Basting Brisket


 
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Mikey F

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I have read in various threads, that you add beef broth to a brisket in the finishing stages of cooking, plus apple juice for basting, now I thought of something that I would like to run by all of the FOG's. I got a 6 pack of Samuel Adams Cranberry Lambic, which is not worth drinking. So since the beer is fruit based, would it be good for basting?
 
Don't know if that would work one way or the other. Have never basted anything that I was using low and slow on. I love the smoke flavor. But I do know that I have never had a beer that wasn't worth drinkin. Never tried that fruit stuff, but I have had Blatt's, Iron City, Dixie, and PBR. LOL.
 
Well, I just put on a flat brisket to smoke, I put the meat on at 0907 PST. The lid temp is now 248, the meat weighs 5.36lbs. It did not have very much fat on top so I added bacon to keep it moist. I also put in a probe into the meat, and it is now reading 100 degrees internal temp. Now the question is, how often should I baste the meat? I do have apple juice and beef broth. The main problem I want to avoid, is letting the meat become dry. The thickness of the meat is approx. 3/4" to an 1" thick. So now that I have all this going, what are the precautions I should take to make sure the meat comes out juicy. I want to have the meat done by 1830 tonite.
 
To prevent drying I would consider doing a couple orf things. for one I would lower your cooking range to loser to the 200 range that way if you spike it wont dry your meat out as you get it back down. I like the flavor of Applejuice on a brisket and don't use the beef broth as I find brisket to have a concentrated enough beef flavor.

5.36 being pretty small and without much of a fat cap cooking it low and slow should get you there.

As to the beer I think it would be an interesting experiment and ould give it a try and try and recognize how it changes the flavor. If you do it let us knwo the results!!
If you find that its getting close to your serving time but the temp isnt where you want it you could always wrap it in original Saran wrap and throw it in the oven to get it there (original Saran wrap wont melt until a temp of 250) and by wrapping it you can speed up the cooking process if your getting close to super without runnign the risk of drying out your meat.

I also do this if its done too early. Wrap it and put it in the oven on warm at 165
 
Thanks for the great advice, I am trying to get the temp down, but it is not going below 235. I have a built in thermometer about halfway down the lid. I have all the vents closed, except the top and that is at 25%. I will baste the meat in about 2 hours and check the temp at that time. As of now the meat has been cooking for 2hrs 10 min.
 
I would worry less about a brief spike over 250-ish, and more about cooking too low & slow-- there is such a thing, and the result is usually dry meat. Down at 200*, you may well end up with some very dry meat, as brisket flat is relatively lean, and you will have waited a long time to end up disappointed.

Your use of bacon in the absence of a decent fat cap is wise-- it will be doing the major part of the basting for you. I would consider mopping occasionally with apple juice, but I would also flip the meat at the halfway mark (3 hours or so) and replace the bacon on the new topside.
 
Doug this goes against conventional wisdom that moisture is lost through heat therefore the lower the heat the less moisture lost..within reason I mant to type 225 not 200 as my targeted range is as close to 225 as possible

I like your addtion of more bacon though.
 
Sounds good, I will add more bacon. I just checked the temp and it is at 230. I will open the vents a little bit more to stabilize it.
 
I just flipped the meat, and added more bacon to the top, the problem now is that the damn temp is rising to 250 and I closed all the vents about 15 minutes ago, the temp is stopped at 260
 
Now the temp is at 240 with all the vents closed, it is like a yo-yo. How can I get the darn thing to stay at 225?
 
Your temp probably rose as a result of having the cooker open to do the flipping/re-baconing-- more oxygen stoked the fire. Left alone it would have returned to where it was before opening. I always strategize in order to make opening the cooker as short an event as possible, even if it means putting the meat out on a platter and replacing the lid while I work on it.

When making vent adjustments, I never change by more than about one quarter open or closed at a time and give it 20-30 minutes to react. Knee-jerk reactions to 10 or 15 degree drops or rises, opening and shutting vents, will have you yo-yo-ing all cook.

Tom, while it would seem logical that temperature and moisture loss are directly related, it depends on what you are cooking, and what the goal is. In the case of BBQ meats, the breaking down of collagen is the goal, which is a function of time, but not an infinite amount of time. Cooking too long at a too-low temp will have the same deleterious effect on meat moisture, just as much as if you nuked it at a higher temp for a short time, only dfference being the too-slow cooked meat would be tender (relative to the quick-cooked anyway).
 
I have left the vents at 25% and the top one at 50%. I have had the meat on for 4 hours now. I am now wondering if I should place the probe into the meat now? Plus when I push on the meat it is still pretty hard. The temp has stabilized at 235.
 
I put meat probes in place at the beginning of the cook, unless the cooker temp is higher than the probe's rating. You're probably around half to 2/3 done at 4 hours. Go ahead and put it in just to get an idea of how far you have to go.
 
LOL, this is like virtual cooking. /infopop/emoticons/icon_biggrin.gif Now the temp is at 161, and the temp of the grill is at 140. How often should I baste the meat? Plus when the meat gets to 180 should I take it out and do what with it?
 
Not sure I understand that last temp you mention. Basting hourly from this point on would be sufficient. When the meat hits your target temperature, pull it off, wrap it in heavy foil and let it rest 30 minutes minimum before slicing.
 
<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Doug D:
[qb] Not sure I understand that last temp you mention. Basting hourly from this point on would be sufficient. When the meat hits your target temperature, pull it off, wrap it in heavy foil and let it rest 30 minutes minimum before slicing. [/qb] <HR></BLOCKQUOTE>The last temp was the take off temp of the meat. Should I take it off at 180? Or at 190? Thanks for all the input. /infopop/emoticons/icon_biggrin.gif
 
The internal meat temp is at 171, and I did the finger test and the meat is still pretty hard. I also left the bacon on the meat. Now I read that the internal meat temp should be 190 to 200 degrees before taking it off. Now should I take it off earlier to let it rest? Or just leave it on the grill until it gets to 190. Plus(I hope I am not being a pain in the a**) Should I just go by touch, where as the meat should be soft like butter, before removing? /infopop/emoticons/icon_confused.gif
 
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