Everyone loves a good smoked beef brisket, so it’s no surprise that’s what my sister requested for her birthday dinner! I slow cooked this guy for 14 hours and it was insanely delicious!! There’s not much I would get up at 4am for, but this Mesquite Peppercorn Lager Smoked Brisket was definitely worth it. If you are ready to give this a try, then get those coals started!
Why You’ll Love Mesquite Peppercorn Lager Smoked Brisket
To be frank, cooking smoked brisket like this takes a long time. This one took a solid 14 hours to cook; HOWEVER, don’t let that scare you away! The process is really easy to follow, and the slow cook makes this cut of meat super juicy and delectable.
A good rule of thumb is it will take about 1 hour 15 minutes of cooking for every 1lb of brisket. So make sure to plan your cooking process based on the size of the brisket you’ve chosen.
I prepped our brisket the night before by trimming the fat and seasoning the brisket with my Mesquite Peppercorn Lager Rub. This mixture of peppercorn and mesquite smoke made a perfect rub for our brisket. Keeping your brisket cold, trim any excess fat from the outside. Make sure the fat cap side is about ¼ inch thick as anymore will be too much. Once completely trimmed, season thoroughly with my Mesquite Peppercorn Lager Rub or something similar. After we coat all sides of the brisket, place brisket in the fridge to rest for 4-12 hours.
Ingredients
The most important things you’ll need for this recipe are a whole brisket (between 11-12 lbs) and something to season it with. Again, I used my Mesquite Peppercorn Lager Rub, but if you don’t have that you can use a mixture of salt and pepper/peppercorns.
You’ll also need lager, white wine vinegar, and hot sauce to create a spritz to maintain the juiciness of your brisket and boost it’s flavor profile.
For other delicious brisket recipes, check out: Texas Smoked Brisket, Easy Smoked Brisket and Hot and Fast Smoked Brisket.
How to Cook Mesquite Smoked Brisket
While we woke up to the smell of a smoking brisket, the statement still applies. Start your day by preheating your smoker to 250 degrees Fahrenheit with some added mesquite wood chips or hickory wood chunks for extra smoke flavor. The wood choice is up to you!
Once your grill has reached temperature, place the brisket directly on the grill grate. You will leave it here to cook until it reaches an internal temperature of 165 degrees Fahrenheit.
Now, some will say that you need to place it fat side up. To be honest, this theory has been debunked multiple times so it really does not matter as long as you keep the heat and temperature consistent. What is more important is placing the brisket so that the point is facing the smoking box to help protect the flat from the harsh heat. So, I placed mine fat side down at first with the point facing the smoking box.
Once I had the brisket on the smoker, I went inside to make a spritzer. For this smoked brisket, I used a spritz made of lager, white wine vinegar and hot sauce. I mixed it all in a spray bottle and would lightly spray the brisket throughout the day while it was cooking.
How often you spray the brisket is a personal preference. It is more important to keep the brisket moist, but just know that over-spritzing will cause the cook to take longer. Try to do it once an hour if you like!
Wrapping Up this Mesquite Peppercorn Lager Smoked Brisket
As the brisket cooks, you should notice a small pool of liquid accumulating on top of the brisket. This happens because as the brisket cooks the fat inside it melts and gets slowly pushed to the outside. This causes the brisket to “sweat” which is what is the main reason behind the brisket “stall”.
The brisket stall happens just after the brisket reaches 145F until it reaches 175F. This is when the fat melting actually cools the brisket while it cooks and causes the meat to cook very, very slow. There are a couple of options to getting this to speed up:
- The Texas Crutch: You can pull your brisket once it reaches 165F and wrap it in aluminum foil. Add in some butter, beef broth or beer to the foil so that it keeps it tender. This will make for a very tender brisket, and cooks through the “stall” quickly.
- Push Through: You can choose to push through the stall with just spritzing and nothing else. This will make for the most authentic tasting brisket, but will take anywhere from 3-5 hours extra. This is not for the faint of heart.
