New Recteq Smoker/Dry Brisket

[Sunseekr5]

Hi Everyone, I have been a follower for years and receive the emails almost daily. Per your review I recently purchased a Recteq smoker. I tried my first brisket recently and was a bit disappointed with the outcome. I found the final product to be quite dry. I did wrap the meat at about 165*. I set the smoker at 240* and it did hold temp much better than my old Traeger.
Any suggestions will be much appreciated.
Thank you,
Sean Kelly

 

[GatorAGR]

Curious to see responses from others. I've never been thrilled with my briskets either though I have a Kamado Joe. Eventually I'll get a RecTeq. My buddy, who is very much an amateur makes brisket every New Years Eve and it's the best brisket I've ever had. Makes me crazy :)

 

[Coreymacc]

Hi Everyone, I have been a follower for years and receive the emails almost daily. Per your review I recently purchased a Recteq smoker. I tried my first brisket recently and was a bit disappointed with the outcome. I found the final product to be quite dry. I did wrap the meat at about 165*. I set the smoker at 240* and it did hold temp much better than my old Traeger.
Any suggestions will be much appreciated.
Thank you,
Sean Kelly

We are going to need a pretty detailed procedure, dryness can be from a lot of things. Maybe layout a bit of detail including your rest and any holding you may have done. How you checked doneness etc.

Corey

 

[okie sawbones]

First off, what grade meat did you use, select, choice, or prime. Second, did you inject the brisket? Then what did you wrap it in? Did you cook until probe tender, around 200-206. Did you cover and let the brisket rest for 2-4 hours? Lots of questions.

 

[miller51]

We are going to need a pretty detailed procedure, dryness can be from a lot of things. Maybe layout a bit of detail including your rest and any holding you may have done. How you checked doneness etc.

Corey

Agreed, some pictures also might help, what did the trim/cut of meat look like? How long? What was the final temp, was it tender or falling apart? Ect..

Even though this may not be relevant, something else to keep in mind I was taught a while back is the wrap doesn't come at any specific temp unless thats "your technique" and preference, it should be done in the stall and the meat will hit that temp and just sit there for a while... wrap after its in the stall might be 168*, might be 175* etc...

Good luck and keep at it, I just got a recteq in September and so far, it's been great, slight leaning curve but I've produced some good work with it, brisket included...

 

[Fueling Around]

Welcome to SMF
Was the brisket probe tender? "Dry" is usually an indication of under cooked brisket.

 

[schlotz]

Yup, plenty here are willing to help but you need to provide a lot more information like okie sawbones asked. BTW: was this brisket a whole packer or only the flat?

 

[sandyut]

Yup, need more intel on what you did.
Flat or whole packer?
finish internal temp
time etc.

I have a rec teq and run FP's regularly without issue. Flats on the other hand are bit of a PITA IMO.

I run FPs at 275 start to finish. I dont mess with wrapping, spritzing or any of that.

And welcome to SMF

 

[luvcatchingbass]

Lots of good questions above looking to help. I've done briskets in a variety of cookers and methods from kettle to small cheap offset, cheap electric cabinet and pellet, season and onto smoker 30min later, overnight dry brine, inject, 12-24hr marinade. The times I have ended up with a dryer than preferred are normally directly related to the quality of brisket I purchased.

 

[Sunseekr5]

Agreed, some pictures also might help, what did the trim/cut of meat look like? How long? What was the final temp, was it tender or falling apart? Ect..

Even though this may not be relevant, something else to keep in mind I was taught a while back is the wrap doesn't come at any specific temp unless thats "your technique" and preference, it should be done in the stall and the meat will hit that temp and just sit there for a while... wrap after its in the stall might be 168*, might be 175* etc...

Good luck and keep at it, I just got a recteq in September and so far, it's been great, slight leaning curve but I've produced some good work with it, brisket included...

