How to Smoke Brisket in a Charcoal BBQ for Beginners

[00:00] do you want to learn how to smoke

[00:01] brisket then stick around because in

[00:02] this video i'm going to show you how to

[00:04] smoke brisket in a charcoal barbecue all

[00:06] right so we're going to be working with

[00:07] a full brisket today now this one weighs

[00:09] about six and a half kilos and we're

[00:11] going to get started by trimming it up

[00:12] all right so we'll start by flipping it

[00:14] over and we'll trim the underside first

[00:16] you've always got a big pocket of fat

[00:18] here so we'll work on taking that out

[00:20] [Music]

[00:22] all right so that's about as much as

[00:24] i'll take off there for now so we'll

[00:25] spin it around and now we want to work

[00:27] on taking some of this hard fat off the

[00:29] bottom

[00:33] you don't have to get all of it the thin

[00:34] layers will render down

[00:36] and because this end of the flat is very

[00:38] thin i'm just going to square it off

[00:40] through here

[00:44] all right now i'm pretty happy with how

[00:46] that underside's looking so we'll flip

[00:47] it over and get started on the top

[00:49] so you want to make your brisket a nice

[00:51] uniform shape so i'm just going to trim

[00:53] this top flap off

[00:56] the more evenly you trim your brisket

[00:58] the more even it's going to cook

[01:01] now i'm working on the point end here

[01:02] now there's so much intramuscular fat in

[01:04] there you can afford to trim a lot of

[01:06] this top fat off but on the flat side

[01:08] here it's a little bit leaner so you

[01:10] definitely want to try and leave a nice

[01:11] even fat coverage on there and you

[01:13] really want to try and trim your brisket

[01:15] in a way that no juices will pull up

[01:16] anywhere on it i know it's going to be

[01:18] hard to avoid sometimes but if you can

[01:20] definitely try and trim it that way and

[01:22] your brisket trimmings don't throw them

[01:24] away if you've got anything around 80

[01:26] lean meat and 20 fat keep it as it makes

[01:29] for the best burger patties if you've

[01:30] got a mincer and any hard fat i like to

[01:33] keep i'll put that in a pot later on

[01:34] render it down and make some beef tallow

[01:37] now this side of the brisket is a lot

[01:38] thinner than the other so i'm just going

[01:40] to run my knife down this side and just

[01:42] square it off a little bit

[01:44] [Music]

