Help pinpointing the issue


 
B

BrianK

New member
Hi. I had a disappointing brisket yesterday and would love to get some thoughts on where I went wrong. I have a 22" weber bullet. I was cooking a 7 lb flat. I had a wireless prob in the meat and on grate. It was on for 10 hours. I took it off at an internal temp of 181 and let it rest for an hour in a cooler. It was dry when I sliced it. I basted twice. I did not rotate during. I had fat side down, top rack. The average temp was about 240. I had a period of about 30 mins when it ran at 259 after I basted. Other than that i was between 235 and 245 most of the time. Higher than i was targeting but i relied on the internal temp for when to take it off. Thanks for any help. Bk
 
BrianK said:
i relied on the internal temp for when to take it off
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There's your problem.

It's done when it's done, not when the internal temp hits some point.

I don't even start testing for doneness until 195 internal, and I've pulled briskets anywhere from 195 to 205. Dry almost always means undercooked. Seems counter-intuitive, but that's the way it works. If it's dry, you didn't cook it enough. If it falls apart when you pick it up, you cooked it too much. Properly done is when a probe pokes into it like warm butter--just a tiny bit of resistance.
 
Yes, I think it was pulled too early, definitely go to 195 where you can insert a fork and twist with just a little force.
 
Throw your thermometers out and learn to cook by touch, sight and feel. Only temperature you should be worrying about is the pit temperature and make sure the therm. your using for that is accurate. A brisket cooking between 225- 275 will take 1-1.5hrs/lb use that as a guide and make sure you leave the meat on long enough to get probe tender. New brisket cooks almost always take the brisket off to soon.

Dry and tough=underdone
Dry and crumbly= overcooked

After taking it off the cooker make sure you let it rest 20-30 minutes before slicing or wrapping in foil to hold warm.

If you learn to cook BBQ without gadgets then you'll know how to cook under just about any conditions.
 
Bob Sample said:
If you learn to cook BBQ without gadgets then you'll know how to cook under just about any conditions.
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Yeah, this.

I'm a total gadget-head--all my Q so far has been cooked with the benefit of my Maverick remote probe. Well, until this weekend when the probe went super wonky (wouldn't show a pit temp at all, and the remote display lost sync). Pretty sure it's just dying batteries, but I couldn't be bothered to change them. Cooked using nothing but the dome thermometer and testing for doneness by feel. Turned out some really good ribs, a tri tip, and a bone-in turkey breast.

That said, I'm a big believer in using the gadgets to get actual data on what's going on with the pit and the meat. It's just that while you're learning, you should also be observing stuff like what your dome reads, what your vents are set at, and what the meat looks and feels like. Once you've got your "cooking by feel" calibrated, you can toss out just about everything else and still make good Q.
 
Thanks all for the advice. I have made this mistake before with pork shoulder. Will plan more time. Curious with my Maverick wireless - only my second time using it, it is 20 degrees lower reading from the grate than the built in dome thermometer. Is this common? Thanks. Brian
 
BrianK said:
Thanks all for the advice. I have made this mistake before with pork shoulder. Will plan more time. Curious with my Maverick wireless - only my second time using it, it is 20 degrees lower reading from the grate than the built in dome thermometer. Is this common? Thanks. Brian
Click to expand...

Yes, it is very common. The key is to trust the one you are the most comfortable with and don't worry about the other. For me, I trust my Maverick and just look at the dome thermometer out of curiosity. Take a look at the amazingribs.com site (http://amazingribs.com/BBQ_buyers_guide/thermometer_buying_guide.html) for a good primer on thermometers. Good luck.
 
pick one for regulating temps and stick with it. My grate therm always reads about 25 degrees higher than the dome.!? You will get the hang of it. "Man with one watch always knows what time it is. Man with two watches, never quite sure." unknown
 
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