Are you able to post / link to the recipe that you used for these? I have just ordered a ProQ Excel and I definitely want to try making these this weekend!
It was an amalgamation of various things I've read online but I'll try to summarise for you
First off, making the rub:
2 tablespoons paprika
1 heaped teaspoon garlic powder
1 tablespoon brown sugar
1 tablespoon salt
1/2 teaspoon cumin
1/2 teaspoon ginger
1/2 teaspoon of chilli powder (optional)
1 teaspoon rosemary
Combine all that together and apply to the outside of your brisket (you want your brisket flat so be sure to unroll it if it comes rolled). Cover with clingfilm and leave in the fridge for a couple of hours or overnight if you like.
Get your proQ lit using the
minion method with a good mixture of wood chunks both on the lit coals and in the ring of unlit coals (you want the wood to light fairly quickly as after about 3-4 hours any further smoke will do very little for your meat).
Be sure to fill the water tray fairly high with hot or boiling water. You need this filled up with extremely hot water at all times throughout the cooking process.
Take the brisket out of the fridge, unwrap and stick it on the BBQ. Contrary to other kinds of cooking it is not desirable to take the meat out in advance to bring it up to room temperature. Smoke imparts it's flavours on meat better the colder and damper the meat is, so immediately out of the fridge is best to make the most of your early smoking.
Keep the lid on at all times with the vents fully open to start with. With the hot water your temperature should hold steady at ~100C (give or take). If you start to climb much above 100C you should immediately check your water as it may have all evaporated. If the water is fine and your temp is still rising you'll need to close the vents a little. I usually close them about half way and see how that affects temp over the next 10 minutes. If your temperature starts to drop the first thing to do is to check that all the vents are open fully. If they are you should then check your water - is it hot? It should be scalding hot. If not, swap it out for some freshly boiled stuff. If the water is okay then you probably need to light some more coals and stick them on the BBQ. Light them in a chimney and then use the front panel and some tongs to add them. Using the minion method you shouldn't need to add coal for *at least* 6 hours.
Throughout the process you should have a temperature probe stuck into the thickest part of the brisket. Keep an eye on it and once the internal temperature hits 70C you will have reached the 'stall'. This will probably be a couple of hours in. This is the point where further smoking will add little to the meat and is also the most frustrating point as you will be waiting for a few hours for the temperature to increase (sometimes it even drops).
Once you hit the stall, take the brisket out and wrap it in tinfoil. Add it again and let the meat cook for a few hours more. Eventually you'll see the temperature start to climb again. Once this happens the meat will very quickly climb to reach 95C. At 95C remove the water pan and put the meat back in the BBQ with no foil for about 10 minutes. Your meat will probably cool down a bit again at this point so you'll probably need to give it 10 minutes or so on one side and then turn it over again. This last stage is just to crisp up the 'bark' on the outside of the brisket. It's not needed if you don't really care about that
You're looking at around 8 hours or possibly more, depending on the size of your brisket. The end result is amazing though.
edit: at some point I plan to experiment with injecting the meat too. Something to keep it a little moister.
