Failed Brisket #6


 
S

Shaun H

TVWBB Fan
SMH

I thought I had this one.

I cooked steady at 275 for about 5 1/2 hours. This was what it looked like:

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I wrapped it in butcher paper at this point and cooked it for roughly 3 hours more. I opened it up and it looked great. I touched it and it felt like gelatin. I did a probe test and it felt soft, but not quite like butter (or at least how I should imagine it to be). Probe read 200*. Since it didn't SEEM quite the way I imagined it to (like butter) I decided to leave it in another 30 minutes wrapped in BP. 30 minutes later I took it off, wrapped it in a blanket and put it in my cooler for about an hour and a half.

I was super excited thinking that this was finally going to be the one that actually tasted good! lol

Suffice to say, it was terrible. It was uncuttable, even. It just crumbled into pieces. First of all, the brisket was cracking itself, with seams running length wise down the flat, essentially splitting the brisket into 4-5 pieces. Here is a picture:
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Trying to cut slices was impossible. It just became a big crumble pie at that point.
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Absolutely overcooked. Crumbling. Dry. Embarrassing. I got everything down that I have tried. Brisket is just not working out for me. I'm thinking I should have just pulled it off when I checked it the first time. Or maybe I should have not kept it so wrapped up after I did pull it? I don't know. Any tips/advice?
 
I've never cooked a flat, only full packers but everyone have ranged from good to great. Your brisket looks over cooked. Sounds like it continued to cook in the cooler. When you say you cooked at 275..for 5 1/2 hours how much did it weigh? Brisket can be a challenge but they are not impossible to cook. Just have to determine what you are doing.
 
Sounds over cooked. If you cooler it directly from the smoker, it actually contined to cook. You really only need to cooler if you plan to hold for hours. My last rested wrapped on the just the open counter and was still 170 90 min later. Sounds like you were real close on this one. If you do need to cooler, you should vent it for 20-30 min before holding
 
Gary: This was a packer. I forgot to mention that I cut the point off before towelling it, to make burnt ends...which were terrible as well. At least in the past, the burnt ends were good. This time nothing was. It was about 10lbs.

Jeff: Thanks for the advice, I didn't know that. When letting it rest on the counter, should I keep it in the paper? Or just let the meat settle in the open air for 90 minutes before slicing?
 
Shaun, definitely over cooked. This is a post I did in reference to another fellows posting. Try this next time. It works very very well.

Hey Brian, just a thought for you, try doing your next one without foiling, there have been two posting on this site within the past week or two of two outstanding full flat briskets which were done low and slow with no foiling. I am by no means an expert but I have learned to control my temps, and it sounds like you are doing the same. I would suggest you give it a try, and do some simple things, you will end up with truly superb brisket with a great bark.
First, keep your temp 225-275, preferably right in the middle. I inject with beef broth and Worcestershire and do my rub the night before and let it sit in the fridge till an hour before it goes on the smoker.
Once your fire is holding at the temp you want put that baby on fat side down. Put your thermometer in from the side at the thickest part of the flat and leave it alone. About the time it is getting around 150 -160 internal go outside and mop it with a little apple juice and apple cider vinegar mix or whatever you prefer. Take some foil and put it underneath the first five or six inches of the flat measuring from the tip and just come up the sides loosely and make aslight tent look with it open at top. This in my opinion slows down the heat from hitting the thinnest part of the brisket. You can mop again in an hour or so if you want.
Other than that leave it alone.
When the internal gets to 185 go outside and pull that thermometer out of the meat. From that point on you just don't care what it would say and it is a distraction only
Get yourself one of those long metal skewers used for grilling and every fifteen to twenty minutes go out there and lift just one side of that dome up enough to reach in and push that skewer into the side of the flat. Check a couple of spots starting from the middle out and you will see the tenderness progressing down from the point end.
One time you are going to go out there and stick that thing into the flat towards the tip and it will slide in like a well worn key into a well worn door lock.
You will have a very big grin on your face at this time.
Don't cook it anymore, the meat just told you it is done, get me out of here.
Pull that beauty off, put it in a foil pan and let it sit on your counter uncovered for about twenty minutes or so so it stops cooking. You can use an instant read now if you want, when she gets down around 150 or so put foil on the top and seal her up and store her however long you need to in a cooler or towels or whatever you use.
I have done this now with two flats of 4-6 lbs. and two packers, one 9pounder and one 14 plus after trimming for the 4th of July. They were the most succulent delicious things I've eaten.
For me foiling is something you do when you have a time situation and you need to bang out meat quicker, if you are not competing or in a hurry and doing low and slow then don't foil.
Just an opinion from a new guy.

