Smoked Beef Brisket Recipe Pit Boss

So, you're ready to attempt a brisket in your Pit Boss Pellet Grill? Smoking a brisket is a marathon effort, and a lot can go wrong. The advantage of pellet grills is their ability to maintain a stable temperature over a long period. However, if you want to nail the perfect smoked brisket, the cook is only half the battle. Preparation is important and there are a few techniques to master if you want to serve the perfect smoked brisket.

The best way to smoke a brisket in a Pit Boss is to set the temperature to 250°F. Prior to cooking, dry brine the meat with kosher salt, apply a binder and the barbeque rub. Mop or spritz the brisket every 30 minutes for the first 4-5 hours until the internal meat temperature reaches 150°F. Once the bark has formed and the brisket has a nice color, wrap the meat in foil or butcher paper and continue cooking until the internal meat temperature hits 203°F. Allow the brisket to rest at least one hour before slicing, or hold it for up to 4 hours in a dry cooler wrapped in a towel.

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How To Smoke Brisket on a Pit Boss

Select a brisket with good marbling.
Trim the fat but leave 1/4 inch of fat on top.
Dry brine the brisket by sprinkling kosher salt on both sides of the meat and refrigerate for a few hours or overnight.
Inject the brisket with broth or marinade. * Optional
Slather the brisket with olive oil or yellow mustard. *Optional
Apply an even layer barbeque rub. If the rub contains salt, skip the dry brine step.
Fill the hopper of your Pit Boss with wood pellets. Make sure there are enough to last 10 plus hours. Use hickory, pecan or competition blend.
Set the temperature of your Pit Boss to 250°F
Place the brisket in the middle and remove the other racks.
Fill the water pan with water.
Insert the temperature probe into the brisket.
Spritz or mop the brisket every hour with either apple juice, broth, apple cider vinegar or beer.
Wrap the brisket in foil or butcher paper once the bark has formed, and the meat has reached an internal temperature between 150°F and 160°F.
Place the brisket back in the pellet grill and insert the probe back into the meat.
Continue cooking until the internal meat temperature reads 203°F.
Allow the meat to rest for about 1 hour before slicing, or hold the brisket wrapped in a towel and place it in a dry cooler.
Slice against the grain and serve.

Best Wood Pellets For Brisket

You don't need to be too picky about what type of wood pellets to use when smoking brisket. Cuts of meat such as turkey, fish, and chicken have sensitive flesh and can be overpowered by certain types of wood. That's not the case with brisket. Brisket is a hardy slab of meat, and can handle the strongest wood flavors, such as hickory or mesquite. The Pit Boss Competition Blend is a safe wood pellet to use on any meat. It's a mixture of maple, cherry, and hickory.

If you enjoy trying different wood pellets, do yourself a favor and try the Pit Boss Charcoal Wood Pellet. These pellets look like compressed charcoal mixed with wood. If you've smoked meat on a charcoal smoker, you would know that charcoal gives your barbeque a distinct flavor. The downside of pellet grills is the flavor comes from wood alone, and can be less smokey than other types of smokers. So Pit Boss produced a charcoal flavored wood pellet, so if you love the taste of charcoal, use these pellets or mix them in with regular pellets.

When you buy a bag of wood pellets, often there will be a lot of dust at the bottom of the bag. If this dust gets into your hopper, it can cause some problems. When filling up your pellet hopper in the Pit Boss, make sure you don't let too much dust fall through. The best way to avoid dust is to run the pellets through a sieve before filling the hopper.

Have you tried smoking a Wagyu brisket yet? You can get one delivered to your door from Snake River Farms.

How Long Will It Take? When Is It Done?

Whenever you're smoking brisket, clear the calendar for the day because you're in for a long one! The time it will take for you to smoke the brisket will depend on the size of the brisket, the temperature of your smoker, the weather and whether you wrap the brisket.

Unlike traditional roasting, low-and-slow cooking is about cooking to internal meat temperature rather than cooking to time. The magic number we're looking for with brisket is a 203°F internal meat temperature, and we'll be leaving the brisket in our Pit Boss until it reaches the target temperature.

A huge packer brisket could take well over 10 hours, but a small brisket flat might only take five or six hours. The great thing about pellet grills is they are set-and-forget, which makes smoking a brisket much easier.

Overnight Smokes

Many people do overnight smokes with their pellet grills, and you can attempt this as well. However, there are risks associated with leaving a pellet grill unattended.

Within the first six months of me owning my Pit Boss, I had a back burn in the pellet hopper, which completely smoked out my alfresco. Another risk is if you haven't opened the chimney stack enough, gases can build up and cause an explosion.

