I completed my first overnight brisket cook Friday night and was a little surprised that the meat turned out fairly dry. The brisket I cooked was a 10.25lb choice packer. I trimmed some fat as I normally do leaving ~1/4" of cap.
My question is could any of the following factors have contributed to the brisket being dry?
1. Rub - Was a mixture of kosher salt, coarse pepper, onion powder, and garlic. The salt ratio was pretty high, probably in the 30 to 40% range.
2. Meat had been in the freezer for ~2 months - It did not appear or smell freezer burnt however, i normally do not leave meat frozen this long.
3. Possible temperature spike - I started the fire at 10:00 pm (minion method), let the smoker come up to temp, and put the meat on at ~11:00pm. Temp was a steady 250 lid each time I checked it through 2:00am. After that, I went to sleep and did not check again until 8:00 am at which time, the cooker temp was at 230 lid. I then checked the meat temp and was surprised that it was already at 198. I then pulled it and did a foil / cooler hold until 4:00pm at which time the meat was registering 150. Since there is a 6 hour period of no monitoring, I am a little concerned that the temp may have spiked during the night. The wind was calm and at 8:00am, the remaining fuel level was high (smoker continued to run until 5:00pm).
My best guess is that a combination of #1 and #2 created the dry brisket, any guidance from the group is always appreciated.
My question is could any of the following factors have contributed to the brisket being dry?
1. Rub - Was a mixture of kosher salt, coarse pepper, onion powder, and garlic. The salt ratio was pretty high, probably in the 30 to 40% range.
2. Meat had been in the freezer for ~2 months - It did not appear or smell freezer burnt however, i normally do not leave meat frozen this long.
3. Possible temperature spike - I started the fire at 10:00 pm (minion method), let the smoker come up to temp, and put the meat on at ~11:00pm. Temp was a steady 250 lid each time I checked it through 2:00am. After that, I went to sleep and did not check again until 8:00 am at which time, the cooker temp was at 230 lid. I then checked the meat temp and was surprised that it was already at 198. I then pulled it and did a foil / cooler hold until 4:00pm at which time the meat was registering 150. Since there is a 6 hour period of no monitoring, I am a little concerned that the temp may have spiked during the night. The wind was calm and at 8:00am, the remaining fuel level was high (smoker continued to run until 5:00pm).
My best guess is that a combination of #1 and #2 created the dry brisket, any guidance from the group is always appreciated.