need help with brisket

[looksdone]

Hey everybody,I'm new here so please bare with me.

Cooked my forth brisket(about 8#) on my mes40 today, same problem each time.

These eight pounders are getting up 190 i.t. in about 5 to 51/2 hours. I thought it

was supposed to take alot longer. I'm using three thermometers..the one on the

mes, maverick 732 and a hanging oven job. The 732 and the oven job read the same

as mes,+ or - one or two degrees. My wife loves the brisket but it's driving me crazy.

I cook to 160 then foil to 190 (for slicing) they taste pretty good but I think they could be more

tender. What is the max temp you would take it to?

Sorry.....smoker is cooking at 225-230 and two of the thermometers have been tested in

boiling water about 212, and retested oven thermometer in oven it's dead on.

 Temps appear to be correct and everything else I have smoked has been great.

 Thanks, Don

 

[oldschoolbbq]

Looksdone, hello and Welcome to the Bunch.

As for the Brisket ,( this is IMHO only ; you'll get a bunch of answers , read them and decide your plan).  Are you doing "whole" Briskets...with the Point and Flat or just the trimmed Flat

. The leaner Flat will be done quicker , and not having the time to break what Collagen there is in the Muscle , you'll have a tougher Meat.

I have done Flats at a 200° Grate temp. to 190° and got good results .  I have also wrapped Flats in Bacon to keep it moister . That's why I get a Packer when I do Brisket .

Have fun and...

 

[looksdone]

Thanks oldschool, I think it was a trimmed flat. It said"trimmed brisket " on the package.

I asked the butcher at the grocery store for a packer and he looked at me like I was on crack.

Pulled it out of the cooler about an hour ago along with some beef ribs and it turned out pretty

good, just didn't understand why they cook in about five and a half hours, same amount of

time as the ribs.
 

 

[bbqhead]

Welcome to the SMF !  one idea I thought of is when you foil maybe put a couple spoonfulls of broth or apple juice inside of foil . also cook IT to 205* , after that remove and wrap in a towel for @ 1 hour or so.  when you are ready to eat should be awesome and tender ! hope this might help out.  
 

 

[pkerchef]

One other thing to be sure of is if you are slicing it properly always across the grain. If you slice it with the grain will be tough as shoe leather.Pkerchef
 

 

[pkerchef]

5 1/2 hours for a trimmed flat sounds about right to me. I have seen some of these comp teams do a packer in 5 1/2 hours  but they power cook hot and fast but hey works for them and they get calls doing it so i salute them. I would look for maybe a Sam's or some other big club like that they always have packers. Smaller meat markets and ones that serve the masses have on hand what the majority wants if they don't get many calls for a bigger brisket they may have never seen a whole packer. These same places routinely take a whole boston butt and cut pork steaks off of it and trim it down to say 5 pounds because not many people can use a 10 pounder . I prefer to do a whole Boston Butt so i ask them to get them from the back and they are usually in a 2 pack cryovac. Roughly 20-25 pounds. I cook t5hem both and vacum seal the leftovers . Pkerchef