Help! Christmas Brisket

[gnarly-davidson1300]

I'm new to Traegering and have primarily used charcoal my entire life. Just picked up a Timberline 1300 a few weeks ago and did a few cooks on it (tri-tip, burgers, wings) so naturally I decided I would cook a brisket for Christmas dinner for the whole family (idiot).

I splurged a little and got a SRF packer. Its about 17.5# so I would imagine somewhere around 15# or so after trimming.

I PLAN on pulling the brisket around 3pm Christmas day and letting it rest until about 5-5:30.

Do I start the cook at 8pm Christmas eve at 200 SS and up the temp in the morning to 225?
OR
Do I start the cook around midnight at 225 SS and hope that by morning it will be ready for the crutch?

I feel like there are a million different articles and recipes on how long it should take and blah blah blah (Traeger recipes says 12 hours...)

I do plan on using butcher paper for the crutch.

I do plan on putting the fat cap down.

I also live in the PNW so its pretty frickin cold out (not sure how that affects a cook this long).

Any and all help would be greatly appreciated, I'm just trying not to have a melt down and/or ruin Christmas Dinner by not having it ready until 10pm Christmas night.

Thank you!!

 

[YYCRed]

Hi and welcome! I have done several cold-weather briskets, the most recently a couple weeks ago when it was about 15 below F. I try to have them ready for 5:00 - 6:00 PM. What I do is this (I expect others to have different approaches):
- put the brisket on around 11:00 PM at 200 degrees and go to bed.
- somewhere around 7:00 AM it will have hit the stall, but if it's earlier it doesn't matter. The only thing that will happen is your bark will get better. This is when I wrap it and turn the temp up to 225-250.
- Once the internal temp hits about 195, start checking with an instant-read probe. When it goes in like a hot knife into butter, it's done. I've had that anywhere between about 198 and 205.
- Wrap it in a towel and put it in a cooler for at least an hour, but you can leave it there for 4-5 hours no problem. It'll still be hot.
- Slice and serve!

The only thing that the cold weather has changed for me in cooking is a bit more pellet use. It takes a little more to maintain the heat. With the Timberline, you've got a fair amount of insulation from the double-wall construction, so you shouldn't have any issues.

Have fun!

 

[gnarly-davidson1300]

Hi and welcome! I have done several cold-weather briskets, the most recently a couple weeks ago when it was about 15 below F. I try to have them ready for 5:00 - 6:00 PM. What I do is this (I expect others to have different approaches):
- put the brisket on around 11:00 PM at 200 degrees and go to bed.
- somewhere around 7:00 AM it will have hit the stall, but if it's earlier it doesn't matter. The only thing that will happen is your bark will get better. This is when I wrap it and turn the temp up to 225-250.
- Once the internal temp hits about 195, start checking with an instant-read probe. When it goes in like a hot knife into butter, it's done. I've had that anywhere between about 198 and 205.
- Wrap it in a towel and put it in a cooler for at least an hour, but you can leave it there for 4-5 hours no problem. It'll still be hot.
- Slice and serve!

The only thing that the cold weather has changed for me in cooking is a bit more pellet use. It takes a little more to maintain the heat. With the Timberline, you've got a fair amount of insulation from the double-wall construction, so you shouldn't have any issues.

Have fun!

Thank you! This is probably the most logical advice I have got so far.

Did you have to add more pellets in the middle of the night?

 

[CMTiger]

Hi and welcome! I have done several cold-weather briskets, the most recently a couple weeks ago when it was about 15 below F. I try to have them ready for 5:00 - 6:00 PM. What I do is this (I expect others to have different approaches):
- put the brisket on around 11:00 PM at 200 degrees and go to bed.
- somewhere around 7:00 AM it will have hit the stall, but if it's earlier it doesn't matter. The only thing that will happen is your bark will get better. This is when I wrap it and turn the temp up to 225-250.
- Once the internal temp hits about 195, start checking with an instant-read probe. When it goes in like a hot knife into butter, it's done. I've had that anywhere between about 198 and 205.
- Wrap it in a towel and put it in a cooler for at least an hour, but you can leave it there for 4-5 hours no problem. It'll still be hot.
- Slice and serve!

The only thing that the cold weather has changed for me in cooking is a bit more pellet use. It takes a little more to maintain the heat. With the Timberline, you've got a fair amount of insulation from the double-wall construction, so you shouldn't have any issues.

Have fun!

Assume you’re talking about verified pit temp with an aftermarket probe??

