Brisket questions from a Newbie Smoker

danp · Aug 5, 2017

Hi all, I'm new to the forum and to smoking and I am a little confused. I just bought a PitBoss 700 pellet smoker and have been having a great time with it. I have smoked baby back ribs a couple of times using the 3-2-1 method and have been very happy with the results. But I have smoked 2 briskets with mixed results. One was just the flat and one was the entire brisket and both were USDA Choice purchased from Costco. I cooked them both at about 230 degrees and used a 4 hour A-maz-N tube for extra smoke. In both cases I smoked them to 165 degrees, spritzing every 30 minutes or so with a mixture of apple juice and worstershire, and then foiled them with about a cup of the remaining spritzing juice, and put them back on until 200 dregees. At 200 degrees I took them off and put them in a cooler. In both cases they reached 200 degrees in about 5 or 6 hours. The full brisket rested in the cooler for 3 hours and due to time constraints, the flat only rested about an hour.

The full brisket was tasty but a little dry. The flat was also tasty but much dryer than the full brisket. Unfortunately, neither were were as good as I hoped. What am I doing wrong?

Here is my confusion: on the BBQ shows I see them smoke brisket by smoking it for 12 hours with no foil, no spritzing and no resting and they always seem to come out fantastic.

I'm open to advice.

noboundaries · Aug 5, 2017

What were the weights of the flat and the full brisket? Most flats I've seen are in the 5-8 lb range. Most full packers I've seen are in the 10-16 lb range. For a full packer to reach 200F IT in 5-6 hours total cook time the chamber temp would have to be well north of 350F. So either your chamber temp is off, or your probe temp.

Dry tasting brisket means it is undercooked. If the probe slides right in with no resistance, it is done. If you have to push the probe in at 200F, it isn't finished. 200F IT is usually good enough, but not always. Sometimes you have to go higher.

Use the probe test (slides in like a hot poker into butter) to determine when it is finished, and IT as a guide. You'll have better results and be able to figure our if your chamber temp is off, or your probe temp.

Hope that helps.

Ray

acmeglue · Nov 10, 2017

hi all:

I just started experimenting cooking brisket in my pellet smoker. I mainly follow the temperature guide. I wrap the meat at about 170F (no liquid added) and put it in a 280F oven till the internal temp reaches 205F. so far every time the brisket turns out tender and juice (to a degree) except I am noticing that there's a substantial amount of juice from the meat sitting in the alum foil when I unwrap it after 3 hours of resting in a cooler.

naturally I feel if the juice stayed inside the meat, the brisket would be even better.

I've seen videos and read articles about smoking brisket. no one seems to have this "issue".

has anyone else experiencing such or am I doing something incorrectly?

appreciate any comments.

thanks.

gary s · Nov 12, 2017

Also check your temp gauge to make sure it's reading correctly

Gary

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Brisket questions from a Newbie Smoker

danp

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noboundaries

Epic Pitmaster

acmeglue

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gary s

Gone but not forgotten. RIP

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