My first brisket, What goes wrong?

[sepidpooy]

I have a masterbuilt electric smoker and today tried to smoke my first brisket (6lbs). The outcome was not juicy at all and very hard to eat. I don't know why it dry out. Would you please help me find out what goes wrong. Here is the steps that I take,

1. purchased a 10lbs brisket last weekend, cut it into two piece of 6lbs and 4lbs and freeze it. We are family of two and 10lbs is too much.
2. in the morning I took the 6lbs piece out of freezer and let it come to room temp by soaking it in the water
3. dried the meat with paper towel and add avocado oil and salt and paper
4. put it into smoker set at 225F at 8am
5. after 4 hour, it hit 175F in the internal temp of its thickest part, then I pull it off and wrap it in aluminum foil.
6. I set the temp to 250F too speed up cooking, noticed that internal temp is going high fast, dialed the temp down back to 225F after half an hour.
7. After 6:5 hour (around 1:30pm) It hit 200F and I took it out of the smoker
8. I let it cool down in the foil for 45min and then started to cut

Here is what I think I need to do next time to prevent the 4lbs brisket dry out:
1. Foil the brisket after 2 hour instead of 4 hour.
2. inject some liquid. Not sure what kind of liquid since I can't use beef broth. Is there any other alternative ?
3. Marinade overnight. Do you have a simple marinade recommendation for 4lbs brisket ?

Not sure if freeze the brisket and unfreeze it by soaking it in the water caused this issue.

 

[SmokinLogs]

Brisket is one of those meats you don’t necessarily cook to a set temp or time. Usually somewhere in the 195-209 degree range you will reach a point where it is tender and juicy and can probe it easy as warm butter with a toothpick or thermometer etc. A couple degree shy and it could still be a little tough/dry. A couple degrees over and you risk it drying out. Every brisket could reach that point at a different degree than the next. Getting one that is close to even size all the way around will help it to cook evenly so you don’t have any spots more tough/tender than the rest. Good luck with the next one. Just curious, why can you use beef broth?

 

[schlotz]

Put a frozen piece of brisket in the fridge to thaw a couple of days before you intend to smoke it.
Were you smoking a flat, i.e. without the point attached? Flats are more difficult to get right. Personally, I smoke the whole packer and after we dine, the remainder is divided up into two person servings, each are vac'd via the food saver and then placed in the freezer. There are plenty of threads on doing brisket do's and don'ts. You'll get there, don't give up. For one approach, see the signature below.

 

[hardcookin]

Here is the link how SmokinAl does his brisket flats. Hopefully it will help you out.

https://www.smokingmeatforums.com/threads/brisket-flat-my-way.277499/

 

[noboundaries]

Dry/tough brisket is undercooked whether frozen or not. I rarely smoke fresh briskets.

Chances are you had the probe tip in a fat seam, which will give you a high meat temp reading, resulting in an undercooked brisket.

Always probe for tenderness, but realize the point will probe tender WAY before the flat due to all the fat. Still, it has to be smoked long enough. Learning the feel of a done brisket, whether wrapped or not, is all part of the process.