Brisket on OC Wrangler

[Drum&Que]

Hey y’all! I’ve cooked two briskets on my OC Wrangler and I’ve done them both fat side up. The bottom of the brisket has been too hard both times.
many advice on what might be causing this and how to avoid it!?
Thanks in advance for any help and advice y’all can give me.

 

[schlotz]

What temp are you smoking at? Is that temp coming from what the built-in thermometer indicates? If so these are notorious for being off. Get yourself a good calibrated reporting therm and measure the actual grate temp. Hard bottom to me indicates too much heat. Not that familiar with your smoker but raising the meat to a second rack or putting on a wire rack on top on an aluminum pan come to mind as possible solutions. The other obvious one is to run fat cap down.

 

[BigW.]

I'd go fat side down next time. Will act as a heat shield. If that doesn't work, you can always wrap/put in a pan etc after a couple hours.

 

[Drum&Que]

What temp are you smoking at? Is that temp coming from what the built-in thermometer indicates? If so these are notorious for being off. Get yourself a good calibrated reporting therm and measure the actual grate temp. Hard bottom to me indicates too much heat. Not that familiar with your smoker but raising the meat to a second rack or putting on a wire rack on top on an aluminum pan come to mind as possible solutions. The other obvious one is to run fat cap down.

I use a probe to monitor the grate level temp and I try to cook around 275. Since it’s a smaller cooker maybe I should drop down to 250 or 260? Next time I’ll try and cook at around there and move the brisket to the center and turn it perpendicular to the length of the cooker. If that doesn’t work, I’ll go fat cap down. Old Country Wrangler is a regular offset stick burner. It’s in my profile pic.

 

[schlotz]

Lower temp is just a personal preference. I've also done them at 275º. Have you done the testing to see whether there are hot spots at different places on the grate with your therm? Most likely one of the other suggestions will be a better solution. Simplest would be to go fat cap down.

 

[Drum&Que]

Thanks! Before i go fat cap down I think I should test for hot spots (most likely closest to the stack) and then maybe try the pan underneath solution. The fat cap renders really well which is why I don’t want to try it fat cap down just yet.
my all are super helpful!