First brisket flat in my #2 analog

[lcdearman]

Decided to try a brisket flat today. It is just 4 lbs. I did a 14 hour dry brine and rubbed with a no salt rub from the Amazing Ribs website. I am using 5 oz of hickory, temperature is set to 225, and I plan to wrap at the stall to try and hold moisture since this is just a flat without much fat. I'll post more later.

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[Lonzinomaker]

Looks good so far.  Which rub did you use?

[lcdearman]

I used the Big Bad Beef rub found here: https://amazingribs.com/tested-recipes/spice-rubs-and-pastes/big-bad-beef-rub-recipe

2.5 hours in, 150* IT. Keeping an eye on it, it may have just hit the stall.

I've got a question for the more experienced users. I only see smoke coming out of the vent when the burner is on. Is that normal? My guess is that the wood is smoking all the time but when the burner is off the convection airflow stops. I may be over thinking things though.

[lcdearman]

Brisket hit the stall at about 2.5 hours, wrapped it in pink butcher paper at 3 hours. It sure looks good, but still very firm of course. Smells good too. Ignore the dropouts in the temperature plot. The bluetooth app looses connection from time to time.

[Lonzinomaker]

I usually get continuous wood smoke for 3 -4 hours or so with 4-6 oz apple or cherry.  After that it sometimes only smokes when element is on, at that point I think the drippings on the wood chamber are burning off when element comes on.  I sometimes get smoke the whole time. It's hard to tell from smoke smell if wood has finished or not.

[lcdearman]

Man, this little 4 lb brisket it taking a while! It’s been 8 hours and it is only at 163 IT. I wrapped it 5 hours ago when it hit 150 IT. Really working hard on remaining patient and not opening the smoker up and poking at it. The butcher paper wrap didn’t seem to help the stall. It held at 150 for almost 4 hours. I did drop in an ambient probe to make sure the smoker wasn’t running cold and it isn’t. It’s running a little hot on average, but not much. I cranked her up to 245 just to help get this thing done.

[smokeasaurus]

Watching this one.

[lcdearman]

Ok, this is getting ridiculous. 11 hours on a 4 lb brisket, and still only at 188. I finally broke down and probed it with my instant read thermometer. The temp is correct. The butcher paper is nicely soaked on bottom, could that be cooling it down? Causing an “external stall”?

[lcdearman]

Pulled it out at the 12 hour mark. It had reached 202 IT. I have no idea why this took 3 hours per pound, but I have done 3 cooks now. A 7 lb pork butt that took 15 1/2 hours, 2 7 1/2 lb turkey breasts that took 5 hours, and now a 4 lb brisket flat that took 12 hours. The turkey time seems normal, but the pork butt and brisket seem long. Anyway, it is wrapped in foil and sitting in an ice chest. The corner of the thinner end broke off so I ate it. It was a little dry, but had good flavor. I will cut it an hour and let you know what I think. The wood chunks looked good, even still glowing a little.

[lcdearman]

It is sliced... One end seems a little chewy with a fair amount of pull. The other end is crumbly and wouldn't slice. Taste is good. Bark is wonderful. Salt level seems right with the dry brine and a no salt rub. To be fair, it wasn't an expensive piece of meat at $9. I bought it because I wanted to smoke something and it was a cheap experiment. What have I learned?

• Cook time for me is 1 hour longer than my wife is willing to wait
• Butcher paper doesn't necessarily shorten the stall but doesn't hurt the bark
• Lazy Q isn't always predictable, but if you quit worrying it can be lazy
• My smoker temps are decent for an analog unit, trust the knob setting
• My temperature probes are accurate, trust them
• The chip screen has worked well for making charcoal and not ash
• Dry brining is easy but be sure to use a salt free rub
• I don't like to miss dinner

I'm sure there are a few other lessons here, please feel free to point them out!

[barelfly]

It looks great! In my experience, your cook is similar to what I’ve had happened with smaller cuts of brisket and pork butt. The time to cook to temp is longer than what it would be for for larger cuts - that is the hours per lbs. it’s crazy, I know but now you have the experience with the smaller cuts. And it could be due to the thickness of the cut - it ay only be a 4lb flat, but the thickness of that 4lb flat is probably the same as an 8lb flat, just not the same length or width.

The pork butt time actually looks about right to me. I think all the pork butts I’ve smoked at 225 are around 2 hours/lb.

But, for future cooks, if you are using butcher paper, get the bark set where you want it, then wrap. Sounds like this is what you did, but just to keep that in mind.

Also, if you are going long on a cook and coming up on eating time - don’t forget about the oven with a high temp to bring to temp. If your bark is set, the meat is above 140*, theory is no more smoke is taken on (just what I’ve read, not sure if it’s true or not) but you could get your last few hours in the oven and then be able to rest with hotter temps and wrapped in foil.

Make sure you have a beverage during the lazy q process as well...if you like to partake in beverages that helps with not worrying and letting it ride!

Keep on smokin!

[kona77]

 I have found cook times to be pretty consistent but also try to get the same size cuts of meat to help get consistent times.. I have always read on here (and other sites) that smaller cuts like just the brisket flat or smaller butts/shoulder may end up taking longer/per pound to smoke.. My butts/shoulders are always in the 7-9lb range and they end up taking 12-14 hours.. Baby-back ribs are always done in 4.5 to 5.5 hours, turkey breasts take 30 minutes per lb. etc..  Have had challenges with consistent times on full packer/briskets and I just posted about smoking at higher temps to maybe address that topic.