If you are going to attempt an overnight smoke, make sure you know your pellet grill very well and have smoked a lot of meat. Also, make sure you have sifted your wood pellets before putting it into the hopper. If too much dust gets caught in your hopper, it can cause problems.

Although I love the ease of set-and-forget pellet grills, I always like to keep a close eye on it. I like to see my grill and glance at it every so often just to make sure everything is okay.

Select and Trim

One of the most important steps in smoking the perfect brisket begins in the butcher. If you choose the wrong brisket, you have lost the battle before it has even begun. Choose a brisket with good marbling, because this will make a world of difference to the final product.

Marbling is the fatty lines in the meat. When the brisket is cooking, those fatty lines will melt and blend in with the meat, making it moist and juicy. The reason Wagyu beef is so expensive is that it has the highest level of marbling. They say you should always buy the best meat that you can afford. If all you can buy is the cheaper grades of beef, then try to find a brisket with the most marbling. If you're only smoking a brisket flat, choose a flat with fat on the bottom and the top. Flats can dry out easily, so it's important to select a thick flat with fat on the bottom and the top.

When trimming the brisket, you need to take most of the fat off because smoke cannot penetrate through the fat layer. Also, remove the fat if you want to get a nice bark. Trim the fat back and leave 1/4 of an inch of fat on the top.

Some people like to place their brisket with the fat facing the heat, because this will shield the meat and prevent it from drying out. Depending on the model of Pit Boss, you can lay your brisket fat side down if the heat source is coming from below. As always, experiment with different techniques.

Slather and Rub

There are many barbecue rubs on the market, and if you want to know more, I've written a lengthy article on the Best Rubs For Brisket. I prefer to make homemade rub, it's easy to do and I can control the amount of salt and sugar. I've made a few salty briskets and learn from my mistakes. Ever since then, I'll make my own rub and leave out the salt. I prefer to salt meat separately when brining.

A standard beef rub contains salt, pepper, garlic powder, onion powder, cumin and paprika. If you have these ingredients, you can make a big batch of rub that will last awhile.

Binder

The other question you need to ask yourself is whether to apply a binder before the rub. You can skip this step if you wish, but I find the rub sticks better when you apply a binder first. The most common binder for brisket is either yellow mustard or olive oil. You won't be able to taste the binder, and its sole purpose is to make the rub stick. Read more about binders here.

Brine and Inject

If you want next level brisket, I recommend brining. This step doesn't have to be complicated. In fact, it's very simple. All you need to do is sprinkle kosher salt on the brisket on both sides and leave it in the refrigerator for several hours. Are usually brine the day before, and then the next day apply the binder and the rub.

By adding salt to the brisket it will enhance the flavors and will also help the brisket retain moisture during the long cook. One of the biggest mistakes people make when smoking the first brisket is drying it out, so brining will help you achieve a tender, juicy brisket more often than not.

Inject

Another optional step is to inject the brisket with broth or marinade. Injecting is a way to get some extra liquid and flavor inside the meat. Serious barbecue competitors inject their brisket for competitions. You may not be competing, but it's a good way to impress your dinner guests. You can inject your brisket with beer, bone broth, or a special competition marinade. If you want to know more about injecting brisket, check out this article I wrote a while back.

Have you tried injecting brisket? All you need is one of these Simple Meat Injectors.

Don't Trust The Pit Boss Thermometer

My Pit Boss thermometer is not very accurate, but I don't mind because I've always used my own thermometer. One of the first things I learned when starting out smoking meat was to buy a decent thermometer and not trust the factory thermometers. The inbuilt thermometers are wildly inaccurate, and my Pit Boss thermometer is sometimes 50°F different to my reliable thermometer. If you want to know more about thermometers, check out this article.

Mop and Spritz

Adding liquid to the brisket is a very important step, especially during the first phase of the cook. Adding liquid will slow down the cooking process. What we are trying to achieve with low-and-slow cooking is allowing the meat to break down the connective tissue. Wetting the meat will also help the rub stick to the fat and meat and form the crust.

You can either spritz or mop the brisket. By far the quickest and easiest method is to spritz with a spray bottle using apple juice, apple cider vinegar, beer or whatever. You can also try making a mop sauce which will help the brisket develop a nice color. For more on spritzing and mopping brisket, check out this article.

Wrapping – Paper or Foil?

Once the brisket has reached 150°F, start inspecting the bark and the color. If the bark is firm, and has a nice color, then it's time to wrap. Wrap the brisket in heavy duty aluminium foil, give it another spritz, then wrap it tightly. Place your probe into the side of the brisket and place it back in the smoker. The wrapped brisket will create a steaming effect inside the parcel, which will keep the meat moist and speed up the cooking. You can leave the brisket unwrapped, but it will take a few hours longer and it may taste a little drier than a wrapped brisket. However, a naked brisket will have a much firmer bark. Try smoking one brisket wrapped, and another day experiment with an unwrapped brisket and see the results for yourself.

