Prepping a 20 Pound Brisket for Christmas Dinner - advice needed please

[Daba's BBQ]

I'll be smoking a 20 pound brisket for Christmas Day dinner. I won't be back home on Christmas Eve until very late, but want to prep the brisket before leaving for the night.

Is it okay to season the brisket and leave it in the refrigerator overnight until place it on the smoker later that night or early the next morning?

Also, given the size, if I want to serve the brisket at 7 pm, when would I place it in the smoker, at what temp?

I've cooked several briskets before, but always in warmer temps. I live in NYC. And always without much pressure. The last thing I want to do is screw up Xmas dinner for 20 people. Hence, the reason for this particular post.

 

[patstock11]

I will be placing the brisket in the smoker the night before, around, 11 pm. I'll set it at 200 and check it on Xmas Day. I'll be bumping it up to 250, wrap when the IT hits around 170, and cook it for an additional few hours. I'll pull it, and place in my cooler (inside my house) until I serve it around 7 pm.

Thanks to everyone for your help and suggestions.

Merry Christmas!

good luck, post results !

 

[Parrothead1809]

I will be placing the brisket in the smoker the night before, around, 11 pm. I'll set it at 200 and check it on Xmas Day. I'll be bumping it up to 250, wrap when the IT hits around 170, and cook it for an additional few hours. I'll pull it, and place in my cooler (inside my house) until I serve it around 7 pm.

Thanks to everyone for your help and suggestions.

Merry Christmas!

Let us know how it turns out!
-Ph

 

[midwest]

Good advice on here. Check out this video, you will see it is about the same as what others have recommended.

 

[Timmy]

I’m doing one right now here is the thread.
Post in thread 'What's cooking today? Pics are necessary!'
https://www.traegerforum.com/threads/whats-cooking-today-pics-are-necessary.3207/post-41157

 

[CMTiger]

Have a 19.5 pounder in the fridge

 

[robertowoods]

I just did two 18 pound prime rib roasts in roasting pans.. Fat side up. Seared at 500 for 45 minutes. Opened the lid and cooled everything down to 225. I wanted a 6 hour slow cook, so I had to keep lowering the oven temps, winding up at 165. Finish probe temp was 125. My guests thought it was the best they ever had. Used Traeger rub only. Trick was to watch the probe temp closely, keep lowering the oven temp so as not to go over my final target of 125. You might have to open the lid from time time to avoid fast rising probe temps.I pulled them at 125 probe. A one hour rest in a low temp warming drawer or oven, Serving temp was 132. Perfect!

 

[Jimbo]

I will be placing the brisket in the smoker the night before, around, 11 pm. I'll set it at 200 and check it on Xmas Day. I'll be bumping it up to 250, wrap when the IT hits around 170, and cook it for an additional few hours. I'll pull it, and place in my cooler (inside my house) until I serve it around 7 pm.

Thanks to everyone for your help and suggestions.

Merry Christmas!

Sounds like a good plan. Merry Christmas and we’re looking forward to your after cook summary!

 

[patstock11]

speaking of briskets.... what's everybody paying for briskets these days? they are absolutely ridiculous everywhere i go....any butcher prime brisket is 9.99 a lb. here on long island...No sales lately, i was able to get a Costco choice brisket for $5 a lb. that's sitting in the freezer waiting for decent weather on one of my days off

 

[CMTiger]

speaking of briskets.... what's everybody paying for briskets these days? they are absolutely ridiculous everywhere i go....any butcher prime brisket is 9.99 a lb. here on long island...No sales lately, i was able to get a Costco choice brisket for $5 a lb. that's sitting in the freezer waiting for decent weather on one of my days off

I just bought a Costco prime for $4.49/pound. My local butcher shop was wanting $7.99 for choice

 

[Daba's BBQ]

The weather in NY on Xmas Eve/Day will be brutally cold. Overnight lows in the single digits. This forecast changed my overall game plan. I will be putting brisket on the smoker around midnight. Instead of setting at 200. I will need to crank it to 250 in order to maintain the Traeger at 200 for the overnight portion of the cook. When I wake up on Xmas morning, I'll check the IT and adjust the smoker accordingly. One thing that I will be doing is moving my smoker. I will place it between my house, my shed and (plastic) fence. I'm doing this in order to help block any wind. Given that I am not serving dinner until 7 pm, I don't think I'll have any problems with this revised plan.

 

[Daba's BBQ]

I just bought a Costco prime for $4.49/pound. My local butcher shop was wanting $7.99 for choice

21 pound USDA Prime at Wild Fork - $78.00 delivered ($3.71 per pound)

 

[CMTiger]

On

 

[Daba's BBQ]

Merry Christmas Everyone!

BRISKET UPDATE: I pre-heated the smoker at 11:33 pm last night and placed the brisket on the grill at midnight. I set it at 225 and the Traeger held the temp at 220 throughout the entire night. I checked the hopper around 6:45 am. And it was a good thing I did. I had about 2 cups of pellets left. I filled it up, and it is now going through Step 2 of my 4-Step process. I’ll be checking the IT around 12 noon.

Updates to follow.

 

[CMTiger]

I will have to send pictures later when we take it out and slice. I was going to take some before the wrap but it was cold.

I panicked and ended up throwing mine on at 9:30 last night since I was trying to leave at 3:00 with it. Well. It finished around noon.

It cooked at 200ish for over 10 hours . I wrapped and bumped up the temp and it was done after just a shade over 3 more hours. I was kinda surprised as I was thinking closer to 6. No issues with pellet consumption. I refilled around midnight and again before the wrap…..wasn’t pushing it close or anything at the wrap though. This picture is everything left of the 20 pound bag.

 

[Daba's BBQ]

I just took it off the smoker after wrapping and cooking for an additional 2 1/2 hours. Total cook time was 15 hours. I'll not let it rest in my cooler for about 3-4 hours.

Pics to follow a little later.