First Brisket ever on MES 30

[fracchia23]

Hi guys i cooked my first brisket on my Bluetooth Masterbuilt Smoker but something goes wrong with it.
I rubbed it with 50/50 S&P overnight.I took off the waterpan (i read that nobody use it here so i did the same) Set the smoker at 230*F (the temp always climb between 220-250*F) .I set IT alarm at 195*F ,i sprayed every hour/hour&half with waterI let rest the Brisket for 60min inside of my cooler wrapped with butcher paper.
The end???
Taste good but meat Tooooo dry and an external part of the meat too hard and crispy .
Any suggestion guys?
Ciao from Italy :-)

P.s.
The liquid on the waterpan comes from the meat ,sauces...

 

[smokerjim]

don't know if i'll be much help not a brisket expert, but are you sure your internal probe is accurate, I to never use my water pan in my mes30, did you wrap the brisket towards the end of cook a lot of people do that, unfortunately, not all beef is the same just about every piece will cook a little different, be more tender and juicy, might be you did nothing wrong just a bad cut. i'm sure some of the pro's will be around to help you just thought i'd throw my 2 cents in.

 

[fracchia23]

I have the thermopro tp20.I didn't wrapped to skip the stall.
The vent was wide open

 

[smokerjim]

did you test your probe in boiling water to make sure it is accurate? I'm not sure how important wrapping is some guys do some don't.

 

[fracchia23]

did you test your probe in boiling water to make sure it is accurate? I'm not sure how important wrapping is some guys do some don't.

Ofcourse Both are perfect

 

[jake0531]

You wrapped it in butcher paper after the cook while it rested in the cooler? If so that sounds like your problem. Butcher paper absorbs moisture and if you wrapped it after, those juices redistribute and go out into the butcher paper, hence the extremely hard bark and dry meat

 

[fracchia23]

Oh man :-(
Yes i did it!!! My bad... :-(

You wrapped it in butcher paper after the cook while it rested in the cooler? If so that sounds like your problem. Butcher paper absorbs moisture and if you wrapped it after, those juices redistribute and go out into the butcher paper, hence the extremely hard bark and dry meat

 

[jake0531]

Oh man :-(
Yes i did it!!! My bad... :-(

I would be assuming that’s you’re issue then. If you’re going to wrap, you usually do it when the brisket reaches around 160 degrees to help push through a stall. Now had you wrapped it after in foil and rested it you would’ve gotten a different outcome I believe , since foil doesn’t absorb moisture, you would still have the juices to dump back into the brisket once sliced, and the bark would’ve been softened since you basically steam the meat when you wrap it with foil

 

[jcam222]

I am by no means an expert and I am still working on honing my beef skills. That said for me I rarely find that 195F is getting the meat done enough to break down all the fat and collagen. I like cooking to 205F and even then testing with a probe. If it doesn't slide in like melted butter cook it more. More often than not dry brisket is under cooked brisket. Also I find it important to inject the brisket with a healthy amount of broth at least 4 hours prior to the cook. Relative to the bark if you don't like the crispy bark put it in a pan around 160F with about a cup of broth and cover tightly with foil. The bark will soften. Not an issue for me as i LOVE that crispy bark. I rest mine when done in the cooler for about 2 hours prior to slicing. I have also learned to slice as needed not slice ahead. Dries out very quickly once slice.

Relative to the water pan I am in the minority. I always use one. For beef I put about 4 quarts of broth in it to start. Part way through if its cooking off I refresh it with a couple more quarts. Once the cook is over I refrigerate that. Once cold you can skim the fat. I will further dilute that with broth as it may be very salty. The result is an amazing smokey au ju that my guests LOVE. I have bags of in in the freezer to use on indoor cooking as well. It is a cant miss step for me. I do the same on my pork butt cooks and mix it back in the pulled meat.

 

[lunchmeat]

I would be assuming that’s you’re issue then. If you’re going to wrap, you usually do it when the brisket reaches around 160 degrees to help push through a stall. Now had you wrapped it after in foil and rested it you would’ve gotten a different outcome I believe , since foil doesn’t absorb moisture, you would still have the juices to dump back into the brisket once sliced, and the bark would’ve been softened since you basically steam the meat when you wrap it with foil

Ive seen pros wrap in butchers paper, I am not sure thats the issue.... but I always use "the texas Crutch" which is foil lol

 

[Preacher Man]

I wrap in butcher paper and leave it that way through the cooler rest and it doesn't hurt the moisture content of the meat at all. The butcher paper really doesn't soak up much moisture before it reaches a saturation point.

Anytime you have dry brisket it's usually due to undercooking. That would be my guess with yours. At 193° I start probing with a bamboo skewer until it slides in with no resistance. The lowest I've ever had to cook brisket to is 198°. Usually I take them to 203°-205°.

 

[Bearcarver]

Hi guys i cooked my first brisket on my Bluetooth Masterbuilt Smoker but something goes wrong with it.
I rubbed it with 50/50 S&P overnight.I took off the waterpan (i read that nobody use it here so i did the same) Set the smoker at 230*F (the temp always climb between 220-250*F) .I set IT alarm at 195*F ,i sprayed every hour/hour&half with waterI let rest the Brisket for 60min inside of my cooler wrapped with butcher paper.
The end???
Taste good but meat Tooooo dry and an external part of the meat too hard and crispy .
Any suggestion guys?
Ciao from Italy :-)

P.s.
The liquid on the waterpan comes from the meat ,sauces...

OK----The reason you don't want water in the pan in an MES is because the MES already has plenty of humidity in it, because it is insulated so good.
SO STOP OPENING THE DOOR TO SPRAY !!! You're Drying everything out!
It does nothing to the meat except every time you open the door you're letting humidity out, and you're causing your MES to have to heat up to catch up because of the heat it lost while the door was open. You're causing it to dry out every time you open the door.
Just leave it alone & don't open the door all the time. If you want to add a liquid mixture, put some in a pan @ 165° and cover it with foil until it's done.

Here is a Brisket Flat Smoked in an MES (Step by Step):
Brisket Flat

Bear

 

[normanaj]

I've done a ton of brisket in my MES(s) and Bear nailed it.Opening the door constantly is certainly your issue.

I foil up the water pan,stick an A-MAZE-N tube packed with crushed pellets in the bottom left and call it a night.Get up the next morning replace the spent tube with a fresh one.Door opens once in a 12hr period and if the tray works for you you'll not even have to open the door at all.

 

[Preacher Man]

crushed pellets

'splain yourself, please

 

[normanaj]

'splain yourself, please

I can't take credit for that!That was chopsaw's idea.
https://www.smokingmeatforums.com/threads/burning-dust-in-the-amnts.282571/

Pellets just ground up with a cheapo coffee bean grinder,not quite dust but more of a "crushed" consistency.Depending on what brand/flavor pellet I get between 5-6hrs of TBS per 6" tube(w/u-bolt mod).

 

[fracchia23]

Thanks a lot guys for you help.
Have to know that in Italy we never cook Low&Slow so im new too about this way of cooking and i want to be good.
Next brisket i will never open the doors every 90min to spray it.
However i have the Masterbuilt attachment and i use to burn pellets on it and the chimney added at max give me a smoke for about 4/5hours,if i close at half the Vent i have 6 hours of smooking (close to 3 cups of pellet)