---
title: 'Brisket 101: A Beginner''s Step-by-Step Guide to Learn How to Smoke a Brisket Right in Your Backyard!'
source: 'https://youtube.com/watch?v=kZGbphpXROs'
video_id: 'kZGbphpXROs'
date: 2026-06-28
duration_sec: 0
---

# Brisket 101: A Beginner's Step-by-Step Guide to Learn How to Smoke a Brisket Right in Your Backyard!

> Source: [Brisket 101: A Beginner's Step-by-Step Guide to Learn How to Smoke a Brisket Right in Your Backyard!](https://youtube.com/watch?v=kZGbphpXROs)

## Summary

This video is a comprehensive beginner's guide to smoking a brisket, covering everything from selecting the right cut to slicing and serving. Host Susie from Heygrillhey.com walks viewers through trimming, seasoning, smoking, and resting a brisket using simple, approachable techniques.

### Key Points

- **Video Overview** [0:04] — Covers picking a brisket, what it is, trimming, seasoning, smoking, and basics for first-timers.
- **Brisket Basics** [0:29] — Brisket is an American BBQ staple from the cow's pectoral muscle; a whole packer brisket weighs 11-18 lbs.
- **Selecting a Brisket** [0:53] — Choose choice or prime grade for higher fat content; look for bendiness (U shape) indicating a thinner fat layer between muscles.
- **Prepping for Trimming** [1:33] — Freeze brisket for 30 min before trimming to make fat easier to cut; use a sharp knife and gloves.
- **Simple Backyard Trim** [2:16] — Trim silver skin, fat half-moon, sides, ends of flat, and point overhangs; aim for 1/4-1/2 inch fat cap.
- **Using Trimmings** [3:56] — Save meaty trimmings for ground beef; save fat for beef tallow (e.g., for roasting potatoes).
- **Seasoning** [4:36] — Slather with yellow mustard as a binder, then season with coarse kosher salt and coarse black pepper (or use a beef rub).
- **Smoking Setup** [5:08] — Smoke at 225°F; fat side up on pellet grill for even heat; use oak and cherry pellets for flavor.
- **Resting and Holding** [6:29] — Rest at room temp for at least 1 hour; for longer holds, wrap in towel and place in cooler or off oven (preheated to 170°F, then off) for 4-8 hours.
- **Sample Cook Schedule** [8:49] — Trim/season at night (9:30-10:00 PM), smoke overnight, wrap in morning, finish early afternoon, rest until dinner.
- **Slicing Tips** [9:31] — Separate point and flat; slice point 90° turned, slice flat straight across; first end piece cubes for burnt ends.

### Conclusion

With simple trimming, seasoning, and smoking techniques, anyone can make a delicious backyard brisket. Practice and patience are key; don't give up if the first try isn't perfect.