[01:47] all right now i'm happy with both sides

[01:48] of this brisket it's nice and uniform so

[01:51] let's season it up all right so

[01:52] seasoning your brisket now if you've got

[01:54] a favorite beef rub go ahead and use

[01:55] that or salt and pepper always does the

[01:57] trick some of the best briskets i've

[01:59] tasted is just a 50 50 mix of kosher

[02:02] salt and cracked black pepper which is

[02:04] the base for what we're going to be

[02:05] using today but we've topped it up with

[02:07] some steak shooter and garlic goals so

[02:09] that's what i've prepared here in this

[02:10] little shaker so we'll get it mixed up

[02:12] and season this brisket

[02:14] all right so we'll flip our brisket over

[02:16] and season the bottom side first

[02:19] i'll give it a light coat and mustard

[02:20] just to help bind our rubs

[02:23] and then you want to sprinkle from a

[02:24] height so you get a nice even coverage

[02:27] and give the bottom side of our brisket

[02:28] a nice generous coat

[02:32] don't forget the ends as well

[02:36] then we can flip it over and do the top

[02:43] all right so now our brisket is trimmed

[02:45] and seasoned we can get started on

[02:46] setting up our barbecue all right so

[02:48] we're going to be using the oklahoma

[02:49] joe's blackjack kettle so we'll get

[02:51] started by opening it up and taking our

[02:52] cooking grate out then you want to open

[02:54] up some briquettes now you can either

[02:56] rip the bag open or usually one side you

[02:59] can just untie

[03:00] the string a few times

[03:04] and then you should be able to just pull

[03:05] it

[03:06] and open it up like so and we're going

[03:08] to be using the snake method today so

[03:10] with your briquettes you want to just

[03:12] stack them up like so in a domino

[03:14] fashion

[03:22] all right so the bottom layer of our

[03:23] snake is done now if you were using

[03:25] larger briquettes you just run a single

[03:27] stack through the middle for our second

[03:29] layer but because these brick hats are a

[03:30] little bit smaller we're going to keep a

[03:32] double stack on top

[03:38] all right so our snake is pretty much

[03:39] done as you can see we've built it most

[03:41] of the way around our charcoal grate but

[03:43] we've just left a gap here and that's

[03:45] where our startup briquettes are going

[03:46] to go so in a charcoal chimney you want

[03:48] to get about 12 briquettes

[03:52] then we'll get a couple of fire lighters

[03:54] going

[03:56] we'll get our brick hats on top and

[03:57] we'll wait until they are nice red hot

[03:59] ashed over and ready to go so while your

[04:01] briquettes are coming along use that

[04:03] time to get some other things ready you

[04:04] need for this cook so we've got a foil

[04:06] tray ready we've got some smoking wood

[04:08] ready i'm going to be using a

[04:09] combination of pecan and cherry but if

[04:11] you've got another favorite smoking wood

[04:12] for beef go ahead and use that and we've

[04:14] also got our grill probe ready now this

[04:16] barbecue has a temperature gauge on the

[04:18] lid but as usual heat rises and you do

[04:21] normally get a slightly higher reading

[04:23] at lid level as opposed to grill level

[04:25] so that's all we need to do now until

[04:26] these briquettes are ready so we'll come

[04:28] back when they are ready all right so

[04:29] our brick hats are pretty much ready so

[04:31] i'm going to get this smoking wood on so

[04:32] we'll lay down a piece of our pecan

[04:35] piece of our cherry another piece of

[04:37] pecan and we'll save our other piece of

[04:39] cherry to put on at the start of our

[04:41] snake where our startup briquettes are

[04:42] going to go and that's what you want to

[04:43] see with your startup briquettes you

[04:45] want to see them nice ashed over and red

[04:47] hot so we'll dump those in at the start

[04:48] of our snake

[04:50] and then you just want to stack them up

[04:51] nicely at the start

[04:55] now you want to make sure they are all

[04:56] over the unlit stuff and then we can

[04:58] shut our lid and then we'll make sure

[04:59] our top and bottom vents are wide open

[05:02] so i get questions all the time about

[05:03] the snake method and if it produces

[05:05] dirty smoke throughout the cook due to

[05:07] all the unlit ricketts that you use for

[05:09] the snake now the answer to that

[05:10] question is no not when you set it up

[05:12] right because we're giving our barbecue

[05:14] five to ten minutes to preheat that's

[05:16] going to pre-heat our briquettes to a

[05:17] hot enough temperature that they will

[05:19] catch light from our red hot ones

[05:21] without producing dirty smoke it's the

[05:23] same concept as the minion method where

[05:24] you're using a bunch of unlit briquettes

[05:26] to fuel a really long slow burning fire

[05:29] for a long smoke like this as long as

[05:31] you use red hot briquettes to start your

[05:33] snake and you pre-heat your bbq

