Dustin Dorsey
TVWBB Hall of Fame
For father's day I cooked a 15 lb choice brisket from Sam's. I changed a few things around from what I normally do based on advice from this board. Here's a few things I noticed.
1. No water in the pan. This is the first time I've done this. I've got the 22.5 WSM. I like to cook at 225 to 250. Without water the temp was extremely hard to manage and once I got above 260 I had a heck of time getting the temp back down. I've had a lot better luck with water. I did notice I used less charcoal. Maybe I've just got a leaky WSM. I'm going to get the cajun bandit door and compression latch soon, and I'll probably do the gasket kit so this may help.
2. Doneness by probe tenderness I typically have cooked briskets with the probe in the thickest part of the meat (point side). I would pull when I hit 203. I hadn't over cooked a brisket doing that. Now I know that's all wrong. This time I test for doneness and at around 196 internal I was almost completely probe tender except for a part of the point. I did verify my temps with a thermopen. When I put the lid back on, the internal temp dropped to 194 and stalled out like crazy. I went for another 45 minutes and was probe tender all around but doubted myself and went another 45. When I pulled internal temp was 199. At this point, after a lengthy rest in a faux cambro(I had to hold it 4 hrs for company coming over), I went to cut it and flat was overcooked and slightly crumbly on the meat side that I had on the bottom. The point which was big on the 15 pounder was an absolute thing of beauty. The fat was perfectly rendered so that probably saved me.
What I learned and what everyone here preaches, is probe tender is the way to go. I know what it feels like now. I probably should have pulled it off when I checked it at 196.
3. Time til doneness.I have no idea. This thing should have taken forever to cook at fairly low cooking temps it was probably ready in about 12 to 13 hours. I've cooked 10 pounders that took 16 so I don't know. I was having guests over and I really WANTED this thing to take longer.
4. Faux Cambro works I had the meat in there for 4 hours and internal temp was still about 157 when I served it so now I know I can hold brisket longer.
5. 2nd Stall What's happening with this? Am I the only one that experiences this? Probably won't matter because I won't be worrying about internal temp as much.
Final Thoughts
So I didn't have the perfect brisket but it tasted amazing and really didn't dry out despite being overcooked. I've wrapped in the past and I use it as a tool but I really like the results I'm getting with a simple salt and pepper rub and not wrapping the brisket. My crust was awesome but on the side that overcooked it was a little hard to cut through.
I learned a lot from this cook. Thanks all for the advice I got here! I'm going to keep working at it and find something that works for me.
1. No water in the pan. This is the first time I've done this. I've got the 22.5 WSM. I like to cook at 225 to 250. Without water the temp was extremely hard to manage and once I got above 260 I had a heck of time getting the temp back down. I've had a lot better luck with water. I did notice I used less charcoal. Maybe I've just got a leaky WSM. I'm going to get the cajun bandit door and compression latch soon, and I'll probably do the gasket kit so this may help.
2. Doneness by probe tenderness I typically have cooked briskets with the probe in the thickest part of the meat (point side). I would pull when I hit 203. I hadn't over cooked a brisket doing that. Now I know that's all wrong. This time I test for doneness and at around 196 internal I was almost completely probe tender except for a part of the point. I did verify my temps with a thermopen. When I put the lid back on, the internal temp dropped to 194 and stalled out like crazy. I went for another 45 minutes and was probe tender all around but doubted myself and went another 45. When I pulled internal temp was 199. At this point, after a lengthy rest in a faux cambro(I had to hold it 4 hrs for company coming over), I went to cut it and flat was overcooked and slightly crumbly on the meat side that I had on the bottom. The point which was big on the 15 pounder was an absolute thing of beauty. The fat was perfectly rendered so that probably saved me.
What I learned and what everyone here preaches, is probe tender is the way to go. I know what it feels like now. I probably should have pulled it off when I checked it at 196.
3. Time til doneness.I have no idea. This thing should have taken forever to cook at fairly low cooking temps it was probably ready in about 12 to 13 hours. I've cooked 10 pounders that took 16 so I don't know. I was having guests over and I really WANTED this thing to take longer.
4. Faux Cambro works I had the meat in there for 4 hours and internal temp was still about 157 when I served it so now I know I can hold brisket longer.
5. 2nd Stall What's happening with this? Am I the only one that experiences this? Probably won't matter because I won't be worrying about internal temp as much.
Final Thoughts
So I didn't have the perfect brisket but it tasted amazing and really didn't dry out despite being overcooked. I've wrapped in the past and I use it as a tool but I really like the results I'm getting with a simple salt and pepper rub and not wrapping the brisket. My crust was awesome but on the side that overcooked it was a little hard to cut through.
I learned a lot from this cook. Thanks all for the advice I got here! I'm going to keep working at it and find something that works for me.