## Transcript

- What's up?
It's Susie from Heygrillhey.com,
and today we are tackling Brisket 101.
Now, if you've never
cooked a brisket before,
at the end of this video,
you'll have everything you need
to successfully knock out
a brisket your first try.
We're gonna talk about picking
a brisket, what a brisket is,
how to trim it, how to
season it, how to smoke it,
and we're doing basics,
simplest way possible
so that you can achieve a
brisket without worrying about
all of the overwhelm and intimidation
that sometimes comes from cooking
a piece of meat like this.
Brisket is an American barbecue staple,
and it really gained
a lot of its notoriety
through this central Texas
style of cooking brisket,
which is what we're gonna imitate today.
A brisket comes from the
pectoral muscle of the cow.
A whole packer brisket like this,
which is what you're gonna wanna buy,
consists of two overlapping muscles.
Typically in the Cryovac
package like this,
they'll run anywhere
between 11 to 18 pounds.
When picking out a brisket from the store,
I like to pick either choice or prime.
Those higher fat content
briskets are gonna leave you
a better finished product.
Another thing I like to
look for in the store
when I'm picking it out
is how well does it bend?
If it can give me a little U shape,
I'm pretty happy with that brisket.
It'll come home with me.
There is a thick layer
of fat that runs between
these two muscles, and if it's too thick,
it's really not gonna be very bendy,
and that means they're
gonna have a lot of fat
inside the brisket itself.
It's not gonna render down
all the way sometimes,
and I think it can be a
little bit of a waste.
A thinner layer of fat in
between the two muscles
generally means more even
cooking, a better rendered brisket
and better final texture.
Once your brisket's home, you can hold it
in the refrigerator.
I actually like to pop
mine into the freezer
for about 30 minutes
before I start trimming.
Really, really cold fat,
and really, really cold
brisket will make the trimming
process so much easier.
To trim up your brisket, all you need
is a big cutting board, a sharp
knife, and a pair of gloves.
Honestly, though, I did not
have a big cutting board
the first time I ever trimmed a brisket,
I just trimmed it right on my countertop
and then sanitized after.
Let's get into trimming this brisket down.
Now I usually plan about 20 to 30 minutes
to trim a full brisket.
If it's your first time, it
might take you 45 plus minutes.
That's okay, you can rewind
and watch this section
as many times as you need to
to make sure you get it right,
but I'm gonna give it to you
as simple as I possibly can.
Now, there are a lot of videos
on just trimming a brisket.
Competition trims are insane.
Some backyard trims are
really over the top.
We're going for a super
simple backyard trim,
so you can easily do it your first time.
Using a filet knife, I just
take off any of the silver skin
or stringy fat across the
bottom side of the brisket.
I then move on to this
thick half moon shaped piece
of fat and trim it down.
I don't cut it all the way out.
I just trim it down so
that it creates a nice flat
even layer across the bottom of a brisket.
Next, I turn my attention to the sides.
A long straight cut up either
side will take off any excess
fat or anything left over from processing.
Then I focus on the ends of my flat.
The flat is the thinnest
part towards the end
of your brisket.
You can see it's pretty uneven,
so I like to round the edges
and trim it off so it has a
more even thickness throughout.
These thin edges are just gonna
burn up if you leave them on
the brisket anyway, so it's
better to trim them off
before you even start smoking.
Next I turn my attention to the point,
which is the thicker piece
of the brisket on this end.
This is where the two
muscles overlap the most.
Similar to the flat, I take off any pieces
that are overhanging, hanging loose,
and give it a nice round final appearance.
Once my underside is done,
I flip my brisket over
and turn my attention to the top.
Now the goal here is to
simply get this brisket down
to about a half inch layer
of fat across the top evenly.
There are some places where it's less
and some places where
it's much, much thicker.
I like to take the thicker
pieces down to, like I said,
quarter to a half an inch,
and then leave the rest alone.
If you have any large
overhanging pieces of the point,
I also trim those down at this time.
Now, you might be worried about what to do
with all of those trimmings.
I separate mine into two
piles, the brisket trimmings
where there's a good amount
of meat still on the trimming
and the fat pile where it's mostly just
that thick white fat.
I save the meaty trimmings
in a freezer bag,
pop 'em in the freezer, build
'em up until I have enough,
and then once I have
enough, I chop or grind it
to make my own ground beef.
It's great in bolognese, it's
great for brisket burgers.
It's absolutely delicious.
You paid for it, don't waste it.
Now with the fat, I
make my own beef tallow.
I like to use this as a cooking fat
to roast potatoes, a bunch of other food.
I use it on my griddle all of the time.
I have a full video for
making beef tallow at home
if that's something you
want to tackle as well.
Once your brisket is trimmed,
it is time to season.
I like to slather mine with yellow mustard
before hitting it with
my beef rub seasoning.
But you can use equal
parts of coarse kosher salt
and coarse black pepper.
Salt and pepper is really all you need
to season the brisket.
The mustard acts as a binder.
It also helps create some of
that texture on the outside
for the smoke particles to
cling to while it's cooking.
I think it gives you a
really nice, dark, beautiful,
crunchy bark, but you don't
actually taste the mustard
flavor at all.
If you are vehemently opposed to mustard,
you can skip this entirely
and just go straight to seasoning.
Now that the brisket is
trimmed, slathered and seasoned,
it's time to hit the smoker.
I like to run my briskets
at 225 degrees Fahrenheit.
Pop my brisket on there.
I'm cooking this on a pellet grill.
I think it's a great
beginner smoker to use
for your first time cooking a brisket.
And because the heat from my pellet smoker
comes from the bottom, I'm gonna
put this guy on fat side up
to start, and then I'll
show you in the next step
I'm gonna flip it fat side down to finish.
I think it gives me a nice
even cook all the way through.
My favorite woods to use
when smoking a brisket
are a combination of
oak and cherry pellets,
but you can use your
favorite wood at home.
It's gonna be smoking
for such a long time,
and it's such a low
temperature, you will be able
to actually taste the flavor
in the pellets themselves.
So choose a wood that compliments beef.
Like I said, oak and cherry are my picks.
Now, when you're a beginner,
I know it's tempting
to want an exact time and
temperature for a brisket cook.
I'm gonna give you my best estimation