[05:35] everything around it will be preheated

[05:37] enough to catch light cleanly without

[05:39] producing dirty smoke so i hope that

[05:41] answers that question but if you do have

[05:43] any more questions don't hesitate to ask

[05:44] them in the comments below but for now

[05:46] we'll be back once this barbecue's had

[05:47] five to ten minutes to preheat right so

[05:49] as you can see nice clean burning smoke

[05:52] our bbq is nice and preheated so we'll

[05:54] open it up and as you can see our unlit

[05:56] brickets are already starting to catch

[05:57] light from our startup briquettes so

[05:59] we'll get our foil tray in we'll get our

[06:00] piece of cherry on at the start we'll

[06:02] get our cooking grate on we'll get our

[06:03] brisket on and you want to make sure

[06:05] that your brisket is never over the

[06:06] burning part of the snake so later in

[06:08] this cook once our snake starts burning

[06:10] around here we're just going to rotate

[06:12] our brisket around away from it and i've

[06:13] also positioned the thicker part of our

[06:15] brisket which is the point end closer to

[06:17] the snake which is just going to help it

[06:19] cook a little bit more evenly and then

[06:20] we can hook up our grill probe i'm just

[06:22] going to clip it in up the back here and

[06:23] then we can close our lid

[06:25] and let this brisket start smoking away

[06:27] all right now our brisket's on we're

[06:28] just going to get our barbecue to a nice

[06:30] smoking temperature for this cook i'm

[06:32] going to look to stabilize our barbecue

[06:33] off at around that 275 fahrenheit or 135

[06:36] celsius range and in this video we're

[06:38] going to be running through everything

[06:39] step by step so the next thing you'll

[06:41] see is how i like to stabilize my

[06:43] temperatures off so i'm going to leave

[06:44] our top and bottom vents wide open until

[06:47] we get back up to around the 225

[06:49] fahrenheit or 110 celsius at grill level

[06:52] so we'll come back once we've hit that

[06:53] stage

[06:56] so it's been about 15 minutes since we

[06:58] shut that bottom vent down to almost

[07:00] closed it's sitting just a crack open at

[07:02] the moment and again our top vent is

[07:04] sitting wide open now i've been keeping

[07:06] an eye on our temperature at grill level

[07:07] and it's been sitting really stable for

[07:09] the last five minutes so now's the time

[07:11] you want to make any further adjustments

[07:12] if you need to increase temperature open

[07:14] that bottom vent up slightly if you need

[07:16] to decrease it then shut it down a

[07:18] little bit now i will always try to

[07:20] stabilize off a little bit lower than

[07:21] where i want to be at as it's much

[07:23] easier to increase temperature than to

[07:25] decrease your temperature it can be

[07:27] quite challenging bringing your

[07:28] temperatures back down if they have

[07:29] gotten away from you and for whatever

[07:31] reason if your temperatures have gotten

[07:32] away from you and you've closed that

[07:34] bottom vent down to pretty much shut

[07:35] don't be afraid to pour a little bit of

[07:37] water in that drip tray below your

[07:38] brisket that's going to absorb a lot of

[07:40] heat and really help to stabilize your

[07:42] temperatures off so for the first couple

[07:44] of hours of this cook this is where you

[07:45] really want to just keep an eye on your

[07:46] temperatures and find that sweet spot

[07:48] with your vent set up and that's going

[07:49] to really vary depending on what type of

[07:51] barbecue you're using how hot it is

[07:53] outside how windy it is what type of

[07:55] briquettes you're using and much more

[07:57] it's all about finding and understanding

[07:59] what works for you making any

[08:01] adjustments needed and building off that

[08:03] so we're going to continue to let our

[08:04] brisket smoke away and we'll keep

[08:06] checking in throughout this cook all

[08:07] right so it's been a couple of hours

[08:08] since we last checked in so we're gonna

[08:10] have a look at our brisket and as you

[08:11] can see where our snake's burning it's

[08:13] getting close to being underneath that

[08:14] brisket so we're just gonna rotate our

[08:16] cooking grate around

[08:18] and now that's given us some good

[08:19] distance between the burning part of the

[08:21] steak and our brisket and while we're

[08:23] here i'm just gonna spritz our brisket

[08:24] with some water

[08:26] that's just really going to help with

[08:27] some moisture retention and bark

[08:29] formation

[08:30] and you don't want to leave your lid

[08:31] open for too long so we'll close it back

[08:33] up and let it keep smoking away all

[08:34] right so our brisket's looking great

[08:36] that barks coming along nice and our

[08:38] temperatures have been holding

[08:39] beautifully so all we're going to do now

[08:41] is let this brisket go for about another

