Dry Brisket :(


 
T

Tyler McCallum

TVWBB Fan
My first Brisket on the weekend and although the flavor was amazing it took waaaayyy too long and came out dry. I placed it on at 225 at 3AM and by 6PM it (the brisket) was just at 180 degrees. The last hour or so I cranked up the WSM to 270 so we could eat before some of my guests had to leave. The only thing I could have over looked is I cooked on the bottom grate and it maybe cooler on the bottom grate which would have put me too low as far as temp is concerned???

BTW it was 8.25 Lbs packer pre-trimmed and I did trim it. I will definately leave more fat next time particularly where the flap is. Maybe I will try foiling too? Any suggestions or comments based on the info??

Another note: I did get a temp spike to 325 when I was raising the temp near the end as I wasn't watching it close enough. It couldn t have been longer than 10 mins though.
 
325 was immaterial. The brisket was overcooked by then.

225, imo, is too low a temp for typical supermarket briskets. You can cook that low but why bother. Nothing is gained but excess time and the chance that the brisket will end up losing too much fat/moisture in the process.

I prefer to cook briskets at high heat (>325) but if you want to low/slow I would still suggest cooking 25? higher. You can foil if you wish (it evens the cooking and speeds it) but whatever you do learn to judge 'done' by feel, not by the clock nor the internal temp.
 
I'll add and I do agree with Kevin, the brisket was dry because it was overcooked and the temps were a bit low, not because of the heat spike. Foiling may or may not have helped.

I cook my briskets a little lower that Kevin suggested, but either method will give you a tender moist brisket. I cook my briskets in the 245º-260º range and foil around 165º and then begin to check for doneness (tender) around 185º-190º. I'm using temperature as a guide, not as a rule. Foiling is not necessary, but I feel it provides consistency in moisture and tenderness and I know my brikset will have the exact same texture, tenderness and moisture everytime. Or you can do a search here on High Temperature Brisket for another method that will give you great results as well.
 
Tyler - I feel sorry for you man. At least mark it up to learning. I have not been adventurous enough yet to ever smoke a brisket as it sounds like it is the 'holy grail' of smoking. I can't offer any advice as I haven;t done them myself so the only thing I can tell you - is way to go on getting your feet wet with it. Onward and upward.

Chris
 
<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Foiling is not necessary, but I feel it provides consistency in moisture and tenderness and I know my brikset will have the exact same texture, tenderness and moisture everytime. </div></BLOCKQUOTE>
No, foiling is not necesssary but it does as Larry suggests. The other thing it does, when cooking low/slow, particularly at the lower end of the range, is to mitigate the potential problem of cooking too low for the piece of meat in question. Foil changes the cooking dynamics and, additional to what Larry notes, will trap moisture/renderings that otherwise might be lost if the meat is in fact being cooked at a bit too low a temp for its structure.
 
I was probing the meat regularly and it stopped at 160 for a couple hours then slowly crept up to 180. I was also waiting until the probe went into the brisket 'like butter' to indicate doneness. I felt this was only achieved when it hit 180. Are you suggesting that it was done at a lower temp earlier on in the cook?? Or that I needed to cook it too long (because of low temperature) to get it to 180 and therefore it was overcooked?

I am going to try 250-270 next cook.

Thanks for all the response and the words of encouragement from Chris lol.... It was still dam good mind you!!!

Kevin: I am planning on trying the High Heat Brisket you have mentioned on several threads but I would like to get low and slow method down first. I know it will be good cause any of your suggestions I have used/done from various threads have been spot on
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-Thanks
 
<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">I was also waiting until the probe went into the brisket 'like butter' to indicate doneness. </div></BLOCKQUOTE>
If you felt this at any point it was done, irrespective of temp. (A problem with cooking on the low side of low/slow, if the meat is of lower grade, is that one can lose a bit too much in the way of juices/renderings making the 'like butter' feel harder to determine. Higher temps and/or foiling helps in this regard.)

