---
title: 'EASY smoked brisket recipe to nail it your first time (2023)'
source: 'https://youtube.com/watch?v=aWvk3_SG068'
video_id: 'aWvk3_SG068'
date: 2026-06-28
duration_sec: 0
---

# EASY smoked brisket recipe to nail it your first time (2023)

> Source: [EASY smoked brisket recipe to nail it your first time (2023)](https://youtube.com/watch?v=aWvk3_SG068)

## Summary

This video provides a step-by-step guide to smoking a brisket for beginners, updated for 2023. It covers trimming, seasoning, smoking at two temperature phases, wrapping, resting, and slicing.

### Key Points

- **Trimming the brisket** [0:09] — Trim a 12–15 lb whole packer brisket: remove the mohawk, thin the fat cap to ¼ inch, cut off the thin tip of the flat, and remove seam fat between point and flat.
- **Rendering tallow** [4:46] — Mince or grind trimmed fat, boil with 8 cups water for 2 hours, then refrigerate until a hard fat disc forms. Use this tallow later for wrapping.
- **Applying the rub** [5:22] — Spritz brisket with water, apply a brisket rub (e.g., ¼ cup coarse pepper, ¼ cup kosher salt, 2 tbsp Lowry's). Let sit 30 min or dry brine overnight.
- **Smoking schedule** [8:16] — Total cook ~14 hours: first 4 hours at 225–250°F, then ramp to 275–300°F for remaining 8 hours. Use a water pan to block radiant heat and spritz every 30–60 min.
- **Wrapping the brisket** [13:24] — At ~10 hours (internal ~180°F), wrap in butcher paper with beef tallow or clarified butter. Return to smoker for ~2 more hours.
- **Finishing and testing doneness** [14:02] — Brisket is done when internal temp is 200–205°F, probe tender (buttery feel), and the brisket feels soft and jiggly when squeezed.
- **Resting and slicing** [15:17] — Rest on counter for at least 2 hours until internal temp drops to ~140°F. Slice against the grain, coat slices with tallow to prevent oxidation, and cube the point for burnt ends.