[08:42] hour that's going to take us to around

[08:44] the four hour mark into this cook so the

[08:46] next time we check our brisket we're

[08:47] going to be checking the internal

[08:48] temperature and we'll potentially wrap

[08:50] it or boat it as well so we'll be back

[08:52] once we've hit that stage all right so

[08:54] we've just ticked over the four hour

[08:55] mark into this cook so let's have a good

[08:57] look at this brisket right so our

[08:58] temperature's still holding nicely so

[09:00] just be mindful whenever you've got your

[09:01] lid open you are letting lots of oxygen

[09:03] in so you might see a spike in

[09:05] temperature when you do close your lid

[09:06] again but for now let's have a look at

[09:08] these internals

[09:10] so the two things i like to look for

[09:12] before i wrap or buy a brisket is being

[09:15] at an internal temperature of around 160

[09:17] fahrenheit or 71 degrees celsius

[09:21] we're a bit further behind in the point

[09:22] so when we boat this i'm going to

[09:24] position the point a bit closer to the

[09:26] fire so it catches up

[09:28] i'm happy with the bark you should be

[09:30] able to touch around and it shouldn't be

[09:32] coming off on your finger that's when

[09:34] you know your bark set and we're going

[09:35] to boat this one which is going to

[09:36] really help preserve that bark too so

[09:39] we'll get some alpha already and then

[09:40] we'll boat it up

[09:42] all right so get two layers of good

[09:43] quality foil ready carefully get this

[09:45] brisket out

[09:48] and while we're playing around with the

[09:49] brisket we'll close our lid again and

[09:51] now we just want to fold the foil up

[09:52] around the brisket

[09:58] and then i'm quickly going to get our

[09:59] foil tray out

[10:02] and i'm going to use those beautiful

[10:03] drippings to go back into our brisket so

[10:05] we'll pour them over

[10:08] get our tray back in

[10:11] get our cooking grate back on and then

[10:13] our brisket and like i said that point

[10:14] end is now closer towards where that

[10:16] fire is burning so that internal

[10:18] temperature is going to catch up to the

[10:20] flat side right so now our brisket's

[10:22] back in we just need to let that smoke

[10:23] away until we're ready to check for

[10:25] probe tenderness and i'm going to start

[10:27] doing that once we reach an internal

[10:28] temperature in both ends of around that

[10:30] 200 fahrenheit or 93 degrees celsius

[10:33] mark now it can be challenging to get

[10:35] both ends of your brisket to the same

[10:37] internal temperature that's why it's

[10:38] always important to rotate whatever end

[10:40] is behind closer towards the fire where

[10:42] it's going to be a little bit hotter now

[10:44] to get to that internal temperature

[10:45] where we're going to start checking for

[10:46] probe tenderness might take us two hours

[10:48] to get there it might take four it might

[10:50] even take six i don't like putting a

[10:52] time on these things that's why it's

[10:54] always better to get your brisket on

[10:55] earlier than what you think that way if

[10:57] it is done a little bit earlier you can

[10:59] always rest it up until you're ready to

[11:00] serve it we're just going to be patient

[11:02] if our brisket stalls we're just going

[11:04] to ride through it we're not going to

[11:05] panic we're not going to increase

[11:06] temperatures we're just going to simply

[11:08] let it go until it pushes through it so

[11:10] be patient with your brisket we'll keep

[11:12] checking back in throughout this cook so

[11:14] we'll come back soon all right so it's

[11:15] been about three hours since we last

[11:17] checked in so that means we're about

[11:18] seven hours total into this cook now our

[11:21] bbq has been holding beautifully around

[11:23] that temperature we want it to be at so

[11:24] let's have a look at this brisket all

[11:26] right so i haven't had to do too much

[11:28] all i've been doing is rotating the

[11:30] brisket away from the hottest part of

[11:32] the snake

[11:33] i've faced the point in towards the fire

[11:36] so it can catch up a little bit

[11:38] about 180 internal in there

[11:41] in our flat we're about 185 so as you

[11:45] can see the two ends are starting to

[11:46] cook nice and even we've still got about

[11:48] two hours left on our snake i reckon so

[11:50] let's keep this lid closed and let this

[11:52] brisket keep going so in them three

[11:54] hours that passed since we boasted our

[11:56] brisket we did hit a stool for about an

[11:58] hour of that time we got stuck at about

[12:00] that 165 fahrenheit internal mark but

[12:03] like i mentioned earlier we were just

[12:04] patient and it eventually pushed through

[12:06] it so that brisket is looking absolutely

[12:08] fantastic i'm really happy with it all

[12:10] i'm going to do now is keep checking

[12:12] every 45 minutes to an hour i'll have a

[12:14] probe around i'll check my internals and

