Brisket looks dry during the cook?


 
M

Morgan Bonde

New member
I have a 12lb packer and an 8lb butt currently smoking on my 18.5" WSM. The temp has been solid at 225* for the past 14hrs. The brisket was injected and is currently fat side down on the top grate. I went out to check on the smoker and the temp had fallen off about 20* and I noticed I needed more fuel. So with a brisket temp of 183, I figured I would check it. It looks very dry and when probing it with a thermometer, it feels tough. My thought is it needs more time(as originally planned), but my gut is telling me its already passed done and on its way to shoe leather.

Prior to the cook, I calibrated the dome thermometer in boiling water and just to be safe, I ran the whole cook with another thermometer in the vent. Through out the cook, the two thermometers were never more than 20* split.

Thoughts?

Thank you!
Morgan
 
<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by Morgan Bonde:
I ran the whole cook with another thermometer in the vent. Through out the cook, the two thermometers were never more than 20* split. </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

20* is substantial, actually. Once the cooker gets up to temp after the meat loses it's chill, 225* on the dome gauge is a fine temp for cooking butts/briskets, especially if using water in the pan and if you don't plan on foiling. Get a Brinkman charcoal pan as a replacement water pan so you can heap up more charcoal and always use a bunch of boiling water at the start if you don't want to mess with having to add charcoal during the cook.

No worries if the brisket is at 183* and not tender yet. It probably won't be tender until it's closer to 190*, and I never even check until it's at least .185*. If overcooked, the brisket's temp would be closer to 200* or higher.
 
Most people who have problems with brisket pull it to early because their brain tells them it must be cooked by now, tell your brain to shut up and have another beer. Forget temperatures and go by feel.
 
yea, i think many make it to difficult. just cook at whatever temp till its done. its done when a temp probe goes in easily with maybe a little resistance. each piece is differant thus it will cook differant. i cook between 275-350. i don't get excited about some fluctuations. just let it cook and chill out.
 
<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by Bob Sample:
Most people who have problems with brisket pull it to early because their brain tells them it must be cooked by now, tell your brain to shut up and have another beer. Forget temperatures and go by feel. </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

I love the first comment.

Love tracking one of the butts or briskets that I'm cooking though, via a temp probe. Part of being a good pitmaster is learning to time cooks so excessive holding or reheating isn't necessary, and tracking meat IT* can really help. I don't check the meat as often and I can speed up or slow down a cook if I feel it's needed.

In other words, why "forget temps" when they can really help you out in knowing when to check for tenderness?
 
Dave, do you really want to open that can...
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I hear you though and do agree. It's like driving with a road map
 
Seriously....it just makes sense, IF cooking low-n-slow, especially on a wsm, as opposed to offsets and other cookers that quickly come up to temp, making tracking cooks much easier.

Much easier to dismiss tracking IT though if cooking HH since the cook is so much shorter and generally easier to predict in terms of temp/times. Of course, another thing is that meat IT*'s when wrapped in foil at high temps can seem crazy high to not be tender yet.

...but that's not how the OP was cooking. Right?
 
Well, that smoke is in the book!

The pork butt was phenomenal. It spent 17.5hrs on the smoker reaching a final temp of 195* and was by far the best pork butt I have ever made or had!!

The brisket was a different story. At the end of the day, it was overcooked, dry and would crumble when sliced. I was convinced it needed more time so I pushed on. Around the 180* mark(12hrs on the smoker), it was very tough to push in the thermometer, so I wrapped it with in foil and put some apple juice in with the brisket. I checked it every 30min and I felt it was getting a bit more tender. By the time it reached 195* internal, I felt that I was gaining no additional tenderness so I pulled it. It rested for about an hour and a half and then I separated the point and flat. Very quickly I knew that it was overcooked.

Not really sure what happened, but I think next time I will try the high heat and foil!

Oh well! Thank you everyone for the help!

Morgan
 
<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by Dave Russell:
<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by Bob Sample:
Most people who have problems with brisket pull it to early because their brain tells them it must be cooked by now, tell your brain to shut up and have another beer. Forget temperatures and go by feel. </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

I love the first comment.

Love tracking one of the butts or briskets that I'm cooking though, via a temp probe. Part of being a good pitmaster is learning to time cooks so excessive holding or reheating isn't necessary, and tracking meat IT* can really help. I don't check the meat as often and I can speed up or slow down a cook if I feel it's needed.

In other words, why "forget temps" when they can really help you out in knowing when to check for tenderness? </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

Dave what I meant was forget temps for doneness. By all means temp the cooker and the meat as you go along, make fancy colourful graphs and flow charts to help you out as you go along if you like but I see too many people on this site and others that say pull this at 180 or that at 190 because it is done at that point.

I usually only check the temperature of what I'm cooking on, not what I'm cooking unless it's a roast or loin I want med-rare. I guess being old and decrepit with years of doing something does have some advantages to it.
 
Agreed. Give up sticking a therm in the meat and you will soon learn other and often better ways of gauging where the meat is at during the cook.
 
<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by K Kruger:
Agreed. Give up sticking a therm in the meat and you will soon learn other and often better ways of gauging where the meat is at during the cook. </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

Especially for HH or foiled meats. I admit, monitoring IT* with a remote therm is really only much of a help for long cooks.
 
to the OP, i would recommend cooking the brisket with the fat side up. the fat renders off and self bastes the meat. i have tried it fat side down and truly dislike cooking it in that manner.
but it also sounds as if you might have had some other things going on.
 
Dave R and I think alike it seems. But it isnt Dave and I against the world. My comments are simply my take on BBQ. I will get on top of a mountain and declare that Kevin knows more about food than I do. In fact I would beg him for a great fajita recipe. But I have ideas that again are simply my opinions that work great for me. Hats off to you Mr. Kruger!

Here is another one of my opinions. 180 is not close to tender. I set my probe alarm at 190, and then start from there checking for tenderness which is closer to 200 than 190 most of the time. A thermometer is a tool that works well for me. Keeps the lid on too.
 
<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">180 is not close to tender. </div></BLOCKQUOTE>
Probably not - at the cooking temps noted with the likely meat grade. At other cooking temps, or with other cooking processes, possibly with other grades, it just might be. That's why I dislike the fixation on internal temp. It limits the understanding of the cook, and thus potentially limits his or her talents.
 
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