## Transcript

it's a step-by-step video on how to
smoke a brisket for beginners updated
with all of my best beginner brisket
tips for 2023 so let's get smoking okay
it's the night before you're going to
smoke your brisket let's call it Friday
night so pour yourself a beverage and
get ready for step one which is trimming
get yourself a 12 to 15 pound whole
Packer brisket of the best quality you
can afford prime or choice will do just
fine the more intramuscular fat the
better remove the brisket from the
cryovac bag by slicing the bag open any
way you'd like use a sharp knife I like
to slice into the bag and through the
very tip of the flat because we're going
to be removing that last few inches of
meat anyway to help the brisket cook
more evenly then I just pull the brisket
out of the cryovac bag I lay it on the
cutting board and I begin now you'll
notice that one side of the brisket has
a lot of fat on it that's what we call
the fat cap and it'll have a flap or
mohawk on the highest area of the
brisket we're going to slice that off on
an angle and keep slicing towards the
thinner end of the brisket so only a
quarter inch of fat remains at the
thinner end now starting from the
thinner end of the brisket we're going
to slice an inch or so strip along the
side of the brisket removing most of
that large fat deposit that you can see
facing the camera we can now clearly see
two muscle groups of the brisket which
are the point on the left hand side also
called the fatty side of the brisket it
sits on top of the flat which we see on
the right side of the brisket and
running underneath the point to the left
side it's also called The Lean side of
the brisket both muscles are separated
by this large seam fat which starts out
very thick on the side of the brisket
facing the camera and it kind of tapers
off and thins out towards the other side
we're going to try to carve down as much
of that thick seam fat as possible
otherwise our brisket slices from the
point side of the brisket that you see
facing you will have a huge chunk of fat
in the middle of them so now we slice
down the Mohawk even more on an angle to
remove more of that seam fat and give
the brisket its round shape now moving
on to the tip of the point I'm rounding
out any rough edges and slicing down the
fat to around a quarter inch thickness
then I'm cutting a strip off the other
side of the brisket so we can see the
meat underneath it moving on to the very
top of the fat cap this is where the
Precision work kind of comes into play
start by slicing it down layer by layer
until it's only about a quarter inch
thick now you may think it's weird to
carve off all of this fat that you paid
good money for but a thinner fat cap is
a good thing because it's going to
render down much more easily and create
a thin layer of caramelly gooey bacony
fat on each slice if that fat cap is too
thick it won't render and you'll get
kind of a thick layer of rubbery fat
that your guests may actually want to
peel off before eating the slice of
brisket we definitely don't want that
now as you're trimming the fat cap
you'll probably cut too deep in some
areas and scalp the brisket or expose
the meat under the fat cap there may
already be several scalps from the
butcher that you can't do anything about
and you may make some of your own but in
general we you want to minimize those
scalps because it provides an Avenue and
an area for moisture to pool on top of
the brisket and mess up the bark on that
spot it also results in slices that
don't have a continuous layer of
rendered fat that being said I've
trimmed hundreds of briskets and I still
scalp them all the time just go slow
make multiple long shallow slices using
as much of your knife as possible on
each stroke keep that knife sharp and
press into the fat as you slice to get
an idea of how thick it is in the
remaining areas if there's a thick layer
that still needs trimming the fat will
often be hard when you press into it and
if it's a perfect quarter inch thick
it'll often be soft and pliable because
the meat is right underneath it and
often if the fat is super thin you'll be
able to actually see a reddish tinge
through the fat so that you know it's
pretty thin in that area and you want to
stop cutting now moving on to the tip of
the flat muscle of the brisket we want
to slice a few inches off in a crescent
moon shape this will shave off the
thinnest part of the flat so the brisket
Cooks more evenly and it will also
prevent the fly flat from curling up and
creating an area for moisture to pool
and mess up your bark next flip the
brisket over and you'll see the other
side of the seam fat separating the
point and the flat muscles slice that
seam fat down as much as possible until
it's kind of flush with the meat but
don't gouge into it too much now trim
off any brown bits on the edges of the
brisket and move over to the bottom of
the flat where you see a layer of
transparent silver skin and fat remove
most of that layer being careful to trim
off the Silver skin while removing as
little meat as possible now you're done
trimming and you can Marvel at your
beautiful meat sculpture it really is a
work of art and you should be proud of
yourself now you'll notice that we've
trimmed off a lot of fat that again you
paid good money for do we just throw it
in the garbage no we're going to save
that and render it down into beef Tallow
so step two is to render down your
Tallow the best way I've found to
produce the cleanest tasting pure Tallow
is to mince up the fat as small as
possible or if you have a meat grinder
you can grind it in your meat grinder
then render it in a pot bought on the
stove with eight cups of water added
we're going to boil that for at least
two hours then we're going to pop it in
the fridge until a hard disk of fat
solidifies on top of the water will pop
that disc out and then melt it down and
put it in a jar now we have really pure
great tasting beef Tallow we're going to
use that later on in our brisket cook to
add more juiciness and flavor to our
brisket moving on to step three rubbing
your brisket I'm spritzing the bottom of
the brisket to help the rub stick and
then I'm using a shaker bottle to apply
the rub to the bottom of the brisket now
I'm coating all of the sides and finally
I'm flipping the brisket over giving it
another Spritz of water and applying the
rub to the top I'm using my own blend of
brisket rub for this video you can find
out where to buy it in the description
section below it has a unique blend of
pepper sumac different sizes of salt
granules and other ingredients to really
give your brisket a super dark and