You can also try wrapping your brisket in peach paper, or butcher paper. You will probably find the bark has a different texture when wrapped in paper. If you want to know more about this, check out my article, Foil or Paper?

Rest and Hold

Once the brisket has reached 203°F, and you have verified all areas of the roast, then it's time to remove the brisket from the smoker. Allow at least 30 minutes to an hour to rest the brisket. This will give them meat time to re-absorb its juices. Slicing immediately after removing the brisket from the pellet grill will cause lost meat juice and a dry brisket.

If you are not quite ready to serve, wrap the brisket in a towel keeping the foil intact, then place it in a dry cooler where it can sit for four hours, even longer. It will stay hot for 10 hours, however this can become a food safety issue.

Slice and Leftovers

When slicing brisket, it's important to slice against the grain. If you slice with the grain, the meat will be tough and chewy. Another important tip is to only slice what you need. If you slice the whole brisket, the leftovers will be dry because all the liquid will spill out. If you only slice what you need, you can then put the remaining brisket into the refrigerator and slice what you need in the coming days. More on preserving brisket leftovers, check out this article.

My Favorite Brisket Tools

Thanks for checking out this article. I hope you learned a few things. Here are some of my favorite tools I use when smoking brisket that may be useful to you. These are affiliate links, so if you decide to purchase any of these products, I'll earn a commission. But in all honesty, these are the tools I recommend to my family and friends who are just starting out.

Meat Injector: Injecting meat is a great way to take your barbecue to the next level and help you make competition-style brisket. An injector is the only way you will be able to get flavor and moisture into the middle of the meat. The Beast Injector is a stainless steel injector that is sturdy and affordable. Check the latest price on Amazon here.

Brisket Marinade: The best injection solution on the market is the Butcher BBQ Brisket Injection. This marinade is used in competitions and is made by World Barbecue Champion pitmaster, Dave Bouska. You can find the marinade on Amazon here.

Butcher Paper: Wrapping brisket in butcher paper has become a huge trend in barbeque thanks to Aaron Franklin. Wrapping your brisket in paper will give you a nice brisket bark. However, you can't just use any old paper, it has to be unwaxed, food grade paper. You can find it on Amazon here.

Brisket Rub: These days I make my own rub when possible, but I always have a few pre-made rubs for when I'm running low. Barbecue guru Malcom Reed produces Killer Hogs, one of the best brisket rubs I've found over the years. Another great rub is Slap Yo Daddy, made by brisket master and multiple World Barbecue Champion, Harry Soo.

Meat Thermometer: There are dozens of fancy thermometers on the market, but I still use my trusty TP20. For around $50, I have a high-quality meat thermometer with two probes, and can track the temperature of my smoker with one probe, and my meat with the other probe. The ThermoPro TP20 is an Amazon Best Seller because it's the easiest thermometer to operate, is durable, highly accurate, and comes with pre-programmed meat settings.

Instant Read Thermometer: Arguably, the second most important tool you need is a fast and accurate instant-read thermometer. These tools play an important role in the latter stages of the cook when the meat needs regular checking in multiple areas. I use the ThermoPro TP19 because it can do everything a ThermaPen can do, but for a fraction of the cost. You can check out the TP19 on Amazon here.

Advanced Thermometer and Automatic Temperature Controller: Once you're ready to take things seriously, the FireBoard 2 Drive is a six-channel Bluetooth/Wi-Fi thermometer that can monitor up to 6 pieces of meat, control and graph your cook sessions on your smartphone, and attaches to an an automatic blower that will convert your charcoal smoker to a set-and-forget. This is one of the most advanced meat thermometers on the market. You can check it out on the FireBooard website here.

More Brisket Articles:

Can You Finish Brisket In The Oven? (The Secret To Overnight Cooks)

The Brisket Rub Guide: Recipes From The Experts (Plus The Top 5 Best Pre-Made Rubs To Buy)

How to Get Bark on a Brisket

Should I Brine a Brisket?

Basting Brisket While Smoking

How To Spritz Brisket – The 10 Best Liquids For Smoking Meat

How To Get Tender Smoked Brisket Every Time

Tough Chewy Brisket? Here's Why

Smoking Brisket The Day Before – Can You Serve The Next Day?

Dry Smoked Brisket? Here's Why

How To Smoke A Brisket Flat

Should I Smoke Brisket Fat Side Up or Down?

What's A Brisket Point? The Ultimate Flat vs Point Comparison

How Long Should I Rest Brisket?

Brisket Leftovers: The Best Way To Reheat Brisket

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