Morning all!
I apologize as I am positive this has been answered somewhere, and there are probably numerous instances...but I was not able to find these instances, so I will just post my question.
I am smoking my first brisket and first butts. I need them to be completed by my son's first birthday party at 11 am tomorrow.
I am smoking on the YS640 @ 225 degrees
Brisket is 13 pounds after trimming
2 Butts are 9 pounds after trimming.
My plan is to start smoking the brisket at 6:00 pm tonight (17 hours until party) and to start the buts an hour later.
Is this the right way to do it? Everything I am reading tells me it can be anywhere from 1-1.5 hours per pound. Well, with a 13 pound brisket, that's a 7 hour variable!!!
Someone please advise.
Thank you
Some things to consider:
If you are cooking on the top shelf, there can be up to a 20 degree differential from the lower grate to the upper grate.
If you are using pans or trays, you need to increase the temperature up to 25 degrees to compensate.
Some questions:
Are you planning on wrapping the meat?
Have you planned time for the meat to rest after cooking?
Are you going to FTC (foil-towel-cooler) after cooking?
Suggestions:
If you wrap, increase the temperature after wrapping to finish the meat quicker.
Cook the meat at a higher temperature, and FTC till needed. I have FTC'd for up to 6 hours.
Put all the meat on at the same time and pull and FTC when each has finished cooking.
Thank you for replying!
I was not planning on wrapping the meat. I was going to have them naked on the smoker the whole time.
As for resting the meat, this is part of my issue. I don't really know if I've allowed time. If it takes 20 hours, then no. If it takes 13, then absolutely.
I was going to FTC. Yes...assuming again that there is time.
So I guess back to my original question, if I allow 17 hours for unwrapped meat (pork up high on top shelf, brisket below) and cook it at 225, will the meat be done in your best opinion? What if I kick it to 250?
Thank you
I don't want to tell you your OK, go for it, as every hunk of meat cooks differently. My suggestion would be to go with your plan, but be flexible. Plan on a minimum of 1 hour for FTC, longer is better. If things don't look like they are progressing as you would like, you can always wrap, and kick up the temp, or kick up the temp at any point, but, remember that the cooker's display is the physical grate temp, not the air temp in the cooking chamber, so the meat on the lower rack can cook faster on the bottom side of the meat.
It is almost impossible to give you a cooking time for a given temperature, as every hunk of meat cooks differently. You need to cook to the proper tenderness of the meat, and the only way to know when the meat is tender is to probe it. I have had butts take over 20 hours to reach tenderness without wrapping. Remember, the upper shelf can be up to 20 degrees cooker, which means that you could be potentially cooking the butts at 205 degrees.
Yeah...that's what everything I've read has said too...I was just trying to see if 17 hours was a reasonable time...
Sigh...
17 hours is a workable timeframe, if you are flexible to make the necessary changes, if necessary. There are too many variables involved to give you a singular answer. I always have to make decisions and changes when cooking, especially if there is a target time for serving. This is why you are the cook, you are actively participating in the process. Otherwise it would be called watching, instead of cooking, and you would be a watcher instead of a cook.
The absolute last thing anyone wants is to give you a definitive answer, and have it be wrong and ruin the party. The bottom line, there are no definitive answers, too many variables involved for specifics. Cooking is full of generalities, that's just the nature of the process.
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