amazing flavor but you can also use any
brisket rub that you have on hand you
can even make your own the one that I
like making at home the best is a
quarter cup of coarse ground pepper
quarter cup of kosher salt and two
tablespoons of Lowry's seasoned salt now
this brisket is going to sit out for at
least 30 minutes before it goes on the
smoker to soak up the rub but ideally
you would rub it the night before and
leave it in the fridge to dry brine
overnight that way you just have to wake
up in the morning and throw it on the
smoker guys before we smoke this brisket
I'd like to thank zbiotics for
sponsoring this video we all have busy
lives these days and can't afford to
waste a day stuck on the couch because
of a few drinks the night before
zebiotics is the answer we've all been
looking for zebiotics pre-alcohol
probiotic is the world's first
genetically engineered probiotic it was
invented by PhD scientists to tackle
rough mornings after drinking here's how
it works when you drink alcohol gets
converted into a toxic byproduct in the
gut it's this byproduct not dehydration
that's to blame for your rough next day
zibiotics produces an enzyme to break
this byproduct down it's designed to
work kind of like your liver but in your
gut where you need it the most just
remember to drink zbiotics before
drinking alcohol drink responsibly and
get a good night's sleep to feel your
best tomorrow personally whenever I take
a zebiotics I just feel more motivated
the next day and more ready to tackle
the day and that means I know I can have
a few drinks and still get everything I
need to get done the next day so order
zebiotics now for your summertime
barbecues weddings and vacations go to
zebiotics.com forward slash smoke Trails
BBQ or scan the QR code on the screen
right now to get 15 off your first order
when you use smoke Trails BBQ at
checkout you can also sign up for a
subscription using my code so you can
stay prepared no matter the time or
occasion zebiotics is also backed with a
100 money back guarantee so if you're
unsatisfied for any reason they'll
refund your money no questions asked
remember to head to zebiotics.com
forward slash smoke trailsbbq and use
the code smoketailsbbq at checkout for
15 off also if you want a chance to win
a free 12 pack of zebiotics you can sign
up in the description section below for
a chance to win the contest runs for the
next two weeks after the posting date of
this video and it's open to residents of
the US only so sign up today for your
chance to win thank you zebiotics for
sponsoring this video okay it's the next
day so it's time for step four smoking
your brisket so let's talk about time
and temperature this is just a quick
overview so you know what you're getting
into I'll cover this in more detail
later in the video but in general a
brisket cook will take around 12 hours
of active smoking time plus two hours
resting so 14 hours total for that first
four hours we're going to run a smoker
anywhere from 225 to 250 until the
brisket starts sweating out moisture and
it's better able to protect itself from
the high heat which will ramp up to in
the second phase of the brisket cook for
the next eight hours after that first
four hour mark we're going to ramp up
temperatures to between 275 to 300 again
the brisket is sweating out a lot of
moisture it's better able to protect
itself from drying out so we're ramping
up the temperatures and that increased
temperature is also going to help the
brisket cook faster power through the
stall and it's going to help the brisket
fat render on the top of the fat cap so
just so you know what you're getting
into it's a 14 hour cook that means
getting up at around 4 a.m in the
morning which is not ideal but I'd
highly recommend it if it's your first
brisket to experience this traditional
way of cooking brisket getting up in the
morning smoking the brisket all day
resting it slicing it and then serving
it fresh that same day that way you'll
get a really good idea of what the basic
method for cooking a brisket is and you
can get into more advanced methods like
hot holding or refrigerating and then
reheating your brisket or hot and fast
cooking on your next brisket cook I have
a lot of videos that I'll link in the
description section below if you want to
look into any more of those Advanced
topics but for your first brisket I
really recommend just doing it all on
the same day now we're still on step
four smoking so I'm putting my brisket
on the smoker and maintaining
temperatures at 250 for the next four
hours of the cook on an Offset Smoker
like this one here the thicker Point end
of the brisket should be facing the
Firebox because it's better able to
handle the heat and you should have a
large water pan next to the Firebox with
a few inches of gap between the water
pan and the Firebox opening this will
allow the indirect convective hot air up
and over the brisket as well as some hot
air underneath the brisket to cook it
more evenly and the water pan will blunt
the radiant heat from the Firebox that
tends to dry out and burn meat now in
the Firebox I have a small grate on the
left side with a steel pan full of water
directly over the fire this water pan is
going to absorb the radiant heat of the
fire it's going to help maintain a lower
temperature which is especially
important in small offsets that tend to
run hot and also as the water boils it's
going to add humidity to the Cook
chamber now if you're cooking on a
pellet grill you'll want to place the
brisket on the second upper rack with a
very large water pan below it again to
block that radiant heat and it's the
same concept on pretty much any other
kind of smoker whether it's a drum
smoker Weber Smoky Mountain kamado or
Center box smoker get that water pan
between the meat and the heat to prevent
your brisket from getting dry burnt and
overcooked now every 30 minutes to an
hour during the first four hours of the
cook I'm opening the smoker lid and I'm
spritzing any dry areas of the brisket
if the bark looks bone dry in certain
areas then Spritz it it shouldn't be
soaked but we want the meat to look
moist and tacky so that smoke clings to
it more easily anecdotally a lot of pit
Masters say that spritzing increases the
juiciness of the brisket I haven't found
any experiments or scientific articles
or any other empirical evidence
including my own experiments to
corroborate that but that's what a lot
of people say and it really can't hurt
the one thing we do know with a hundred
percent empirical certainty is that
spritzing the meat does help the smoke
attach and adhere to the surface better
so we get a darker bark and more smoke
