Thanks all for the feedback and grossie that is some awesome looking brisket!
Well, I'm glad that my hunch about using the rack was a good one. That's what I did yesterday for my first ever cook on the PBC and the brisket was more or less perfect. Any issues were really mine since I am not used to it quiet yet.
It came out with a perfect dark bark and all lovely and moist within. I used the briquettes of course and several chunks of pecan.
- I used a whole packer brisket, prime grade. Trimmed it and rubbed with with my usual rub heavy on salt and pepper with some garlic powder, onion powder and paprika among a few others.
- The brisket cooked in about 8 hours total, a shorter cook time than with the offset by about 2-3 hours. I wrapped it with some parchment (I had no butcher paper) after it pushed through the stall and had a very nice bark on it.
- The temp was pretty much in the 260 to 310 range the whole time. I did have to add more wood chunks and some more briquettes about halfway through since I did not start with a full coal basket (was experimenting with that a bit)
- I underestimated how fast the PBC heats up with the cover off and at one point when the temp dipped to 230 or so I removed the cover and with in five minutes it was a raging 450F! I quickly covered it and it stabilized. That was a newbie mistake with the PBC and should not happen again.
- At 202F the brisket was perfect, tender and soft.
Some pics below
This is about halfway through the cook, in the middle of the stall
Right before wrapping it with parchment, Franklin's BBQ style
Wrapped
After resting it for about two hours the temp in the center was around 160, perfect for slicing
A bunch of gratuitous brisket pictures, that last one might be my new avatar