My First Brisket


 
A

A Watkins

New member
I'm new to cooking my own BBQ and loving it. This site has been amazing with great info. My first cook was a pork butt and it turned out great. My next cook was brisket and it was dry and tough... I'm about to cook both a pork butt and brisket for the 4th and would like some pointers.

I tried to follow what I had read here and some other places. I used natural coal and mesquite with 20 briquettes to start the fire. Temp control was fine this time (had problems with the pork butt) I pretty much kept the temp between 225 and 250 with most of the cook being in the 230s.

The brisket wasn't a whole packers cut, sadly. It was a flat weighing only 4 lbs. (I got it from a whole cow, the butcher must have cut the briskets in half)

At 163 internal temp, I sprayed it with apple juice (this was around the 3 hour point) That caused the temp of the smoker to go up, because I had the lid off and the meat to drop to 156... Not wanting that to happen, I didn't mess with it any more. I waited for the temp to come back to 165, which took quite a while. At 165, I flipped and wrapped in foil and put it back on the smoker till 188 and pulled it off and put it in a cooler.

Now, my thoughts are

1. Try spraying it more often with apple juice
2. Try flipping it more than once
3. Wrap at a lower temp, like 150
4. Let it go higher to finish like 200
5. Try to find a whole brisket

Does this sound like good reasoning?
 
I have smoked three briskets now..all in the last month or so and all based on what I have learned from this forum and some vids so I'm no expert but they were great. I think you should have taken the internal temp to 195-200. I never flipped mine just foiled them at around 165-170 and put them back in the smoker. I did two where I put them in the over for the foiling and then into the cooler. Mine were full briskets 9-12 lbs. The points took longer to cook than the flat. I did not spray or inject but they were moist. I did use a water pan.
 
Try to find a whole brisket or at least a bigger hunk of flat.

I foil at around at 165 or so, sometimes not.

I have pulled it from 190 to 210, with good results. When the thermopen goes in like butter, it's good. Wrap in towels and let it rest in a chest until time to eat.

I don't think the flipping will make any difference, and I doubt the spraying does much either.

More experienced cooks are sure to weigh in soon.
 
I am by no means an expert either I have done 3 but I have probably read every brisket thread beforehand and picked the brains of many pitmasters. So here are my .02.

1. No need to spray, I try to lift the lid as little as possible, especially if going low n slow.

2. No need to flip either like Chris and Gary said. I go fat side down.

3. I have found the majority who foil do so at 160 or 170

4. If you do foil don't bother checking for temp, the brisket in foil will give you crazy readings, go till tender instead.

5. Definitely try a whole packer, at 4 lbs I am guessing it was seriously trimmed, less fat. If you do try a smaller one again try the HH method instead. http://tvwbb.com/eve/forums/a/...9052/m/896100293/p/1
 
http://i1098.photobucket.com/albums/g371/Hydro312/IMG_0467.jpg[/img] ] http://i1098.photobucket.com/albums/g371/Hydro312/IMG_0466.jpg[/img] ]

Eric, that's a great link

Here is an HH I did with a Picnic Shoulder. The point was on the top and the flat underneath. In this case I used a clay saucer because of the pork. Notice the moisture from fat in the point.
I needed to keep the lid up to maintain the temps so I used a long spike. I now have added a second dome vent. I like the ability to do a brisket on a shorter time frame so HH works for me but I will still do low and slow too. Note no turning or any moisture added.
 
So, I did most everything right except the pull off temp and cut? The temp stayed in the upper 150s and lower 160s for a long time. I was thinking this is where I'm losing moisture, because moisture is being pulled to the surface and evaporating causing cooling. (That is why I considered wrapping earlier, during the stall) I guess you would lose a good amount of bark and smoke flavor that way. Sucks that the cut is bad. That is one of the excuses I used to get a smoker... had 4 briskets in the freezer. They are sadly all on the small side. Thanks for the tip on the high heat method. I'll have to try that on the smaller ones, maybe after trying low and slow for a higher internal finishing temp.

Thanks for the tips, but I think I'm going to chicken out and do all pork butt for the 4th until I get a few good briskets under my belt.
 
Just do what you're comfortable with for the 4th. You can always try brisket later on. Just keep trying, it's the only way to learn-trial and error.
 
If your brisket was tough and dry it was underdone. For novice smokers cooking by temps just screw you up, only temp you should worry about is is the temp of your cooker.

Spraying slows down the cook and makes it harder to keep consistent temps in your cooker. It does not add moisture to the meat.

No need to flip.

Foiling speeds the cook up but messes up your bark so it is a personal decision, I only foil HH brisket.

Cook it till a probe slides through like its going through warm butter. Forget about what temperature the meat is at.

Yes I prefer whole packers but you should be able to get good results with a flat.

Make sure you let it rest for 20-30 minutes tented with foil before slicing if you aren't holding warm in a cooler.
 
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