flavor that is backed up by science and
EXP experiments from multiple different
sources also at this point I'm foiling
off the thinner edge of the flat as well
as the protruding part of the point to
help it from drying out this just helps
those edges from getting dry and it
helps the brisket cook more evenly to
some extent now at the four hour mark
your brisket should look something like
this if you're using an offset smoker or
charcoal or wood burning smoker possibly
less dark and more reddish in Coloring
if you're using a pellet grill and it
should be sweating out its own moisture
now this is a clear sign of evaporative
cooling so we now want to ramp up
temperatures otherwise the brisket will
just stall out and take forever to cook
a higher temperature is also necessary
to properly render the fat cap so I'm
bumping the temperatures up to between
275 to 300 for the remaining eight hours
of the cook now the next step is to
endure some sort of hardship that will
inevitably happen in the middle of your
cook in my case there's a thunderstorm
happening and my fire is about to die so
I'll have to load it all up but you just
got to keep going I hope brisket away
oh
hopefully you overcame your unexpected
hardship that inevitably happens and
threatens to ruin your brisket cook and
then it's time for step six which is
wrapping your brisket at around the 10
hour mark your brisket should look very
dark less moisture pooling on the
brisket and it will be probing at around
180 degrees internal so now I'm removing
the brisket from the smoker and I'm
placing it down on a sheet of butcher
paper I'm placing some chunks of beef
Tallow that we made earlier in this
video on the butcher paper and I'm also
adding some clarified butter also called
ghee you can also just use regular
butter or skip it entirely and use
Tallow it's really up to you the
important thing is there's liquid fat in
the wrap now I'm wrapping up the brisket
and then it's going back on the smoker
for the remaining two or so hours of the
cook step 7 finishing now it's time to
finish our brisket and this is probably
the hardest part a perfect brisket is
tender enough so that you can pull apart
the slices with a little bit of
resistance and they're nice and juicy if
it's overcooked the brisket will be
really dry and the slices will just kind
of crumble apart in your hands so to get
to that perfect doneness we need to
perform three tests on the brisket the
first test is the temperature test the
brisket should probe between 200 and 205
in Turtle usually 203 degrees is a good
internal temperature to shoot for second
the brisket should be probe tender that
means when you probe into it there's
very little resistance and it feels
buttery and tender the probe shouldn't
tug when you pull it out a trick to
better knowing when it's probe Tender Is
to start checking for probe tenderness
about an hour after wrapping and then
every 30 minutes after that an hour
after wrapping it'll probably still be
pretty tough and then you can probe into
it every 30 minutes after that and
eventually you'll feel when the muscle
fibers kind of give up and it gets
noticeably more tender that is probe
tenderness and the final test is to pick
up the brisket with cotton gloves under
nitrile gloves and poke your fingers up
into the underside of the brisket and
kind of squeeze the brisket together it
should feel very soft and flexible like
jello once it meets all those tests then
your brisket is done step 8 is resting
your brisket after your brisket is done
rest it on the counter for at least two
hours until it comes down in temperature
to around 140 degrees internal the
brisket absolutely needs this resting
time to redistribute moisture within the
brisket reabsorb moisture that's still
within the butcher paper and to finish
rendering the intramuscular collagen in
the brisket if you're still a long ways
from dinner let's say you're four or
five hours from dinner you can put it in
a cooler just make sure that when you do
put it in the cooler you've rested it on
the counter for at least an hour to
bring it down in temperature a little
bit maybe to 170 as high as 180 so that
the brisket isn't going to overcook from
carryover cooking because it could
continue to cook at 200 plus degrees for
quite a long time and overcook the
brisket step nine is slicing unwrap the
brisket and pour the juices and Tallow
on top of the brisket and All Over The
Cutting Board you can and should do this
in front of your family and guess
because it's very impressive now slice
the brisket in Half Stack the two halves
and and squeeze them together while
showing your family and guests you got
to have a little bit of Showmanship you
just spent a long time cooking this
brisket so it's worth it to show your
family all that work now coat the
exposed meat with the board Tallow so
the meat doesn't oxidize if any slices
are exposed directly to the air without
being coated in fat they are going to
oxidize and appear dry even though they
won't be actually dry there will be this
Sheen of what looks like dryness on them
that's the oxidization and people will
think that they look dry so make sure
you're constantly coating any slices or
exposed meat with fat either from the
board or the fat from your hands and
that's going to make your brisket look
and taste better and more juicy next
take the fatty Point side of the brisket
and slice off one side of it then Cube
up that Barky slice and leave the chunks
to the side those are your burnt ends
now continue to make quarter inch slices
until you reach the other side of the
brisket take the last Barky Edge slice
and Cube that into more burnt ends now
moving on to the thinner flat or lean
side of the brisket start by making
quarter inch slices all the way along
the brisket until you reach the very tip
of the brisket depending on how dry the
tip is you may decide to just serve that
up to your family but more often than
not it's better to just take the very
tip of the flat and just hide it away
use it for tacos or chili at a later
date it's always going to be drier than
the rest of the brisket you just can't
avoid that now after you've nailed this
beginner brisket recipe on your first
brisket check out my other videos which
have more advanced brisket methods my
favorite one is the 190 and hold brisket
method which involves taking your
brisket to around 190 degrees Fahrenheit
and then holding it for 18 hours in your
oven or another holding device it just
creates an amazing flavor experience
it's beefy it's juicy it's just amazing
I will see you in the next video guys
and until then happy smoking