How far ahead to season a brisket?

Thanks, folks. Looks like the consensus is longer is OK/better, so I’m going with that. I’ll season the brisket this evening (7-8 pm) and get it into the smoker about 5 am Saturday morning with a target done time (including a minimum 1-hour rest included) of 6 pm. My brisket cook times (@ 225F) usually run 11-12 hours, so I think I’ll be fine.

And, @Pacman, I completely agree with your thoughts regarding not messing up a brisket with the price of meat being what it is. This one is a 12-pounder from my favorite local craft butcher and I didn’t get much change from a 100-dollar bill. :oops:
A little too late on the reply.

I am guessing if your rub has salt, then a bit longer is better. When I dry brine, I use a salt free rub and apply the rug while waiting for the brisket to warm up a bit from the 'fridge. A little water spray along with the moisture of the brisket coming to temp will hold the rub to the meat.

Meathead at Amazing Ribs quotes someone saying the rub really does not penetrate while the salt does a bit and creates what I would think of as a seal.
 
Well, here’s the result.

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Applied yellow mustard and my SPOG+ rub about 7:00 pm last night. Put the brisket into the smoker at 225 F at 5:20 am today. Hit the stall (160 F) at about 11:30 am and wrapped the brisket in pink paper. It went back into the smoker at 250 F until 4:00 pm when it hit 203 IT. Pulled it from the smoker and put it in my insulated cooler bag with a large, folded towel on top. Sliced it at 6:00 pm after the 2-hour rest.

Great bark and smoke ring, and it was very tender and juicy. Just finished dinner and no one complained. The longer seasoning time didn’t make a noticeable difference over my usual 2-3 hour procedure as far as I could tell, though the bark may have been just a little better than usual.

Thanks for all the suggestions, folks.
 
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Not sure what you mean by stacking, but I like the idea of separating the point and flat!
Sorry for the late reply. My alerts do not tell me when I get a reply. Yes, I separate and stack them so they appear to be one big piece of meat. Thin to thick to make it level. I find that it helps keep the flat from drying out.
 
Thanks, I will have to try that! My points always seem to be dry!
 

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