[12:16] if you wanted to put a probe in each end

[12:18] of the brisket by all means go ahead and

[12:20] do that but i'm happy with how that's

[12:21] coming along so we'll check back in soon

[12:23] all right it's been two hours since we

[12:25] last checked in so we're about nine

[12:26] hours in total into this cook

[12:29] i reckon this brisket will be pretty

[12:31] close to being ready so let's have

[12:32] another probe around a temperature check

[12:36] 196 in the thickest part of the point

[12:40] 199 start a probe quite nice do it a

[12:44] little bit to go

[12:45] 198

[12:47] it's quite soft there

[12:51] very soft there

[12:52] 201 we're almost at the end of our snake

[12:55] it's burning hottest a bit back here so

[12:57] i reckon it's got another hour's burn

[12:59] time i don't reckon our brisket will be

[13:01] far off maybe another half an hour to 45

[13:03] minutes so we'll check back in then all

[13:05] right it's been an hour and a half since

[13:06] we last checked in i did check it after

[13:08] about 45 minutes and it wasn't quite

[13:11] there

[13:12] but this is feeling

[13:15] nice and soft now

[13:18] up around the 203 sort of range

[13:23] it's just probing like butter and as you

[13:26] can see our snakes pretty much at the

[13:28] end so that's a pretty good 10 and a

[13:30] half hour burn time so i've just put

[13:31] some high heat gloves on and we are

[13:33] carefully

[13:35] going to lift this brisket out

[13:39] all right so when you get your brisket

[13:40] out i always like to just let it steam

[13:42] off for five minutes just to stop that

[13:43] cooking process so you don't overcook it

[13:45] and when it comes to resting you've got

[13:47] a few options based on when you want to

[13:48] serve your brisket if it's ready four or

[13:50] five hours in advance it's always a good

[13:52] idea to rest in an esky they hold the

[13:54] heat really well and they'll keep the

[13:56] brisket hot at a really good eating

[13:57] temperature until you're ready to serve

[13:59] it or you can hold a brisket in the oven

[14:01] at about that 70 degrees celsius or 160

[14:04] ish fahrenheit and i've done that for

[14:05] about 24 hours until i've been ready to

[14:07] serve it the next day but today i'm just

[14:09] going to let it rest at room temperature

[14:11] for an hour because i want to serve it

[14:12] in an hour and then i'll slice and serve

[14:14] it so we'll come back when we're ready

[14:15] to do that all right i'm just about

[14:17] ready to slice this brisket but i don't

[14:18] want to waste those juices in the foil

[14:20] so i'm going to put it in this container

[14:22] and then we'll get into slicing this

[14:23] brisket so i'll make a little lip in the

[14:26] foil

[14:27] i'll carefully pick it up

[14:33] put the lid on we can save that for a

[14:34] future cook or i'll slice it straight

[14:37] down the middle

[14:57] all right so that's the end piece of our

[14:58] flat as you can see

[15:00] juicy all the way through

[15:03] still pulls apart with these

[15:05] that is a great brisket all right so

[15:07] slicing the flat is pretty

[15:08] straightforward but as you get into the

[15:10] point

[15:11] we've got the flat muscle more on this

[15:12] side

[15:13] so what i like to do

[15:16] is on this side we've got that big point

[15:18] muscle

[15:19] is we can start taking

[15:21] slices

[15:23] off this way

[15:26] and that's where you start getting them

[15:28] beautiful

[15:29] fatty point slices from

[15:32] which are my personal favorite

[15:35] and once you've only got that little bit

[15:36] of point muscle left

[15:38] i like to just trim it off like so

[15:41] dice those pieces up

[15:44] and then turn it back to the way you

[15:45] were slicing the flat

[15:49] and continue slicing like so you get

[15:51] these beautiful little slices of flat

[15:53] but either these little cubes of point

[15:55] or the point and slices would have to be

[15:56] my favorite so let's have a taste all

[15:58] right time for a taste i'm gonna go for

[16:00] one of these little point cubes

[16:02] oh man that is incredible try a bit of

[16:05] this beautiful little flat

[16:07] so tender so juicy

[16:10] that is up there with one of the best

[16:12] briskets i've had such amazing bark

[16:15] incredible taste texture so juicy

[16:18] everything you want in a brisket and i

[16:19] can't recommend boating your brisket

[16:21] enough i absolutely love that method it

[16:23] would have to be my favorite out of

[16:25] wrapping in foil wrapping in butcher's

[16:27] paper or anything else i've had the best

[16:29] results every time i do it and as you

[16:31] can see this brisket turned out amazing

[16:34] well if you enjoyed the video everyone

[16:36] and you learned something from it be

[16:37] sure to subscribe to our channel so you

[16:38] don't miss any of our future videos but

[16:40] for now that's the end of this video so

[16:42] thanks for watching and we'll see you

[16:43] next time