and then I'm gonna tell
you, add on two hours
just to be safe.
I usually plan about 90 minutes per pound,
and that's trimmed weight.
So if you trim your brisket
from 15 pounds down to about 12,
you plan 90 minutes per pound.
Your total cook time is gonna
come in around 18 hours.
Now, your brisket might or
could possibly or will likely
be done before that, but that is okay
because we're gonna
build in some rest time
at the end of our cook.
So the seasoned brisket is
going on the smoker, 225,
close the lid, let it go for
at least six to eight hours
before you crack open the
lid and take a peek at it.
We want our bark at this
point to be dark and crispy
and crunchy, starting to develop
a lot of beautiful color,
and we want our temperature
anywhere in the range
of about 160 to 175.
Once we've hit that target
with our temperature
and the outside of our brisket
is starting to look the way
that we want it to, I like
to wrap it in butcher paper.
Butcher paper is untreated
paper that's perfect
for finishing out this brisket.
It holds in some of the moisture,
but still lets that bark
develop on the outside
without softening.
I've also used unwaxed parchment paper,
so not the waxed parchment
paper or wax paper.
That would be terrible,
but unwaxed parchment paper
has helped me out in a pinch
when I didn't have butcher paper on hand.
Our wrapped brisket is
going back on the smoker
until it is done.
Now, the range for finished
here can happen anywhere
between 195 and 205 degrees fahrenheit.
There's not one perfect
temperature for a finished brisket.
What you're really looking for
is for your thermometer probe
to slide in and out of that
brisket like it's sliding in
and out of softened butter.
Also, squish your brisket a
little bit, see how it feels.
If it bends and gives
beautifully beneath your hands,
your brisket's gonna be nice and tender.
At this point, it's time
to pull your brisket
off the smoker.
I like to pull it off and let
it rest at room temperature
for at least an hour before serving.
This is where planning ahead
and giving yourself a few extra hours
of cook time is really valuable
because if your brisket cook runs long,
you've given yourself a grace period.
If your brisket comes in on time
or even a little bit short,
you can extend the resting
period for many, many hours.
It's really forgiving here at the end.
If you do have to rest
for more than an hour,
what I recommend is wrapping
your brisket in a towel.
Don't use your favorite,
you know, bathroom towel.
It will smell like brisket
for the rest of its life.
Pick up brisket towel, that
is now your barbecue towel.
Wrap it up in the towel,
pop it into a cooler
or into an oven that has
been heated to about 170
and then turned off and
let your brisket hold.
It can hold this way for anywhere
between four and six hours.
I've even held them up to eight hours
if it's been a really long rest time.
I actually think the longer
the rest, the better.
Three to four hours is my
sweet spot for resting brisket.
So just a quick general
guide of how we cook briskets
is I will trim, slather and
season at night, about 9:30,
10 o'clock, get it onto the
smoker before I go to bed.
I do have alarms on my smoker
to monitor the temperature
in case the temperature
shoots up or down, it will wake me up.
When I get up first thing in the morning,
I get a good like, seven
to eight hours of sleep
and I check my brisket.
Typically at this time,
it's ready to wrap.
So first thing in the morning,
I'm wrapping my brisket.
After I wrap my brisket in
the morning, I close the lid,
keep an eye on the temperature.
It's usually finished somewhere
in the early afternoon,
and at that point, I can let
it rest for quite a long time
until we're ready to eat dinner.
Okay, our brisket has rested.
That means it is time to unveil and slice.
I'm gonna give you a couple of quick tips
for slicing your brisket
because with all the time
that you put in to smoke it
and get it ready, you wanna
slice it just right at the end.
My gosh, look at that.
That is a juicy brisket.
I'm gonna save these juices.
I'm actually gonna drizzle
them on after I'm done slicing.
You can see how much this
brisket shrinks down.
It is what it is, it's
part of the process.
All of that fat has rendered
down to a delicious,
gorgeous brisket.
So, because we have the point on this end,
the flat on this end,
and there are two overlapping
muscles with grains
that run two different directions.
We have to slice them in
two different directions.
So I'll typically take my knife
and slice into my brisket
right here just to separate
kind of those two main
chunks of my brisket.
Look at that inside,
no squeezing necessary.
That is a gorgeous, juicy looking brisket.
So my point gets sliced.
It gets turned 90 degrees
before it gets sliced into
about pencil thick slices,
and then my flat, I'll
just slice straight across.
Same with the first cut that I made.
This first piece on the end
right here is actually gonna be
what I cube up, and these
kind of become my burnt ends.
But also being the one
that smokes the brisket
means that you get this magical privilege
of taking the first bite,
and this is always the best
bite, these caramelized,
crispy edges of this point.
That's money, that's how
you know you figured it out.
This was a simple brisket.
We didn't overcomplicate anything.
Simple trim, simple seasoning,
simple smoking process,
couple of tips and tricks,
and you end up with a smoked brisket
that looks like this.
(upbeat music)
Dripping juice, bending over the knife.
So tender, but not totally falling apart.
That is a backyard
brisket worthy of having
all of your friends and family over.
Now, this was a beautiful brisket.
Not every brisket I've ever
cooked in my life has turned out
this nice, and I will say,
practice brings improvement.
So, hopefully your first
brisket turns out this lovely,
maybe your second won't,
maybe your first one won't.
What I don't want you
to do is give up, okay?
Sometimes good things take
practice and they take time.
Brisket is one of those things,
but I am fully confident that
you can master the skills.
If you wanna go even deeper
than just this quick brisket
101 tutorial, you can check
out the grillsquad.com.
I have a full 30 minute
brisket pitmaster class
that covers all of this and more.
So if you wanna go deeper into the world
of barbecue brisket, I've got you covered.
If you have any more
questions for me about brisket
or if you have any other ways
you cook brisket at home,
leave a comment in the
comment section below.
I do read all of them.
I want to be kind of your
backyard barbecue guru.
I wanna help you make
better barbecue at home,
give you the tips and tricks
and the confidence that you need
to make really great barbecue
for your friends and family.
So, leave a comment, I
would love to hear from you.
I'm gonna enjoy this brisket
with my friends and family.
Wow.
We'll see you guys next time.
That is beautiful.