Smoked-Guinness Corned Beef Brisket Recipe

For this recipe, we are putting an Irish twist on your traditional brisket. After brining a brisket for 7 days using Rainer Corned Beef Brine, we cooked it off with a little touch of Guinness beer to give it some extra Irish flavor. Check out the full recipe below and let us know what you think!

To get started, add you brine mixture into a mason jar along with some water.

Corned beef brine ingredients combined in a mason jar

Once you’ve added to the jar, give it a few good shakes to help the salt dissolve. This will help ensure the brine gets distributed evenly throughout the meat. Once you’ve got your brine mixture ready, grab your brining bag and fill it with 2 gallons of cold water, then dump your brine mixture into the brine bag as well.

Next up, we’ll add our brisket to the brine mixture. Make sure it is completely submerged in the bag.

Place brisket into brine bag along with brine mixture

After you’ve added your brisket to the brining bag, twist the top of the bag closed and secure it with a zip tie to help ensure there is no leakage.

Let your brisket brine for 7 days in either the fridge or in a cooler. If you are going to use a cooler, be sure to check the ice levels regularly to ensure your brisket stays cool and takes the brine well!

Once your brisket is brined, give it a good rinse to remove any excess brine mixture. Then it’s onto the grill! For this cook, we used an XL Big Green Egg and set it up for indirect cooking with a Conveggtor. Set your grill to 275 degrees and place your brisket directly on the grates.

Place your brisket directly in the grates, cooking indirect

We’re then going to let the brisket cook for about 3 hours, or until we are at a temp of about 165 degrees in the flat. Once we’ve reached our desired temp, it’s time to pull the brisket and get it ready for wrapping!

Brisket being probed for temperature on a Big Green Egg

To wrap this brisket, we used aluminum foil to help ensure the extra cooking liquid (a.k.a Guinness Beer) stays inside our wrap and doesn’t leak. To get started, lay out a couple of sheets of aluminum foil and then place the brisket directly on top of the foil. Gently fold up the edges of the foil to create a little boat or pocket that we can add our beer to. Next, pour 2 full cans of Guinness directly over the top of the brisket before wrapping back up nice and tight.

Guinness Beer being poured over brisket

Once your brisket is wrapped back up, set it in a half pan and place it back on the grill. We’re going to let it cook for about 4 more hours or until we are seeing an internal temp between 205 and 210 degrees. Once you’ve reached the desired internal temperature, remove the brisket from the grill and place it into a cambro or sealed cooler. Leave the wrap on and let it rest for at least an additional hour, though, you can go all the way up to 5 hours.

Wrapped brisket inside of a Cambro

After resting, unwrap your brisket and slice! Serve it up with your favorite sides and enjoy.

Corned Beef Brisket being sliced

Ingredients

• 1 whole prime or wagyu brisket
• 1 package of Rainer Corned Beef Brine
• 2 cans of Guinness Beer Brining

Brining Instructions

• Combine all brining ingredients in a mason jar along with water
• Shake well until salt is mostly desolved
• Fill a brining bag with 2 gallons of cold water
• Pour brine from mason jar into the brine bag
• Place brisket in bag and completely submerge in the brining liquid
• Place in a fridge or cooler for up to 7 days (if using a cooler, be sure to keep ice fresh to ensure the brisket stays cool)

Cooking Instructions

• Preheat your grill to 275 degrees, set up for indirect cooking
• Remove brisket from brine mixture and rinse thoroughly to ensure all excess brine is removed
• Place brisket on grill and cook for 3 hours
• Once the brisket reaches 165 degrees in the flat (about 3 hours), pull brisket from grill and set aside
• Prepare your brisket wrap (for this recipe, we recommend using aluminum foil since we will be adding extra liquid for second half of the cook)
• Place brisket on foil wrap and gently fold up edges of foil to make a pocket around the brisket
• Pour 2 full cans of Guinness beer over brisket and wrap tightly to ensure there are no leaks
• Place brisket back on the grill and cook until an internal temp of 205-210 degrees is reached (about 4 more hours)
• Remove wrapped brisket from grill and place in a cambro or sealed cooler
• Let brisket rest for at least 1 hour and up to 5
• After brisket has reseted, remove wrap and slice
• Serve with your favorite sides