Now that I have a smoker we can get down to the business of smoking some meat. For the first cook on my Pit Barrel Cooker it had to be brisket. After all brisket is the King of BBQ here in Texas. I had never cooked a brisket period so needless to say I was feeling less than optimistic.
Setting up the PBC for a cook is quick and easy. I set up the barrel on the included stand on the edge of my back porch. It comes with a fire basket that holds about 8 lbs of charcoal. I used Kingsford as recommended by the owner of Pit Barrel Cooker, Noah Glanville. The coals were ready to go in about 20 minutes.
I had prepped the brisket the night before and placed it in the fridge. It had a thin fat cap but pretty good marbling. I rubbed it with Texana Olive Oil and the Beef and Game Rub from Pit Barrel Cooker. I sat it out about 30 minutes before I started prepping the fire.
This brisket was a brisket flat not a full packer and was only 6.7 lbs. The cook time was a quick for brisket 4 hours. I let it rest for an hour and a half before slicing. My goal was to wrap it in foil at 165 degrees but I missed that mark and wrapped at 170. I took the wrapped brisket to 200 degrees before pulling it to rest.
I did use the PBC hangers to hang my brisket before wrapping it. I used the double hook method to make sure it didn’t fall into the fire. Since it was hanging I didn’t have to decide fat side up or down at the beginning.
This was my first ever attempt to smoke anything other than an ill advised Belair cigarette when I was about 7. I wasn’t expecting much with this first brisket. When sliced it had a nice smoke ring and it was pretty juicy. The tenderness wasn’t anything to brag about but it did fold over your finger. Whether or not everyone was just being nice or not I received decent compliments on my first effort.
Things I Learned
Pay more attention to the thermometer. I missed my first target at 165 to wrap the brisket in foil. When using wood chips instead of chunks make a foil pouch for them to slow down the burn. I probably shouldn’t have rubbed the brisket the night before I ended up with minimal bark. I should probably stick to full packers for now with both the Point and the Flat.
Brisket Cook Stats
- 6.71 lb Angus Brisket
- 4 Handfuls of Oak Chips
- Pit Barrel Cooker Beef and Game Rub
- Texas Olive Oil
- On the Pit at 7:15 AM
- Reached 170 degrees at 9:05 am
- Reached 200 degrees at 11:15 am
- Brisket rested one and a half hours in the cooler
- Served with Sweet Baby Rays Brown Sugar BBQ Sauce
- Boiled New potatoes
- BBQ Bread
- Mac and Cheese
Yep, I am hooked!
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