Author Topic: Two Briskets in the PBC  (Read 1167 times)

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Offline psousa781

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Two Briskets in the PBC
« Reply #-1 on: October 16, 2017, 12:11:01 PM »
DISCLAIMER: I apologize up front for the lack of pics :)

This past Saturday I helped host a barbecue at  my church.  My contribution was a pair of briskets, and also a 4+ lb coil of kielbasa.  Wanted to share some of my experience with the briskets as I've had trouble finding any info on smoking two at the same time.

For the cook I had picked up two 14.xx lb Choice Angus briskets from Restaurant Depot.  I was keeping them in a fridge at my church, and wanted to save time on Saturday since I wasn't sure how the cook time would be with two in the barrel, so I trimmed Friday night and wrapped them in plastic wrap to put back in the fridge til Saturday morning.  I was fairly aggressive in my trimming and I'd safely estimate I took off about 3 lbs from each.

Saturday morning I unwrapped them, covered them in dalmatian rub, then went and got the barrel started while they sat out at room temp.  Once the barrel was at temp I hung both briskets using the double hook method (Noah shows it on the PBC video).  One small thing to consider when hanging longer cuts of meat is how you angle the coal basket to ensure maximum clearance.  The handle of the basket can get in the way at times, so it's often good to have it run parallel with the rebar to give that extra bit of space.  There was about an inch of space above the coals for both briskets.  I set up my probes, closed the lid, and the wait began.

I was concerned that with two big briskets it would be hard to keep the temp up, but it stayed in the 270-280 range nicely up until the stall.  I did see a dramatic drop at that point, but it climbed back up nicely as the IT broke past 160.  I wrapped once the IT was 160+ all throughout the briskets - surprisingly this only took about 4 hours to get to.

Both briskets shrunk up pretty good, so I was pleasantly surprised to fit them both on the grate for the remainder of the cook.  Cooking temp maintained in the 270-280 range, and the thinner of the two briskets hit 200ish after about 2 more hours, and the thicker one after about 20 minutes more.  I kept both of them wrapped in towels and in a cooler for about 3 or so hours before slicing.

The taste was great, and texture was pretty good.  I'm my own worst critic though, and a number of guys said it was really good.  None was leftover so I guess that's the best feedback you can get.

Two things I would have done a bit differently:

1. I probably would have waited a bit more before wrapping to try and help the bark form some more.  I haven't had a great bark on my briskets yet, and I know wrapping doesn't help, so I think a little more patience on the hooks is needed.

2. I definitely should have taken them out of the cooler sooner.  I basically unwrapped them and started slicing, but they were too hot and tender so they were shredding on me.  I let the second one rest more after unwrapping and it sliced much better for me.

I think for my next brisket I'm going to do a single and try it on the grate the whole time.  The end of the flat does seem to dry out due to being close to the coals, and if I do two again I'll have to hang them, but for a single brisket using the grate may be the way to go.

Offline smokeasaurus

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Re: Two Briskets in the PBC
« on: October 16, 2017, 01:06:49 PM »
I have done packers solely on the grate. I flip the brisket every two hours since more surface is getting heat from below. If you leave the fat cap untrimmed, you will have too much grease dripping on the coals below and it could cool down your cooking temps. Trim that fat cap good and set the briskie fat cap down and you will be in good shape.
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