By all means, get your low/slow technique down. Try high heat at some point when you feel like it.
 
hey just want to add my 2 cents... I used to be the largest producer of boot leather in Texas until I learned of the high heat method. My wife flat refused to let me destroy another brisket. I now have become famous in our little subdivision for fine brisket using the high heat method!!! I have found it to be much easier to dial in than low and slow. This is just my opinon I could be wrong...
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<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by RKruger:
hey just want to add my 2 cents... I used to be the largest producer of boot leather in Texas until I learned of the high heat method. My wife flat refused to let me destroy another brisket. I now have become famous in our little subdivision for fine brisket using the high heat method!!! I have found it to be much easier to dial in than low and slow. This is just my opinon I could be wrong...
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</div></BLOCKQUOTE>


how can you be wrong about what works for you?
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<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">how can you be wrong about what works for you? </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

Just a line I stole from Dinnis Miller. He used to use it after his rants.

Also just finished 2 briskets using high heat to rave reviews. on at 13:45 off at 18:15 cant hardly beat that.
 
<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">but I would like to get low and slow method down first </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

The key to good bbq is getting to know what the piece of meat should be like when its properly done so you can "find" it again. When I first started out, I struggled mightily.

Low and slow tends to drag the process out so I'd end up pulling the meat off way before its done. Checking it every 15 to 20 minutes, when I thought it was nearing done, would show little change in the meat, so I assumed it must be done. Also like Kevin suggests, you might never get to tender, because by the time you get the meat loose its tightened back up from drying. When doubt is an issue, its tough to wait for a meat to finish when going low and slow.

I've found, with all cuts of meat, that starting with some kind of high heat method that speeds up the whole process improves my learning curve. I can knock out a brisket in 4-6 hours which give me more opportunities to practice. Changes in the meat are rapid and apparent, so checking every 15 min when approaching done, will give you a better idea what slightly underdone and slightly over done are like.

Once you have taking a cut of meat to tender, you can then worry about the other variables and decide for yourself if the pros out way the cons for low and slow.

will low and slow be more likely:

to get me to tender without over drying?

to get me to tender in way that's easily recognized and prevent possibly overshooting done?

to fit into my schedule?

improve the overall appearance, taste and texture of the meat?
 
I find high brisket to be a sure thing, the time variable can introduce a lot of things as much can happen in an hour per pound land
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Both taste great, one seems easier to me.
 
What I just find really odd with the whole experience was... at no time did my temperature of the brisket exceed 180 degrees yet it was overdone??

Oh well I am going to try going hotter next time so I can hopefully avoid this altogether. Brisket is a little humbling.... I haven't overdone anything in a long time :/ I am sure next time I will nail it. I have to it my last shot b4 game day!!
 
<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">at no time did my temperature of the brisket exceed 180 degrees yet it was overdone?? </div></BLOCKQUOTE>
It is not about achieving some specific temp, i.e., that some specific temp 'means' done. It is about time -- the time the brisket has to cook, the time for internal rendering to occur. A specific temp might correlate with done but it does not cause done. Because low cooktemps slow the cook time, done is often achieved at lower correlating internals. This is good for very high quality briskets (like Kobes and Primes) because they have the interal fat/tissue to support a longer cook. For briskets of lesser quality it can be problematic (but this isn't always so) because the internal fat/tissue is not enough to support a longer cook, i.e., one loses too much during a slower cook.

Think of it this way: One can cook a brisket sous vide (vac-packed and in a circulating water bath) at, say 150 or 160. It will take many hours -- well over a day -- but the brisket will become meltingly tender, even though its internal temp never can go higher than the temp of the water in which it cooks.
 
Ok this is making more sense... Thanks for your patience!! I can't remember the last time I dried out a product like this so I want to understand all I can to avoid this happening again.

High heat all the way!!
 
On another note wouldn't this support the other thread I opened regarding Paul Kirk's book where he commented Brisket (done low and slow as he does) is done at 160 degrees??
 
Though I prefer high heat for several reasons a low/slow approach can work just fine, as evidenced by the many who do it that way (I used to myself). Low/slow works -- but this does not mean that lower/slower would be even better. For the reasons noted upthread it often isn't.

I have seen the Kirk/160 reference before. I'm not a Kirk fan but would tend to side with those who debated this issue on another forum: it had to be a typo. One would hope so anyway because it's flatly wrong.

Again: Brisket is done when it is tender (which Kirk notes in the paragraph in question). When this will occur is primarily predicated on the relative quality of the meat, its thickness, and the cooktemps used.

See this rather lengthy post -- and this one above it -- for more fleshed out details but I'm sure you get the idea.
 
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