I joined here specifically to master smoked brisket and I’m 0-3 (.000) so far, attempt 4 starts tonight

[MJB05615]

Your 160 It picture also looks good from here. Now let's see when done. What IT will you be taking off the Smoker and resting? How long will you rest it?

 

[EdP]

Your 160 It picture also looks good from here. Now let's see when done. What IT will you be taking off the Smoker and resting? How long will you rest it?

It was probe tender in a few spots at just above 200

Felt like jello when I wrapped it in a towel, it’s gonna rest in a cooler for a couple hours

 

[BigW.]

Some folks let it cool a bit before the cooler rest. That way it will not continue to cook in cooler. Can't wait to see how it turns out.

 

[MJB05615]

It was probe tender in a few spots at just above 200

Felt like jello when I wrapped it in a towel, it’s gonna rest in a cooler for a couple hours

Sounds spot on so far. Hope to see some finished pictures. I agree, let it sit out a bit before placing in cooler, so it doesn't keep cooking in the cooler.

 

[EdP]

This might be my best smoke ever

Tender, juicy, everything

 

[MJB05615]

That looks great! I'd say you've done an excellent job. Thanks for sharing, nice job.

 

[Displaced Texan]

Your percentage is coming up.

 

[912smoker]

Bam nailed it! How was the smoke flavor ?

 

[bauchjw]

Looks awesome, Congrats! Super excited for you, the taste of victory…enjoy!

 

[EdP]

I ate so much of it, I was in a stupor last night

The hot and fast method looked appealing to me, and I’ve had great results with ribs, pork butts, picnic shoulders, and chucks @275+. There must be something I’m missing with brisket.

 

[tallbm]

I ate so much of it, I was in a stupor last night

The hot and fast method looked appealing to me, and I’ve had great results with ribs, pork butts, picnic shoulders, and chucks @275+. There must be something I’m missing with brisket.

It was a good looking brisket!

I think your trimming may be affecting the hot and fast. Also placing the fat side towards the heat should help from meat getting too cooked or burnt.
Look at the bottom pic of my brisket and you will see how little fat I actually trim off, also you will see how I have cut my flat meat off and my brisket is about uniform in thickness across the flat... I also try to buy briskets no smaller than about 15 pounds because of trimming off the flat meat. A 12 pound brisket with 2 pounds of fat trimmed and 3 pounds of thin flat meat removed will not yield much cooked brisket in the end. You can see I was doing 2 briskets and this is post trim on the bottom right picture. Cooked at 275F in my electric smoker, naked the whole way:

 

[foamheart]

The advice I give everyone when asked about brisket. Is it only takes 4 things to make a great brisket. Kosher Salt, Cracked Black, a decent brisket, and most importantly patience.

Quit trying so hard to bend the smoker to your will and allow it to smoke the brisquet the way it wants. Just maintain a low temp and when you pick it up and it jiggles like a bowl fulla jello its done. Then remember how long it took to do it and plan it that long from then own. Well allowing for weather conditions also. Remeber cows and pigs were never taught to tell time, don't expect them to.

Just my two cents.

BTW I see nothing wrong with that brisket except I didn't get any of it.

Just a suggestion, write down what you did and how. Its sounds stupid but its always good to have a refrence when you do it again. I know you think today you'll never forget, but come next year you might might enjoy a refresher.

 

[forktender]

You still haven't mentioned what went wrong with the previous ones.
When are you pulling them off the smoker? How are you holding them before serving?

Get yourself a remote thermo that has a hi/low alarm, that is the only way I'd ever run a smoker unattended for any period of time unless it was in an area that was wide open with nothing around to burn.

 

[EdP]

Looking back, I think my previous mistakes were overtrimming fat for hot and fast cooking. I’ve tried to avoid overnight cooks and that’s worked for butts, picnic shoulders, and chuck roasts @275+

Another difference was this brisket is prime and the others were choice.

This is my best work so far, not sure I could do one better.

 

[thirdeye]

Looking back, I think my previous mistakes were overtrimming fat for hot and fast cooking. I’ve tried to avoid overnight cooks and that’s worked for butts, picnic shoulders, and chuck roasts @275+

Another difference was this brisket is prime and the others were choice.

This is my best work so far, not sure I could do one better.

View attachment 513573View attachment 513574

Prime grade really helps. The next step is to consider wet aging, and this only requires two things: Knowing the kill date (pack date) of the cryopacked brisket, and having a refrigerator in the 34° - 35°F range.

The kill date is printed on the cases, the briskets do not have individual labels until they are removed from the cases. My Sam's Club will let me look through cases to pick briskets, then they print labels with weights and price. Once that I know the kill date I can continue to age the brisket in the cryo pack until it has 30 days of time on it. Sometimes a case of brisket has been stored in their walk in for 2 weeks, meaning I can easily go 2 or 3 weeks longer in my fridge.

It's not recommended to wet age brisket that has been in the display case. You don't know the kill date, and the temp is higher than the 34° - 35° range. This is why the label will have a "use by" date that is only several days away.

 

[EdP]

Prime grade really helps.

well I’m going with what works so it’s prime from now on.

This thing is still going strong.

 

[thirdeye]

well I’m going with what works so it’s prime from now on.

This thing is still going strong.

View attachment 513684View attachment 513685

I can taste that from here!! One other tip.... you sliced these pieces with the grain. I think it's from the point (which is always tender) but slicing against the grain will be more tender.

 

[EdP]

I can taste that from here!! One other tip.... you sliced these pieces with the grain. I think it's from the point (which is always tender) but slicing against the grain will be more tender.

I forgot I wanted to use tallbm’s trim method, and this slicing guide, but this thing’s so tender it doesn’t matter

 

[thirdeye]

I put a cut in the flat to show me slicing direction. After cooking the cut opens to a V which points to the grain direction. Then I cut across that. The point grain is close to 90° from the flat.

 

[RiversideSm0ker]

Hats off to you EdP. That brisket looks amazing. Pat yourself on the back. You earned it.
G