Brisket calculator

Put in the packer, the grate temperature, whether you will wrap, and when you want to slice. The clock uses the slow end of the window so a stubborn flat can still rest.

Light the fire

13 hr 40 min

13 hr 40 min before serving. That includes the warmup and the 2 hr rest. Pull around 203°F when the probe slides. The clock does not make it tender.

0 min after the fireLight the fire
Bring the pit to the set temperature. The 45 min before the meat goes on is there so the grate is stable.
45 min after the fireMeat on
Put the brisket on once the pit is holding temperature. Keep the probe in the thickest part, away from bone and large pockets of fat.
5 hr 25 min after the fireStall, then wrap
Around 150 to 165°F the temperature can sit still. Wrap tightly when the bark looks the way you want it. Foil moves faster. Butcher paper leaves a firmer bark.
10 hr 5 min after the fireEarly finish
If the cook lands here, wrap it and hold it for the serve time. The fire was lit for the slow end so dinner is not late.
11 hr 40 min after the firePull
Look for about 203°F and a probe that slides in like the flat is soft butter. Hold it if it gets here early.
13 hr 40 min after the fireServe
Slice across the grain after the hold. If the center is still very hot, give it more of the 2 to 4 hour window before you slice.

Assumptions behind this clock

Amazing Ribs' whole-packer timetable at 225°F is the base. Foil-wrapped at the stall, the cook is 12 to 14 hours for a 12 to 15 pound packer. Unwrapped, the cook is 16 to 20 hours. This plan scales those windows from a 13.5 pound reference, the middle of that packer range.
The wrap switch uses the foil window. Butcher paper, on that same timetable, adds about 1 to 2 hours compared with foil. Start earlier if you wrap in paper.
The stall is plotted at the timetable's 6 hour mark for that reference packer, when the center is about 150 to 165°F. The mark scales with weight and with the temperature step below.
Hold for 2 hours, the short end of the 2 to 4 hour hold on the timetable. Slice when the center has come back toward 150°F.
The planning finish is 203°F and probe-tender, inside the 200 to 205°F range. The clock does not decide doneness.
250°F shortens the 225°F window by 12.5 percent. 275°F shortens it by 25 percent. That step is a planning assumption on this site, taken from the pulled-pork note that a pit near 275°F can cut 2 to 4 hours off a 225°F cook. It is not a separate brisket experiment.
45 minutes is reserved to get the pit stable before the meat goes on. That buffer is a planning assumption, not part of the brisket timetable.
The fire time follows the slow end of the window. A faster cook becomes a longer hold.
Whole-muscle beef is safe at 145°F with a rest, but brisket stays tough there. This plan aims at the higher temperature that softens collagen.
Keep the meat at or above 140°F if it has to wait. A cooler only slows the temperature drop. It is not a warmer.

Sources

Cook it in this order

Trim the fat cap to about a quarter inch and take off the hard fat and the deckle that will never render. Leave the fat that bastes the flat.
Season with the brisket rub while the meat is still cold enough to stay firm. Salt and coarse pepper are doing the work. Sugar on a long kamado cook browns before the flat is close to done.
Light the fire at the time on the plan. On a Kamado Joe the dome runs ahead of the grate. A probe at cooking height is the number this plan means.
Set a leave-in in the thickest part of the flat, not the point. If a Meater drops, the connection notes cover the usual cause. The thermometer guide covers the other tools.
Let the bark set. The stall is water leaving that surface, which cools the meat as fast as the pit heats it, so the fire can be fine while the graph sits still. The full why is on the brisket stall page.
At the wrap line, look at the bark. Butcher paper if you want the crust to stay drier. Foil if you are behind and you accept a softer bark. The tradeoff is on butcher paper vs foil.
Pull when the flat probes tender, around 203°F. If the probe still grabs, keep cooking.
Rest it for the two hours on the plan, above 140°F, then slice across the grain. More on that hold is in how long to rest brisket.

How long per pound?

These windows are a 12 pound packer on the same math as the calculator. The low number is the fast end. Plan the fire from the high number.

Grate	Wrapped	Left open
225°F	10 hr 40 min to 12 hr 25 min	14 hr 15 min to 17 hr 45 min
250°F	9 hr 20 min to 10 hr 55 min	12 hr 25 min to 15 hr 35 min
275°F	8 hr to 9 hr 20 min	10 hr 40 min to 13 hr 20 min

How much brisket per person

A half pound raw per adult is the usual plan when sides are on the table. If brisket is the whole plate, buy closer to three quarters of a pound raw. Trim and the long cook take weight off, so the sliced yield is lower than the package weight.

What can throw the time off

The stall. Evaporation holds the center while the pit looks fine. Build the slow end of the window.
A dome gauge that sits above the meat. On a kamado it usually reads hotter than a probe at grate level, and this plan means the grate.
Paper instead of foil. Paper needs about one to two hours more than the foil window.
A flat only, or a packer outside 12 to 15 pounds. The timetable this scales is a whole packer in that range.

The same shape for pork is the pork butt smoking time calculator. The stall, the wrap, and the rest live on the technique pages.

Questions

Is 225 or 250 better for brisket?

225°F is the timetable this clock scales. 250°F shortens that window by about an eighth, and 275°F shortens it by about a quarter. Hotter is not more tender. It is a shorter wait with less room if the flat stalls hard.

Is 7 hours enough for a brisket?

Not for a whole packer. A wrapped 12 pound brisket at 250°F is still an all-day cook on this plan. Seven hours fits a small flat or a cook that started earlier than you think.

When should I wrap a brisket?

Wrap when the bark looks the way you want and the center is sitting in the stall, often around 150 to 170°F. Foil finishes faster. Butcher paper leaves a drier bark and runs about one to two hours longer than foil.

What temperature is brisket done?

Plan on about 203°F in the thickest part of the flat, with a probe that slides like soft butter. Whole-muscle beef is safe much earlier, and it's still tight then, because the connective tissue hasn't softened.