kettle cooker and I plan to finish it in the oven
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1. Maintained heat level that should vary depending on cook time (very important)
2. Moisture of some kind. If doing an open smoke without foil or anything, you'll need a water pan.
3. A good cut of meat. All briskets can be smoked well if you choose a good brisket. Often times, smaller leaner briskets can be cooked too much and will dry out faster.



The way I smoke on my Weber kettle is to first section off 1/3 of the grill space with a sheet metal firebox. This can be done very inexpensively. I typically just use pliers to fold the sheet metal myself into a small half moon shape.

I then start a chimney of coals to fill the sheet metal box half way. Once filled half way, I top off the coals with soaked mequite or hickory chunks. Fill the remainder with wet chips of the same wood.

After that, just get a water pan in place, and try and keep the temp around 190 - 220 until the internal temp of the meat is good to your specs.


It sounds complicated but it's very easy after the first go round.
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Don't exceed 205 degrees and cook it on the smoker until done, no need to finish it in the oven. I keep a spray bottle of apple juice nearby so every time I open it up to check on things, I give the meat a spritz or two. I've even used a 50/50 apple juice/water in the water pan to add a little flavor to the humidity in there. It's a mess to clean though. One fun technique is to partially douse your wood with the water it soaked in a few times during the cooking. Make sure to do it with a small, steady stream as to not have a ton of ash get on the meat. It really coats it with some good flavor...
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Fired it up this morning at 8 am

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On the left-a dry rub with mesquite smoke

On the right a marinade and hickory smoke
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I put the pepper garlic rub on two days ago, wrapped in plastic and put it in the fridge.

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This one was a marinade of catsup, vinegar and worcestershire-two days of it.

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pics look good. Just remember," if your lookin' it ain't cookin' !!" keep it at around 250 degrees and you'll be fine.
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Those look delicious!!!
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Well? how did it turn out?
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:-)
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The winner was the dry rub for flavor...I have a picture of the finished product-just need time to upload...one day soon.
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