Brisket advice from the experienced please


 
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Jeffr Hode

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I gave my second brisket a try yesterday. All I could get was a flat, 4.15 lbs. with a fat cap on 1/2. I rubbed it with Dallas Dandy rub (Smoke & Spice) and layed thin cuts of pork fat over the entire pice while cooking under a picnic. Went on at 6am. The temp probe was in the pork on the top shelf since that had been in the cooker all night. I cooked until 3pm when the temp was at 160 and I was near out of time. So I foiled with Apple juice & jack and brought it up to 185 in about 70 minutes. The results were juicy, but a little tough. Not inedible tough mind you, just need some improvement.

Soooo....is my rapid raise in temperature at the end to blaim ? Did I skip through allot of the rendering of fat & muscle, which yielded a chewier brisket ? And lastly, I know it's done when it''s done, but 9 hours on a 4.15 lb flat and it was only to 160 ! My pit temp was in the normal 225-250 range the whole time.

experienced opinions welcomed ! With the $4 lb. price of brisket here I don't want to experiment too much ! I'd like to nail it next time.

Jeff
 
Jeff, I suspect that's what happened to your poor little brisket. I think it's hard to work with one that small (tho if that's all there is, follow the advice on this board and go for the THICKEST one you can find).

Was it tender when you probed it when it was in the 160s? If so, you probably could have pulled it off and foiled it and swaddled it and stuck it in a cooler at that point. I like to slice my briskets, so I don't mind the lower temps on them as long as they're tender. It certainly did have a nice, long plateau, so maybe it was ok before you brought the temp up so rapidly.

However...I'm kind of a rookie, so let's see what our more experienced colleagues here have to say...!
 
It needed to cook longer, at 185º you start checking for tender but chances are the brisket needed another 10 to 20º of internal temp. Feel is the finale test, not internal temp.
Jim
 
For me, the magic takes place somewhere between 195 and 205. I've never had a problem with speeding up the process by wrapping, but I always get them to at least 195 followed by a rest.
 
Yeah, it's pretty much just a well-done steak at 185, take it to 200-205...as others mentioned. I'd unfoil it at about 190 though, if you want some good bark/burnt ends.
 
Thanks for the advice.
I suspected my final temp may have been too low, mainly because it did have a flank steak texture to it, as John pointed out. Next time I will shoot higher without fear. And I will know more of what it should "feel" like after this one.

Thanks again.

Jeff
 
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