Brisket - What did I do wrong?

[foozer]

I smoked a brisket yesterday. It was the first I had done in several years. It was a little drier than I had hoped for. Here is how it went:

It was a 5.5 lb brisket, probably closer to 5 lbs after trimming. I seasoned it with Jeff's rub Saturday night after trimming the extra fat.
I put it on a 235 degree smoker Sunday AM at 9:00. It was 25 degrees outside.
At Noon the meat was at 145 degrees. Smoker Temp between 235 and 240 the whole time.
It plateaued at 157 degrees from about 1:00 until a little after 2:00.
At 3:00 the meat had reached 170. So I wrapped it in aluminum foil and back on the smoker. What really suprised me was that 1 hour later 4:00 it had reached 190 so I wrapped it in towels and put into a cooler. Sliced it up at 7:00 for dinner (it was still nice and warm) and I was surprised at how dry it was. There was quite a bit of juice in the aluminum foil. It tasted good it just wasn't very moist. It seemed like it had been slighly over cooked.
Any ideas on what I should do differently next time and what may have been the problem this time?

 

[desertlites]

i'm thinking u shoulda pulled it at 170 wrapped and in the cooler then-not back on the smoker-just my thoughts.

 

[bkennedy]

A 5 pounder...Probably could have wrapped it in foil after about two hours..Another thing when you wrap it with foil make sure you sealing it completly..double folded seams and a triple fold on top seam...mainly take care to seal it,,Cause it won't help keep it moist if its able to cook the moisture out while wrapped..

 

[pigcicles]

Foozer - it could have been a lot of things. I don't think your cook was out of line by any means. It very well could have been the cut of meat or the specific cow that it came from. Honestly I would say just re-apply the juices to it, eat it, and move on to the next one. If it comes out dry then maybe there is something going on.

Personally I probably would have cooked it with the trimmings on then discarded them after it was cooked. But that's the way I do em.

 

[psychobrew]

Try trimming the fat after cooking as it can help keep the meat moist. I also believe smaller briskets may dry out faster than larger ones, but I'm not sure about that, and Thick and short may be better than long and narrow. The quality of the meat itself can make a difference. I have the best luck with briskets that are fairly even from side to side.

Did you poke it with anything (fork, etc.)? I never have juice in the aluminum foil, but I don't wrap until it's done and want to hold the temp for a while.

I'm not claiming to be the brisket expert, but thought I'd share a few ideas.

 

[fatback joe]

Based on what you wrote, I would say you did nothing wrong...........now if you do a few like that and they are all dry, then time to dig a little deeper, one small flat kind of dry...........no cause for alarm IMO.

 

[richtee]

Quite possibly here is where the fatal mistake was... leave the fat, especially on a small flat... remove it after the smoke.

 

[richtee]

Huh I should have read all the replies before I replied..LOL! POINTS to you, Brew!

 

[placebo]

Must of been a, "right handed" brisket.

Sorry, I couldn't resist.

 

[psychobrew]

I probably picked those tips up from you or someone else at some point. I guess you could say it's really points to everyone.

 

[flash]

Are you sure your temp gauges are accurate??

 

[foozer]

That thought did cross my mind and I should probably calibrate the the probes on my Maverick ET 73 again. It has been 4 or 5 months since I have done that.

Thanks for the reminder.