How long to smoke brisket wrapped in foil (Explained)

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How long to smoke brisket wrapped in foil

If you want to know how long you should smoke a brisket while it is wrapped in foil, you have come to the right place. 

Wrapping a brisket in foil accomplishes pushing past the stall portion of the cook.

That is really when you should be wrapping a brisket to begin with. Basically what it does, is rapidly increases the internal temperature at which the brisket cooks. 

It is a great mechanism to not have to worry about modifying the firebox, the vents, or any of the ambient temperatures, since it allows you to create an environment surrounding your brisket that produces a lot of heat within the overall BBQ. 

This has the effect of increasing the internal temperature at a rapid pace, and can significantly decrease your length of time needed to smoke a brisket.

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How long to cook foil wrapped brisket in the oven

Regardless of what type of cooker you have, once you decide to wrap your brisket in foil, the cooking environments all become standardized. 

That means that there is no smoke accumulation if you happen to have your brisket in a smoker, as well as producing the same environment for briskets cooked in an oven. The principles are all the same. 

All you have to do is wrap the brisket once the internal temperature reaches 150°F to about 175°F for a period of about 2 to 3 hours. 

That is really the only time you should think about wrapping a brisket. There’s not much gain to wrapping a brisket after 175°F, as you would run the risk of destroying your seasoning that encompasses the meat.

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Do you wrap a brisket in foil when smoking 

If you are smoking a brisket and considering wrapping it in foil, only do so once the internal temperature reaches 150°F. 

This has the profound effect of rapidly pushing the brisket past 175°F in just a matter of hours. 

For the briskets being smoked and unwrapped, this process will take significantly longer, so it is always a good idea to at least consider wrapping your brisket between those two temperature ranges.

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How long should I smoke brisket before wrapping 

Since you should only really consider wrapping your brisket between 150°F and 175°F, you really have to know how long it should take to reach 150°F first.

For starters, it should take perhaps about 2 to 3 hours to reach that point, depending on what kind of brisket you have and how big it is and how hot you are cooking it.

Once you figure that part out, then that basically answers the question, and should give you an indication as to when you should plan ahead and get your foil ready to wrap your brisket once it reaches the stall portion of the cook.

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How long to cook brisket after wrapping

Once you have actually wrapped your brisket through the stall portion of the cook, the internal temperature should now be reading at about 175°F.

From this point on, keep cooking the brisket unwrapped until it hits an internal temperature of around 200°F.

This should take roughly another 2 to 3 hours to fully cook through, depending on how hot or how low you are cooking it at.

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Unwrapping brisket after stall

Unwrapping a brisket after the stall is critical for your seasoning to continue to develop on the meat. 

Not only that, but you want to obtain further smoke flavor, because if you had wrapped it during the stall portion of the cook, then smoke and seasoning overall has been somewhat diminished.

You want to build it back up and a great way to do that is to leave the brisket unwrapped directly after the brisket concludes the stall portion of the cook.

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How long should I leave my brisket wrapped for?

If you’re wondering the total time that a brisket should be unwrapped during any smoking session, it can vary depending on your overall approach.

A lot of people don’t even wrap their briskets at all, indicating that it should be around 10 to 12 hours, or however long it takes to smoke the overall brisket, to be left unwrapped. 

If you do happen to consider wrapping a brisket though, then just subtract the length of time a brisket would usually go through the stall. This is about 2 to 3 hours minus the overall cooking time for your piece of meat.

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Final thoughts

The time any particular brisket should be wrapped is around 2 to 3 hours because the only time you really should consider wrapping brisket is around the stall portion of the cook. This portion of the cook directly takes about 2 to 3 hours to conclude overall.