- Butcher Paper: This is the option that I chose. I wrapped my brisket in peach butcher paper. This is the best of both worlds where it will increase the speed it cooks through the “stall” while still letting the brisket “breathe.” The butcher paper allows the smoke to come through so you get extra smoke flavor within a reasonable amount of time.
How to Wrap
I chose to use the butcher paper method for this cook, but feel free to try any of the others! To do the butcher paper method, grab some peach butcher paper and lay out two long strips. You will want to wrap it around the brisket about three times, so make sure it’s long enough! Overlap the two long sides of the paper to increase the width of the paper’s surface area.
Grab your brisket from the smoker and place it on the far end of the paper. Wrap the ends of the paper up and around the bottom on the brisket. Then flip the brisket, along with the paper, over and over again until it’s completely wrapped. Place the brisket back on the smoker and let it continue to cook at 250F until it reaches an internal temperature of 202-203F.
For a deep dive into all things brisket, check out our Smoked Brisket article and recipe! Here we dive into everything from which brisket to buy in the grocery store, how to trim it, cook it, rest it and serve it!
Share Smoked Brisket with Friends and Family
Once the brisket reaches temperature, pull it off to rest for 1 hour at room temperature. We like to place it on the counter or in an empty oven to rest as this will prevent the brisket from cooling too quickly.
If you need the brisket to stay warmer a bit longer (maybe you’re serving it in 3-4 hours after cooking), then after letting it rest at room temperature for an hour you can wrap it in a towel and place inside an empty cooker. It’ll keep it warm for the next couple hours, and prevent you from having to reheat it.
Now, let’s slice into this Mesquite Peppercorn Lager Smoked Brisket and get the party started! As always when slicing, make sure it’s against the grain. You’d hate to go to all this work only to lose its tenderness while crossing the finish line.
Slice the smoked brisket between the point and the flat for starters. You can slice the flat by going horizontally, but you will need to rotate the point 90 degrees before cutting. Once it is all sliced up, it’s time to serve and enjoy!
Store any leftovers in an airtight container, and make sure to tune in for some leftover brisket recipes! Some of my favorites include Smoked Brisket Queso, BBQ Brisket Nachos and Smoked Texas Twinkies.
You could also consider furthering this cook and make Brisket Burnt Ends or a Chopped Brisket Sandwich.
For more delicious recipes, check out my second cookbook Flavor X Fire or my first cookbook Food X Fire!
Needing more spice in your life? My spice line can help with that. Check them out here.
Mesquite Peppercorn Lager Smoked Brisket
Ingredients
Brisket Ingredients:
- 1 Whole Packer Brisket between 11-12 lbs
- 1 cup Mesquite Peppercorn Lager Rub
Lager Spritz Ingredients:
- 12 oz of Lager
- 2 tbsp White Wine Vinegar
- 2 tsp Hot Sauce
Instructions
- Keeping your brisket cold, trim the outside from any excess fat. Make sure the fat cap side is about ¼ inch thick as anymore will be too much. Once completely trimmed, season thoroughly with my Mesquite Peppercorn Lager Rub or something similar. Place your brisket into the fridge to rest for 4-12 hours.
- Preheat your smoker for 250F with some added wood chunks or chips for extra smoke flavor.
- Add the brisket on to the smoker fat side down. Mix together the ingredients for the spritz and spray the brisket every 1 hour until it reaches 165F (about 7-8 hours). Once it has hit 165, get ready to wrap in butcher paper.
- Lay out 2x 4ft long pieces of butcher paper that slightly overlap. Place your brisket at one end of the butcher paper. Pull the butcher paper over the brisket and tuck underneath. Fold the sides into the brisket and begin to roll the meat over the butcher paper until it is completely wrapped.
- Place the brisket back onto the smoker fat side up. Cook until the meat hits 202-203F internal (about 7-8 hours). Once it is done, pull the meat off and let rest at room temperature for 1 hour.
- When it is ready to slice, unwrap and discard butcher paper. Slice the brisket down the middle and separate the point from the flat. Slice the flat against the grain by going at the same angle as when you sliced it in half. Rotate the point 90 degrees and then slice in order to go against the grain. When you are done, serve and enjoy with smoked brisket!
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