Sorry but I do not have any photos. I do, however, have a few more pieces of information: I did wrap the brisket in butcher paper at 165*. I did test it for doneness at 204* with a digital thermometer. I let the meat rest for about 2 hours in a cooler while still wrapped in the butcher paper and surrounded by towels. I did not inject or baste the brisket. Hope this helps.

 

[Coreymacc]

Sorry but I do not have any photos. I do, however, have a few more pieces of information: I did wrap the brisket in butcher paper at 165*. I did test it for doneness at 204* with a digital thermometer. I let the meat rest for about 2 hours in a cooler while still wrapped in the butcher paper and surrounded by towels. I did not inject or baste the brisket. Hope this helps.

Do you happen to know the temp of the brisket after the 2 hour rest?

Corey

 

[SmokinEdge]

Sorry but I do not have any photos. I do, however, have a few more pieces of information: I did wrap the brisket in butcher paper at 165*. I did test it for doneness at 204* with a digital thermometer. I let the meat rest for about 2 hours in a cooler while still wrapped in the butcher paper and surrounded by towels. I did not inject or baste the brisket. Hope this helps.

The real question is, was it probe tender? Cooking to a final IT only is a huge mistake on brisket. When the hand held probe goes in the feel should be soft, like pushing into a peanut butter jar. There are scientific reasons why.

 

[sandyut]

The real question is, was it probe tender? Cooking to a final IT only is a huge mistake on brisket. When the hand held probe goes in the feel should be soft, like pushing into a peanut butter jar. There are scientific reasons why.

This and...was is a full packer or a flat.

 

[Sunseekr5]

Do you happen to know the temp of the brisket after the 2 hour rest?

Corey

I did not check the temp after the rest, sorry.

 

[Sunseekr5]

This and...was is a full packer or a flat.

I did check the texture and the thermometer went in like soft butter. I believe that the cut was a full packer.

 

[Coreymacc]

I did not check the temp after the rest, sorry.

But after the 2 hours it was good and hot or just warm? The reason i ask is i learned the hard way of too rapid a cool during rest will cause dryness even on a brisket that probed like butter. The rest you are shooting for a specific window to allow juices to redistribute. To fast and it dries out. 2 hrs is good,temp should be around 150-165 f and your in the sweet spot for carving.I fought this for over a year untill I discovered it.

Corey

 

[netspyder]

there are a whole lot of folks that have a whole lot more experience than i do... but here's my method -- i start low around 225 for the first couple hours then bump it up to ... maybe 275-300 - i'm not great at maintaining temps on my offset. cook until it gets around 165, 170, and then i start checking the fat - poke it to see if it's rendering. sometimes this doesn't happen until it get to 180. once the fat cap is squishy, i'll wrap it in paper and add a little tallow (kudos to Jeremy Yoder for that tip), and put it back on till it probes tender - usually this happens about 190 or so - if ever i pull it at over 200 it is always overcooked and falling apart. i think thats because it keeps cooking in the cooler because i pull it and drop it directly into the cooler then go to bed for 3 or 4 hours until folks start arriving.

you'll want to aim the fat cap at the heat... on my offset the heat travels across the top of the brisket mainly, so my briskets are always fat cap up... but i've heard that on pellet smokers the heat all comes from the bottom... so you might try putting the fat cap down to kinda protect the meat. i could also be completely wrong - i've not cooked on one of those before.

 

[schlotz]

A full packer should have been 8# or likely more. Prime, Choice or Select: while all 3 can produce good eats, Select can be a bit more troublesome. Can you describe how well it sliced, ie did it tend to fall apart? If so that would be an indicator of being overcooked. This can happen if a tender probed packer is put directly into a cooler from the smoker as it will continue to cook for some time. The solution is to leave the brisket sit open on the counter until the IT at the thickest part of the flat (not in the point) drops approx 5º. This drop indicates the cooking has ceased, then re-wrap an into the cooler surround with towels. Always good to leave a reporting thermometer ( wired or wireless) in it so you can monitor the IT. For food safety it should remain at or above 150º which should not be an issue for a 2-3 hour hold.