Brisket troubleshooting

[bbqnerd]

hey all, smoked a 12 lb prime brisket on my offset pecos for Christmas. This is my 3rd or 4th one, turned out just ok. My temps stayed pretty consistent, never really went north of 300, usually sat around 275. Problem is a crispy/hard bottom. I can’t figure out why it’s happening! The rest of the brisket is good, but the bottom is really tough, like it’s burnt (but it’s not). I would wrap earlier, but the bark on the rest isn’t dark enough. I use a boiler plate on the pecos. Also, it never really got a good dark bark, so I don’t think I wrapped to late.. I used hickory. Any ideas?

 

[motocrash]

Looks good....Mo rub make Mo bark....

 

[radio]

where did you have it positioned on the grates? If too close to the firebox the bottom can get dry even with tuning plates. you might try checking the bottom for dryness and then place the brisket on foil with a bit of beef broth and leave the top uncovered until it reaches your desired level of bark color, then foil the whole thing to finish

 

[bbqnerd]

where did you have it positioned on the grates? If too close to the firebox the bottom can get dry even with tuning plates. you might try checking the bottom for dryness and then place the brisket on foil with a bit of beef broth and leave the top uncovered until it reaches your desired level of bark color, then foil the whole thing to finish

That’s a solid point. Especially since it’s only the flat side that seems to be hard, and I do tend to have heat spikes on the far end where the flat is. Thanks! Probably just need to mess with placement.

 

[SmokinAl]

Smoke it fat side down to protect the bottom from the heat.
Al

 

[KevSher5020]

What he said ^