Help with brisket in the smoker

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lutznutz

Fire Starter
Original poster
Jan 24, 2010
31
10
Lutz, FL
It's been awhile since I've done a brisket, and after reading around I decided on this method:

1. Brisket in pan, smoke at 250 degrees until thickest part is 165.

2. Cover pan in foil.

3. Increase temp to 300 and cook until 195 at thickest part.

4. rest 1 hour and slice.

This is in my propane Smoke Hollow. The brisket weighs 7 lbs.

I put a brisket in the smoker around 9am, and it's already up to 190 degrees and still tough as nails. I've turned the heat down to 225 and covered it.

I'm not sure what I should do now, the brisket has hit the temp marks but it's still tough, and it's been in the smoker less than two hours. I have no idea what to do, other than leave it be.
 
Something doesn't sound right   Smoking at 250 º  7 # brisket  190 º IT  in 2 hours ?    You need to check your temp gauges, something is way off unless your brisket is super thin ?    I smoked a 10 pounder the other day smoker at 225 º and took me 13 hours

Gary
 
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Yea, I thought it might be the temp gauge, but it was fine when I used it Saturday to smoke some pork shoulders. I'll pull it and do the ice/boiling test.

EDIT: Temp gauge (Taylor Weekend Warrior) read 35 in the ice test, 208 in the boiling water, which seems within spec for that kind of probe.
 
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LN, the original plan is solid.  Even if your smoker temps were off and you were at 500F in the chamber, you might get to a 190F IT in two hours on a 7 lb brisket. 

I've had one quick read thermometer, one Maverick food probe, and one Mav chamber probe either fail or start giving false readings in the last two months.  When I say to myself "something ain't right," that's when I pull out my backup probes and second quick read to double check my readings.   Sounds like you've got something similar going on.  Listen to your instincts when things don't seem right. 
 
Thanks!

I dug out one of my pocket dial thermometers and it reads 170 in the thickest part. guess my probe is going on my Taylor and its time to buy a Maverick.

I'm going to leave the smoker at 225 for a hour or so and see what happens temp wise.
 
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Definitely an inaccurate thermometer. I bought a cheap one at Lowes and it was spot on. Just pulled the brisket after it hit 205, confirmed by several thermometers too.

Nothing makes you panic like messing up $50 worth of meat!

Q-Views coming up later!
 
 
Definitely an inaccurate thermometer. I bought a cheap one at Lowes and it was spot on. Just pulled the brisket after it hit 205, confirmed by several thermometers too.

Nothing makes you panic like messing up $50 worth of meat!

Q-Views coming up later!
Get some tooth picks let them tell you when it is done. When they can probe the meat like a hot knife in butter it is done.
 
Q-view and report:

The brisket was tender, not failing apart or mushy but did separate cleanly with a gentle pull. the point was a little dry, but not enough to be problem. I liked that it was firm enough to slice cleanly but broke apart when bit into. I wish the smoke ring was bigger, I used oak and orange, and it smoked for a good 3 hours. all in all, I'm ok with it and it turned about better than my last brisket, which took 16 hours and was tough.

 
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