Same applies to your cook Shaun, the foil is called a Texas Crutch but butchers paper does the same thing and you are actually steaming your meat with either procedure.
 
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very overcooked. as soon as its probe tender, take it off. i no longer wrap them and all that. just cover loosely for 15-20 minutes and it chow time.
 
My last two were on the dry side too. I think I did mine to long and to hot, had it at 250-275. Think I try around 225-235 next. So I'm going with Bill's method for my next. My flat was a little burnt on the thin side, I had fat side up. I'm going to try the fat side down, and the foil like Bill said might help take some of that dry hot heat off of the flat. Also I foiled and cooler it right away, adding to its over doneness.
 
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Shaun,

I wish I could offer you some helpful advice, but I'm kind of in the same boat as you when it comes to brisket, specifically the flat. Every time I think I've nailed it (e.g. looks great, appears to have good texture at first, temperature seemed ok), I end up with dry brisket. I can cook point cuts with great success, but flats remain my nemesis.
 
Shaun H said:
Gary: This was a packer. I forgot to mention that I cut the point off before towelling it, to make burnt ends...which were terrible as well. At least in the past, the burnt ends were good. This time nothing was. It was about 10lbs.

Jeff: Thanks for the advice, I didn't know that. When letting it rest on the counter, should I keep it in the paper? Or just let the meat settle in the open air for 90 minutes before slicing?
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Leave it wrapped to absorb some of the au jus back in
 
One other thing I have found once I put my second thermometer on the WSM right at the grate is that the temps you are looking at at the dome gauge could be thirty or more degrees from what it is at the grate where the meat is, usually hotter.
So if you think you are cooking at 275 based on the dome you are probably actually cooking at over 305 degrees. Approaching hot and fast temps.
Just a thought for anyone who is relying on the dome. Could be the problem.
 
Sounds to me like it was maybe overcooked on your first poke. How did you come up with the 3 hours more after you wrapped it?

Personally, I take a brisket to about 185F where the flat meets the point based on my Maverick probe, then start testing for doneness every half hour after that point. Every brisket is done at a different time/temperature, so you have to start checking early and often to make sure you don't miss the point where it's actually done.
 
Shaun, incredibly sorry to hear about the let-down. I know it sucks to invest hours into something and then it not turn out well, especially repeatedly. Hopefully you'll get right back on the horse and giev ti another shot.

Brisket just by stroke of luck is something that we've been getting right and having some success in comps with. If I could suggest, in a nutshell, the following:

* Calibrate your temp gauge, as you may not be cooking at the temp you think you are.

* Put the meat on cold, it will smoke longer.

* Cook at 225 or so. Have liquid in the pan. There are plenty of people who have success without it, but I've always done it and the success isn't accidental. Some people are outstanding at cooking a hot and fast brisket, but most of us cook ours for 12-15 hours for guaranteed success. The low pit temps make the transition between 165 and 195-200 internal temp more gradual, and thus more fat and connective tissue liquefying and rendering. Time is on your side. Aside from Myron Mixon, there aren't many on the circuit who are cooking their briskets in less than 10-12 hours, period. Certainly not many who are experiencing success.

* Wrap at 165 internal. For what it's worth, I use brown butcher paper myself, and it works outstanding. I wrap three times tightly, and sometimes I'll even put a small amount of liquid in the paper. I then turn the brisket fat side up and cook sitting in a pan. This is primarily just for easy handling.

* If you're cooking a better-quality brisket (qualified as, CAB or above) then I'd only cook to 190 or so in the flat. I then quickly remove the brisket and unwrap it (I already have my station set up before I pull the brisket). I run a knife through the fat vein to separate the flat and the point, leaving the fat under the bottom of the flat. I re-wrap that and place it in my Cambro (your cooler with a blanket or thick towels is more than adequate), and then I cube the point and toss more rub on the cubes and put them in the open smoker for about another hour or so, in a foil pan or in some pan-shaped foil that I've made.

* I then mix with a little sauce (if I was going to in the first place, sometimes I like them just by themselves) and put in for about another 20-30 minutes. What I'm looking for here is for the fattiness to decrease as it renders. If at any point they start to look dry, I'll mix in just a little jus or beef stock and close them up in the foil for the remainder of the time.


Not sure if any of this would be helpful to you, but I wish you outstanding success on your next brisket, and that your next pics are of you nailing it!
 
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I've yet to have a bad brisket following K_Kruger's high heat method. He's got it down to a very repeatable science.
 
Jeff R said:
I know you mean the thickest part if the flat, but to others, I you taking temps as a guide take it from the flat
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Correct, thanks for clarifying. The tip of my Thermapen ends up in the flat right before the fat vein, just as it starts to taper into the point, but is still thick.
 
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