Evaluating my Smoke Day Brisket

[Derek S]

I decided to tackle my first Brisket for this years Smoke Day. I had a 6lb trimmed cut from my butcher and ended up cooking it for about 12 hours btw 225 and 250. At about 8 hours the brisket temp hit 185 then dropped into the 170's and took about 2 hours to come back up to the 180's. I decided to leave it on a little longer as my guests were not arriving for a 6 more hours. Ended up pulling it at 12 hours and 200 degrees and left foiled in a small cooler for 3 hours prior to serving. The meat ended up very tender (almost pulled apart) but also very dry. I'm guessing I should have pulled it from the smoker a bit earlier. Any comments?
Thanks

 

[Dan Wicker]

I've only done two briskets. One was foiled at 165, and the other one did not get any foil. Both had excellent flavor, but the foil at 165 was a big difference maker in terms of juiciness.

 

[dsitterson]

Sounds like it went a little too long when they are in pull a part stage. I cooked several like that nothing wrong with the taste or tenderness they just don't slice well.

 

[K Kruger]

Yes, too long. 185 would have been a good point to check its tenderness and then gauged from there. Were it not at all tender then going maybe 30-45 min before checking again would be in order Were it somewhat-fairly tender then just another 15 before re-checking. Were it tender then of course you'd pull it right then. My guess was that it was at or fairly near tender at the 8-hour mark.

 

[Bryan S]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by Derek S:
200 degrees and left foiled in a small cooler </div></BLOCKQUOTE>
One thing to remember is this. After you remove the meat from the WSM or any heat source, it will continue to cook because of "carry over heat" The more mass the more carry over heat you will get. This results in further cooking of the meat once removed from the heat source.

 

[Bob in Fla]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by Derek S:
I I had a 6lb trimmed cut from my butcher </div></BLOCKQUOTE>
I think that's at least part of the problem. No fat.
Fat = moisture and flavor, at least IME.
The smallest brisket that I ever had turn out good was a 10 pound packer.

BOB

 

[Dan H.]

I basicly had a smoker in mind just for briskit! I've never foiled any of mine and would be glad to serve any of you, except for a couple I totally screwed up.. woops. But next time I think I'll try foiling around 165... can anyone back up that I might be doing a good thing and what does this help w/... more moisture or do people do this to collect maybe a bit more drippings for serving? btw, what bob said makes an awful lot of sense to me... and gosh darn it fat side down!

jk whatever you like.... but really..

 

[Steve Burch]

I cooked my first brisket on Memorial day. Mine went longer then I expected by about 1.5 hours due to a cooking glitch while I was gone mowing grass for a few hours and the WSM ran out of charcoal.

I pulled it when it seemed probe tender. temp readings ranged from about 180-190 depending on location. I only did the flat section.

Wrapped tight in foil and rested for an hour before slicing it up. 1/4" slices would JUST stay together, any pulling would tear them apart.

Tasted really good.... but I've never had brisket to compare it to. I'd certainly do another although I really prefer butts (my favorite food)!

 

[jdaniels]

I smoked my 3rd brisket (13+ lb) yesterday. I fired the wsm up at 10:15 Sunday night, brought it up to 200 by 11 and put the brisket on. The WSM held the temp at 200-210 for another 1.5 hours so I went to sleep. I woke up at 7:30 and the temp was still 200. Around 9:30 I bumped the WSM temp to 250. I brought the brisket to 165, put it in an uncovered disposable aluminum pan to catch the drippings and continued smoking with the probe in until 182. At this point I took the probe out and came back 1/2 hour later to check if it was done. I continued checking every 20-30 minutes until the probe went in with little resistance. I have no idea what temp that was because I've always been told not cook brisket (or ribs) to temp, but it was pulled at 1:30 pm(14.5 hours). I pulled the brisket, seperated the point and wrapped the flat in foil and put it in a cooler for 2 hours until my company arrived and was ready to eat. I wasn't expecting to have it sitting in the cooler for that long and was a bit worried, but it came out great.

For what it's worth, I forgot to close the vents until 8pm, the WSM was still at 215. I started with a full basket of Wicked Good briquettes and some chunks of pecan and hickory, I added another chunk in the morning. Next time I won't use as much charcoal, the "wicked good" just seems to last forever.

 

[Mary M]

Another Memorial Day first-brisketer here -- mine a 13 pounder that I trimmed a little lean but still left with an unbroken cover of fat on the fat side. I cooked it 13 hours by the Lilies of the Field method, which combines the Minion method with beer, sleep, house chores and indifference...took it off at 195 (yeah, I said it), foiled the whole thing, stuck it in the cooler, drove off to a party. Sliced the flat and shredded the point there, it was plenty moist and gone in 20 minutes. Go figure...

 

[Rich Langer]

My briskets used to be dry - then I started foiling at 165 - OH YEAH. Either cook at 250 or 350, both work but the overnight cook impresses folks.

We are eating GREAT sandwiches