brisket troubles


 
H

Hunter Lewis

TVWBB Member
Hey all, just smoked my first brisket yesterday. It was a packer (i think) total starting weight was about 8.5 lbs. I trimmed it up a bit and threw it in on sunday night around 10:30. my temp was stable at around 230 or 240 all night and sat at 234 when i finally checked it at 700 the next morning. I turned it to fat ccap down at around 730 and basted it with applejuice. It cooked until 11:45 when internal temp in the flat read about 193 degrees. I pulled it off, wrapped it tightly in saran wrap and then foil and it rested until about 6pm when i carved it. The flavor was great but it was dry, and the lean side (not the fat cap side) was a bit hard and totally dried out. What did i do wrong? probably a whole slew of things.... please help! was it that i cooked it fat cap up for almost 8 hours of the cook? I dont know what i keep doing to mess this stuff up!

Smoke on

hunter
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Hunter--

You'll get it. Really, you will.

Cook cap down next time. It's likely that it also might have cooked too long. Usually I find them done in the mid 180s to maybe 190, depending on size, thickness, and marbling.
 
Hunter,
Like Kevin, I suspect you cooked too long. Most of my briskets have finished in less than an hour a pound, but then I foil at 160F and continue cooking to 190F to 200F.

Loren
 
Hunter

Congrats on your first of many briskets. In additions to what Kevin suggested I'd let it rest fat side up when you take it off. I pull mine at between 185-190. Plus I'm not sure how much you trimmed but make sure you have a healthy fatcap on there. I shoot for 1/8 minimum to 1/4.
 
Hunter, Hunter, Hunter, I tried....... never mind. Yeah 193 with out foil is a little over kill. Next time do fat side down and pull it off earlier than 193. I'm not a big fan of poking and prodding meat. I can hardly stand pushing the probe in the meat for the thermo. I cook brisket to a set temp usually 182- 188 depends on the thickness( if it's thin i'll foil it at 170) and take to set temp. I then foil and rest in a cooler for at least 2 hrs up to 4 hrs. I never had a tough brisket although some are more tender than others(slightly) but they are moist and that long rest does wonders for the tenderness part of it. There's nothing tender about dry meat. I would rather have it slightly not as tender and nice and moist than dry and tough. Is my way right no not at all, all i know is it works for me and i love the results.
 
Thansk fellas for the input, I cant wait to try it again! now i am a bit confused, when you say for example that you start foiling at say 170 or 180, do you pull the meat off of the heat completely and resting it brings it to final temp, or do you foil it and put it back in the heat to finish it? Also, is 5 or 6 hours too long to rest the meat or will that just help with tenderness? I put it in a preheated cooler fat side up, and when i openned the cooler 6 hours later, it was still warm. Thanks for all your help guys, I am going to try to figure out a way to post picture links so we can all laugh and speculate at my failures and eventually successes.

Smoke on gents
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Hunter
 
one more thing, are you guys recommending that I cook it fat side down the whole time and never turn it over?

Smoke on

Hunter
 
When i have a thin one i pull it of the WSM when it reaches 165-170 wrap it up in HD foil and put it back on till it reaches 182 ish. Yes fat side down the whole time. If you foil your brisket and place back onto the WSM at that point you'll want the fat cap up. Yes rest in cooler with fat cap up. HTH.
 
Bryan,

Thanks so much for all your help. I might have to try it again in a couple of days! by the way what does HTH mean?

Smoke on!

hunter
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Originally posted by Hunter Lewis:
Thansk fellas for the input, I cant wait to try it again! now i am a bit confused, when you say for example that you start foiling at say 170 or 180, do you pull the meat off of the heat completely and resting it brings it to final temp, or do you foil it and put it back in the heat to finish it? Also, is 5 or 6 hours too long to rest the meat or will that just help with tenderness? I put it in a preheated cooler fat side up, and when i openned the cooler 6 hours later, it was still warm. Thanks for all your help guys, I am going to try to figure out a way to post picture links so we can all laugh and speculate at my failures and eventually successes.

Smoke on gents
wsmsmile8gm.gif


Hunter
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Hunter, different folks do it different ways. I usually foil at the point the temperature plateaus (around 160F). I put it in foil, add a little broth or apple juice and put it back on the smoker till it's over 190F. Other folks foil for shorter periods and some, not at all during the cook. I think I'll eventually stop foiling during the cook, but right now it's working for me.

About holding in a cooler...it will hold for hours, but the temp needs to be above 140F to be safe during the hold (so I've been told a few dozen times).

Loren
 
My experience with briskets has been dry when I cooked brisket only. I haven't cooked the last half dozen briskets without a butt over top dripping on it. I haven't had a dry one since. I love it and the kids won't eat the brisket so I have something they will eat.

The first several briskets I done I couldn't seem to get them past the 160 plateau so I foiled like others. I don't know what I did different but the last 3 or 4 I have done I didn't foil at all until the rest in the cooler.
 
I dont know what i keep doing to mess this stuff up!

Smoke on

hunter
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Dude, you're not messing anything up. A well smoked kind of dry brisket is still better than most stuff out there!

In the past, I've had EXACTLY the same problem you've noticed. The bottome 1/8th of an inch of the brisket seemed to turn to jerky. What I did was stop trusting my thermometer. I swear, when a brisket is done, you can tell by the feel.

Also, I never had the jerky brisket before I switched to sand in the bowl....I think a lot more heat than we realize is focused on the bottom of the meat. When I baste the meat, I turn it...if for nothing else, it makes me feel good.
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Originally posted by Hunter Lewis:
Also, is 5 or 6 hours too long to rest the meat or will that just help with tenderness?
Smoke on gents
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Hunter
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Hunter, I think the general guideline is 4 hours TOPS in a cooler. I've had friends stop by and given them a brisket in a cooler at 9am(wrapped and insulated by clean towels)...they opened it at 2 in the afternoon and it was steaming. I wouldn't trust any longer than that though.
 
There's no time cut-off per se. The meat needs to stay above 140.

What you want to avoid is holding meat in an environment where the environment has sustained heat higher than that of your meat. In that case the meat would continue cooking, albeit slowly. Not necessarily an issue for butt, but continued cooking of brisket during its resting phase could easily leave you with overcooked, dry brisket.
 
Member
Posted June 08, 2005 09:19 AM
Will anytype of cooler work I am yet to try this approach.
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Yes, Some use regular coolers and some use the cheap styrofoam ones. Adding towels and such just helps insulate the meat and hold the heat and temps for a longer period of time.
 
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