Not happy with my first brisket :(


 
Thanks for all the replies everyone!!

I used that same smoke wood a week or so ago when I did ribs and you could definitely taste it on there. So it was probably a matter of quantity then.

When i do pork butts, i typically smoke till the 190's and then wrap with foil, then towels and then put it into a cooler. When i did my research, most people seemed to avoid the foil and cooler with a brisket...so that's what i went with. Also, this was my first time using the paper. I doubt that affected anything because it was still plenty juicy...just fatty as all get out!

Well, hopefully some day i'll get over my disappointment and try it again. Until then i'm stickin' with my pork ribs and butts :)
 
I like cooler time too.
Mostly because of briskets too hot to eat when you first take it off.....

Personally I don't think it adds any cooking but it does allow it to cool to a decent temperature slowly...

Im usually looking for 203 in thickest part, but I'll end up bailing out if the flat is getting too hot in places. It's good to have a nice thick flat. Everything is more uniform.

and realize it's pretty hard to get a 6 inch thick fat filled end, and 1 inch thick lean part both done at the same time.....which is why most people make burnt ends out of their point it's not good when they first take it off. But when it's is all rendered out it makes the best chopped brisket sandwiches you can get. I get this more with choice briskets.
 
There will be carryover cooking in the cooler. Only use the cooler as a warmer, or a cambro, after its dropped to near safe level of 140* .

My brisket last Saturday, cooled from 207 to 185 in about an hour , wrapped, on the counter. I pulled it about 3:30 and it got down to 155 by around 5:30 .

But I don't think that's the reason the fat in the point did not render.

I was chronic about pulling meats too early. It was a fault. And I still struggle with ribs because the done window is narrow. But with brisket, I've learned the hard way that its best to over cook, rather than pull too early. That's the reason I ran this brisket up to 207. The point is like a pork butt, its forgiving because it has so much fat and over cooking won't be much of a factor. But an over done flat is preferable to an under cooked flat, which will be dry.
 
Do you guys base your temp and readiness on how the flat is performing? Wouldn't that just mean an undercooked point? I've always probed the point for 195f.

I get seperating the point and flat as they are at different temps, but ideally you wouldn't have to, right?
 
I put the temp probe where I think the point meets the flat ........ or my best guess, and I hope that I don't put it in the fat seam. So I'm probably measuring point as I'm wary of going too deep.

I'm thinking about running the probe in from the side, about the same location but above the fat seam.
 
Lynn Dollar said:
I put the temp probe where I think the point meets the flat ........ or my best guess, and I hope that I don't put it in the fat seam. So I'm probably measuring point as I'm wary of going too deep.

I'm thinking about running the probe in from the side, about the same location but above the fat seam.
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The side is the best way to do it on a brisket when to comes to probe placement. I'm running a brisket right now, had a probe in the top portion, inserted from the side. Now, I just put in a probe on the flat, from the side. Hitting my stall at 173F on both.
 
Amazon Photos just showed me my pics from this day last year, this is a Creekstone brisket I was smokin this day last year, I forgot that I was putting the probe in the side. I have no memory, any more. But I do recal lthis brisket being the best I've smoked and I've not been able to replicate it 20190727_171358.jpg

20190727_133141.jpg
 
Seneviseth L said:
Do you guys base your temp and readiness on how the flat is performing? Wouldn't that just mean an undercooked point? I've always probed the point for 195f.

I get seperating the point and flat as they are at different temps, but ideally you wouldn't have to, right?
Click to expand...
Believe it or not the point will be tender before the flat is and it generally can handle more cooking. I would place the probe in the thickest part of the flat.
 
Here's ya a brisket trim for the backyard. Franklin and others on YT, are trimming either for barbecue joints or for competition. I do an aggressive trim because I plan on grinding the trim, but Matt Pittman here makes a lot of sense for the backyard

 
When I was at Weber* there was an expectation that the trim was going to be different. But I was not expecting as much. There were several layers. First okay, second you start to wince. As the pain becomes uneasy, the cuts just keep going. As you start to get weak you bargain. Well at least they will save the trimmings and use them. But its no use. Next you think to run and snatch the poor brisket and take it to safety. Then when it is all over and you wipe the cold sweat from your forehead, you see that they want every piece of that brisket to be been perfect.

It was hard to watch but in the end it was educational. Of course as someone who doesn't mind dry and overcooked part of flat...
*just a Weber class.
 
Willie (Green Bay) said:
Yeah, it's not the seam fat i'm referring to, it's all the fat within the meat. I tried to blow the picture up I posted earlier so you can see it better below. See all that translucent structure in the middle?
View attachment 9830
Click to expand...

YT vid from fella whose worked at a few Texas barbecue joints, he talks about the fat in the point that is intramuscular. I still think maybe your's did not render enough, but he this guy is OK with it, vid will start where be begins slicing the point

 
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