Hello from Northern Virginia


 
P

Phil P

New member
Hello. I’m Phil. I just bought a Smokey Mountain Cooker last Friday. I tried a brisket and ribs on Saturday, which came out awful. Dry and leathery. I also own a kettle and have made excellent brisket on it so I’m not sure what I did wrong.
 
What pit temp did you run and what internal temp did you pull it off? Wrap it in anything and, if so, what temp? Water in the pan or dry?
 
Welcome to the forum! You may want to start a thread in the New WSM Owners forum that includes more details of your cook (what Raleigh asked, plus how long did you cook it). That forum has more traffic.
 
I had the pit temp between 225°F and 265°F most of the time. However, the weather became windier as the day went on. By the afternoon I was not able to get the temp above 180°F. At that point I bought some Reflectix insulation material and wrapped my cooker. That worked great.

I did not wrap and took the brisket off after ten hours and an internal temp of 195° because the meat was tender when I stuck in a skewer. I used water, but it may have ran dry towards the end. I never wrapped it. Also, this was a flat because Costco did not have packers. I settled cuz I really wanted to smoke something.

BTW, I just ordered a DigiQ3, it arrives today.
 
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Temp control was obviously an issue. That you were cooking a flat only played a role because of all the fat of the point rendering and keeping the flat moist. However, the 195 and probe tender is interesting. What was your process after you removed it from the cooker? The current best practice is to let it rest on the counter until it cools to 170, and then wrap and hold for a period of time (1-2 hours) before serving. Another issue can be slicing too much of the meat at once. Brisket needs to be sliced to order and consumed right after slicing. If you cut up the entire flat, it will dry out faster that you would believe is possible.
 
Thanks for the pointers. After I removed the brisket from the cooker I wrapped it in foil for 45 minutes to rest on the counter, and then I had dinner. I cut it at the table to order.

My new rule is to not buy flat only, unless I am braising it in the oven.
 
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