My Brisket


 
Michael G. (Canada Mike)

Michael G. (Canada Mike)

TVWBB All-Star
So, last night we had the brisket I Q'd overnight. My feeling was that the result was drier than I would have liked, and lacked a real smoky taste.

I began it at 10 pm on Wednesday night using Royal Oak Plus and some pieces of cherry wood and about six fist sized hunks of hickory. It ran in the temp range till morning. I turned and switched the two pieces' racks about 8 am. At that time the internal temp read 140.

I removed the meat at 1 pm, with an internal of 165. At that time the coals had all but nurned out. I kept the meat in a warm oven wrapped in aluminum foil until 5.30 pm, when I put the stove on at 225, and let the meat come to 180 [by internal probe.] Had a great smoke ring pic 1 , and OK flavour, but was on the dry side, and not as smoky as I would have liked.

So, was it the waiting time? Should I go back to using a pan to keep it moist? Not sure waht the cause was. Here's the fatter piece bwefore it went into the over. /MyWebSite/pics/2006-4-Q-102 (Small).JPG

I'm really still a novice, but want this Spring and Summer to be my real Q'ing a lot time, so all help is appreciated.

Best,
Mike

PS: just had a call from my son who could not come to dinner but picked up a slab a while ago, and he and his wife loved it. Go know. M
 
Mike I have done quite a few briskets over the year and a half I have had my wsm. I have made brisket twice by itself. Both times I was not happy about how dry it was. What I do now days is have a butt over top of it basting it all night. I haven't been disappointed since. There has been a time or 2 when the butt just wouldn't work and I put slices of bacon on the top of the brisket. That works but I am not as happy with the result. I cook with fat side down by the way.

In my experience I usually start adding a hand ful of charcoal around 8-10 hours into the cook because there usually isn't enough to finish. I do this about every hour or so. I read somewhere that throwing too much charcoal will drop your temps. So I throw some on 2, 3, or 4 times and that will usually finish a butt for me.

As for smoke wood if it wasn't enough add more next time. Something else you could try is to add it over time. What I mean is start off with the 5 or so chunks you normally do or even cut it back to 4 then at 8 hours add another chunk then maybe another a couple hours later. You might also try mesquite. I love it on big cuts of meat like brisket or butt. I usually only use 2 or 3 chunks and use a different flavor to take it to 6 chunks. I have to admit I was afraid to try mesquite the first time. I was afraid I wouldn't like it. Turns out I do like it. I haven't done a smoke with strait mesquite yet. As far as that goes I don't think I have done a smoke yet using all the same smoke wood. I like the different flavors in the taste. Oh while I am recomending wood I highly recomend the jack daniels pellets (not chips) for smoke. It throws a lot of smoke and it is real sweet. I don't usually use more than 2 packets.

I hope this helps.
 
<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content"> So, was it the waiting time? </div></BLOCKQUOTE>Quite possibly.

Can you describe the brisket more? Was it tender and dry or tough and dry?

If you can get through a whole cook start to finish in the WSM and report on things like brisket size, cook temp, duration, and so forth it would be easier for us to help you. It is hard to say what happened here because it is hard to know with the various changes--e.g., how long was the brisket in the 160s before you pulled it? Did the temp ever drop a few degrees while it was in the 160s before rising again to 165? (All this would indicate if plateau time was adequate.) Was it a cold oven that you put the brisket into--cold till you cranked it to 225 4.5 hours later? Did you check it for tenderness at 180 and pull it because it felt tender or did you just select 180 as your target and pull it then?
 
Thanks for the responses. Jeff, that sounds like good advice, re: adding more colas slowly. I’ll try it.

Kevin, I don’t have nearly all the info you ask for p after all, I was sleeping through a good deal of the process. But, the brisket was not tough, just dry, It stayed at around 160 internal for several hours, and when I pulled it off it was because of the time, not the tenderness. It did seem tender and moist whenever I put a probe in.

The brisket was 11.5 pounds and cut in half., One on each rack. The bottom one had the fat side down, and the top one the fat side up. They were turned and switched about 9 am. They were both put in at 10 pm in a cold WSM, which came to temp, 228, quite quickly. It cooled down about 10 am, but a good stirring of the coals got it up again.

The two pics I tried to insert in my first posting didn’t take, so I’ll try again with direct by putting up the page with the pics. (How do you post pictures?)



Brisket-finished

Smoke Ring

Thanks,
Mike
 
You got the picture posting down.

I was originally going to say that based on your description the brisket was a bit overcooked. However, looking at the pic it looks a bit undercooked to me. (As you know Net pics aren't the best.)

You can try Jeff's suggestion of butt over brisket. I am not a fan of multiple meat cooks so I do not do this but many people prefer this approach. It can give you leeway at finish--often significantly so--but it is not required. What I would recommend, regardless, is to either cook the brisket completely in the WSM, start to finish, or to cook it in the WSM till 165 then finish in a hot oven, wrapped, till done. (I far prefer the former.)

Remember that 'done' is not a measure of time nor temp. It is when the meat is tender and juicy which may or may not correspond to a particular time or internal temp. Timing and internal temp can become more accurate for the individual cook when s/he develops a fairly consistent approach and uses fairly consistent product (or has the experience with enough variables over time to be able to make confident adjustments).

Your finished meat looks pretty close. Try again and see how you do. You'll learn a little more each time.
 
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