MES superbowl sunday smoke...

[philip_g]

did a brisket in my MES on superbowl sunday, was only about a 5lb'er.
set it to 225, the temp was pretty stable from 215-225, it was a warm day and I keep a couple bricks in there next to the element and had the pan full of water, the brisket took about 6 hours and I ran it up to about 190 with a digital remote probe.

My question is, it came out tender and delicious but dry, any tips where I went wrong? I foiled it after about 4 hours.

 

[bmudd14474]

did you mop it? also was it a lean brisket? the untrimmed helps because of the fat.

 

[pineywoods]

Did you slice or pull it?
I foil at 160*
Did you let it rest in the foil with a towel around it in a cooler?

 

[ronp]

Are you foiling at 160' with liquid? 6 hours does not seem long enough. MHO.

 

[philip_g]

Sliced, don't care for it pulled.

 

[philip_g]

I let it rest in the oven (off) for 20-30 minutes but I was hungry

 

[philip_g]

It had about a 1/4" fat cap.

I don't like to mop because the MES takes so long to get up to temp after you open the door.

 

[pineywoods]

I like to rest it for at least 1 hour and prefer 2. Its possible you just got a piece of meat that was gonna be dry but you could try injecting it or brining it next time. Might also consider putting a couple bricks into the bottom of the smoker to act as a heat sink may help with recovery times

 

[philip_g]

Yeah I keep a couple of bricks in there, honesltly never noticed it helps much but I leave 'em there anyhow.

 

[darrin]

I'm assuming that it was just the flat since it's only 5 lbs. I would guess that it was just a lean piece of meat. I got a couple from Costco that were the same way. I only get the packers now. They seem to turn out a lot better.

 

[philip_g]

it was, I'm cooking for one so I don't like to get too much.
guess next time I get a packer and just start it around midnight and let it go while I sleep and slice it and freeze the extra in portion size bags. Seems like a load of wood in the MES runs a good 6 hours anyway so I guess it should be OK unattended.