stubborn brisket

[f.j. tedford]

I Cooked a 8.3# untrimmed brisket all day sunday. The WSM was fired with the Minion method using some oak and hickory as smoke wood. Temps held 225 to 275 at the dome for the entire time. 225 and 275 were less than one hour each. It stayed at 250 for almost the whole cook time. At 11 hours the flat was at 162 deg internal. By 11.75 hrs the flat was 172. Could not hold off the guests any longer. I served half of the flat and foil wrapped the remaining flat and point section and put it in a 250deg oven.

The served portion was thin sliced with good flavor. Thin sliced because it was not as tender as I would have liked. This was a select grade from Albertson's so it was not a better grade of brisket. The foil wrapped portion took an hour to get to 176. Another 3/4 hour got it to 183. It has now been at 250 for about 13.5 hrs. Good flavor but still not tender. In fact the cologen connective tissue was still very visible in the point. I gave up and chopped it for sandwiches. I had used Paul Kirks basic rub and painted the brisket with yellow mustard.

My next brisket will at least be choice and I think I'll go overnight. to insure enough time. Maybe select grades need some kind of marinating to insure tenderness? My guess is this brisket would have gone 14 to 15 hrs to be tender and even then???

 

[Jim Minion]

14 to 18 hours is about the time required.
You could have gone to foil earlier if folks would be waiting.
It's easier to hold meat than try to rush to get it done.
Jim

 

[f.j. tedford]

Thanks once again Jim for the advice. I have seen so many websites and books recently that suggest 1 to 1.5 hrs per pound in the 250 range that I have tended to rush my last couple of trys on the WSM. In this case I guess my grate temps were near 230 or 235 most of the time so I should have anticipated a lot more time. My best efforts with brisket in the past have all been overnighters on the WSM or a kettle with no time constraints.