Smoked my first brisket this past weekend and the results were disappointing. I have no qview but here is what i did step by step. Would appreciate any feedback I can get. Bought a 4lb brisket from Wal-Mart (it didn't say flat or point but i assume it was a flat). It had about 1/4" fat cap on it. I scored the cap and rubbed it down with Jeff's rub and let it sit all nite. The next morning I put it in a aluminum pan and put it on the offset at 225 using charcoal and a hickory chunk. (put water pan on lower rack). All seemed to be going well but the meat IT never leveled off around the 140-150 mark like I've heard that it would; just slowly,steadily climbed. (I'm thinking maybe the meat was too lean and had no fat to render off).
The smoke chamber temperature varied from 225-280 (still having a little trouble keeping temps constant). After 6.5 hours the IT hit 165 and I put foil tightly over the alum pan. At 203 IT I foiled the meat, wrapped it in a couple of towels, and placed in a cooler for 1hr. By now it was 7:00p and we were ready for dinner. I cut the meat in 1/2" slices (with the grain which didn't help). The meat was dry and a little tough. I had saved the drippings so I poured them over the sliced meat which helped a little with the dryness by not the toughness. Flavor was really good. But I was dissappointed in the final product.
I'm determined to get this right. If ya'll will straighten me out I promise to learn Qview and will try another brilket and will provide pics.
mike
The smoke chamber temperature varied from 225-280 (still having a little trouble keeping temps constant). After 6.5 hours the IT hit 165 and I put foil tightly over the alum pan. At 203 IT I foiled the meat, wrapped it in a couple of towels, and placed in a cooler for 1hr. By now it was 7:00p and we were ready for dinner. I cut the meat in 1/2" slices (with the grain which didn't help). The meat was dry and a little tough. I had saved the drippings so I poured them over the sliced meat which helped a little with the dryness by not the toughness. Flavor was really good. But I was dissappointed in the final product.
I'm determined to get this right. If ya'll will straighten me out I promise to learn Qview and will try another brilket and will provide pics.
mike