 

[YYCRed]

Assume you’re talking about verified pit temp with an aftermarket probe??

Of course! And I should have stated that. I use my Fireboard religiously. I have never trusted the Traeger temperatures - probably because I found this forum before I received my grill. lol

 

[YYCRed]

Thank you! This is probably the most logical advice I have got so far.

Did you have to add more pellets in the middle of the night?

Nope. The hopper was full when I started and about 30% remaining when I finished the last cook.

 

[gnarly-davidson1300]

Of course! And I should have stated that. I use my Fireboard religiously. I have never trusted the Traeger temperatures - probably because I found this forum before I received my grill. lol

I do use a meater probe, I'm guessing I should use that for my internal pit temp instead of trusting what the Traeger says lol

 

[YYCRed]

I do use a meater probe, I'm guessing I should use that for my internal pit temp instead of trusting what the Traeger says lol

The Traeger probes are notorious for being off (sometimes up to 40 degrees), so if you have a decent third-party probe for the chamber as well as for the meat, you should always use those. It may take a little playing with the temperature setting to get the starting temp that you want (in my case 200), but once you get that the Traeger will keep pretty close to that for the duration.

 

[gnarly-davidson1300]

The Traeger probes are notorious for being off (sometimes up to 40 degrees), so if you have a decent third-party probe for the chamber as well as for the meat, you should always use those. It may take a little playing with the temperature setting to get the starting temp that you want (in my case 200), but once you get that the Traeger will keep pretty close to that for the duration.

okay copy that! Thank you for all the advice I'm feeling much more confident going into this.

I'm wondering about my meater probe now, its not the meater plus that they have now. I keep seeing that the range on the meater probe sucks for smokers. Any experience using a meater probe in your Traeger and how far the range is?

 

[CMTiger]

okay copy that! Thank you for all the advice I'm feeling much more confident going into this.

I'm wondering about my meater probe now, its not the meater plus that they have now. I keep seeing that the range on the meater probe sucks for smokers. Any experience using a meater probe in your Traeger and how far the range is?

I used to use the Meater+ with mine. I don’t think I quite got the range it advertised but it would work in the room or two into my home. So I could sit in my living room and monitor but bot really my office…..I think.

 

[gnarly-davidson1300]

I used to use the Meater+ with mine. I don’t think I quite got the range it advertised but it would work in the room or two into my home. So I could sit in my living room and monitor but bot really my office…..I think.

I think what I will do is compare the internal temp difference for an hour or two on the meater probe and the Traeger probe and just try to go off of that throughout the night.

 

[CMTiger]

I think what I will do is compare the internal temp difference for an hour or two on the meater probe and the Traeger probe and just try to go off of that throughout the night.

There’s a once frequent poster here (JamesB?) that swore the ambient probe with he Meater was off a good hit too because it was so close to the protein. Never seemed too bad for me though

 

[MidwestSmoker]

You may be a natural at this, but for me there was bit of a learning curve with briskets. For that reason I will suggest that you smoke a Costco choice brisket this weekend and save the SRF brisket for your second attempt on Christmas.

 

[YYCRed]

okay copy that! Thank you for all the advice I'm feeling much more confident going into this.

I'm wondering about my meater probe now, its not the meater plus that they have now. I keep seeing that the range on the meater probe sucks for smokers. Any experience using a meater probe in your Traeger and how far the range is?

No experience with Meater for me. Sorry.

 

[Timmy]

Hi and welcome! I have done several cold-weather briskets, the most recently a couple weeks ago when it was about 15 below F. I try to have them ready for 5:00 - 6:00 PM. What I do is this (I expect others to have different approaches):
- put the brisket on around 11:00 PM at 200 degrees and go to bed.
- somewhere around 7:00 AM it will have hit the stall, but if it's earlier it doesn't matter. The only thing that will happen is your bark will get better. This is when I wrap it and turn the temp up to 225-250.
- Once the internal temp hits about 195, start checking with an instant-read probe. When it goes in like a hot knife into butter, it's done. I've had that anywhere between about 198 and 205.
- Wrap it in a towel and put it in a cooler for at least an hour, but you can leave it there for 4-5 hours no problem. It'll still be hot.
- Slice and serve!

The only thing that the cold weather has changed for me in cooking is a bit more pellet use. It takes a little more to maintain the heat. With the Timberline, you've got a fair amount of insulation from the double-wall construction, so you shouldn't have any issues.

Have fun!

This^^^^^^^