Help, meat way too dry!

[South Central PA Smoker]

Hi all! First time poster long time reader. Thanks for all of the great posts, I’ve learned a lot!! Been smoking with my current set up about 2 years now. I originally posted I. The general forum but was given advice to post here (as well as introduce myself in roll call).

So here goes...I’m having trouble with meat being too dry...read “way” too dry! Especially packer brisket and poultry, and sometimes ribs. Ribs have been turning out better since I upped the heat to 250. My brisket is embarrassing...almost too dry to even eat and I have a big grad party for 2 daughters coming up (1 high school 1 college) and I want to try again.

So here’s what I’ve been doing. I have a masterbuilt thermotemp vertical propane smoker. A quality 4 probe thermometer and a pocket instant read thermometer. I always keep water pan full with hot water refills. Cook brisket (salt & pepper rub) at 200-225 (1 of the 4 probes used for air temp) and spritz every 30 min until reaches 170. At 170 I double wrap in peach paper until reaches 203. Let sit in cooler for an hour with a towel over it. Remove brisket, unwrap, and try to chew the shoe leather. It’s literally a black rock!

I notice that my times to reach the “done” temp take longer than all the guidance suggested (brisket, pork, poultry, basically everything). I have used other thermometers/probes so I’m sure air temps and meat temps are accurate. It seems that I am severely over cooking things but the temps are the temps...and when they say they have not reached the temp, I just keep cooking. What the heck, how am I drying everything out/over cooking...all advice is welcome!! Thanks in advance!

 

[mike243]

Its been my experience that when using a water pan I don't need to spritze very much unless its with apple juice to build a bark , I suspect temps and tough sez not cooked long enuf, are you cutting all of the fat off the briskets? try lightly trimming and put fat cap up if your not already

 

[hardcookin]

Probe tender in the thickest part of the flat...
Check to make sure your tempeture gauges are accurate.
I good rule of thumb is to allow 90 minute per pound at 225-ish, 75 minutes per pound at 250-ish and an hour per pound at 275-ish, but each piece of meat is different, and will be done when it is done.

 

[tallbm]

Hi all! First time poster long time reader. Thanks for all of the great posts, I’ve learned a lot!! Been smoking with my current set up about 2 years now. I originally posted I. The general forum but was given advice to post here (as well as introduce myself in roll call).

So here goes...I’m having trouble with meat being too dry...read “way” too dry! Especially packer brisket and poultry, and sometimes ribs. Ribs have been turning out better since I upped the heat to 250. My brisket is embarrassing...almost too dry to even eat and I have a big grad party for 2 daughters coming up (1 high school 1 college) and I want to try again.

So here’s what I’ve been doing. I have a masterbuilt thermotemp vertical propane smoker. A quality 4 probe thermometer and a pocket instant read thermometer. I always keep water pan full with hot water refills. Cook brisket (salt & pepper rub) at 200-225 (1 of the 4 probes used for air temp) and spritz every 30 min until reaches 170. At 170 I double wrap in peach paper until reaches 203. Let sit in cooler for an hour with a towel over it. Remove brisket, unwrap, and try to chew the shoe leather. It’s literally a black rock!

I notice that my times to reach the “done” temp take longer than all the guidance suggested (brisket, pork, poultry, basically everything). I have used other thermometers/probes so I’m sure air temps and meat temps are accurate. It seems that I am severely over cooking things but the temps are the temps...and when they say they have not reached the temp, I just keep cooking. What the heck, how am I drying everything out/over cooking...all advice is welcome!! Thanks in advance!

Hi there and welcome!

The main thing to know about cooking a brisket (or cuts like it) is that the brisket is done ONLY when it is tender.
You will use your temp meat probes to only indicate WHEN to check for tenderness. When the temp prove is showing 195F (I usually wait till 198F) you go and stab all over into the brisket with a toothpic or a kabob skewer or something similar and when it goes in ALL OVER like butter or with hardly any resistance then the brisket is tender and therefore it is done :)

Your temp probes may be faulty. You can test them in boiling water and they should read 212F. If you test in boiling water and they read like 200F and never go up then you know your temp probes are 12F low and that may be a major reason why your meat is over cooked.

Pork ribs, pork butts, beef ribs, and chuck roast are all cuts that are done ONLY when they are tender. You can use temp to help indicate when they are tender and in some cases (pork ribs) you simply know that at a certain temp liek 195-198F on ribs that they should be tender or entering the mark but you have to check before pulling.

With other cuts such as poultry, pork loins, ribeye roasts, etc. you cook to a temperature because they are ready and won't dry out at those temps. So for a chicken or turkey breast you want to hit an Internal Temp (IT) of 165F. So you cook these guys to 165F. You can pull a few degrees low of 165F and the temp should still travel up to hit 165F. If you cook chicken breast over 165F you are just degrading the flavor, tenderness, and juiciness.

I think you are close and you just have to follow these guidelines and ensure your temp probe isn't faulty and understand how off it is, if it is off at all. I have probes that are anywhere from 5F off, 1F off, to dead on.

I hope this info helps! :)

 

[SmokinVOLfan]

Looks like you have already gotten some great advice above. Also you can try brining poultry and injecting briskets/other large pieces of meat to see if that helps with what you are going for in your overall finished product

 

[tallbm]

Oh I forgot to mention. Brisket that is dry and tough is undercooked. Brisket that is dry and wants to fall apart is overcooked. Brisket that is tough and charcoal like is WAAAAY overcooked :)

Knowing the state of your dryness from the 3 listed above helps you understand what is happening to your brisket.