Second Brisket...Need help!

[nicoga3000]

So for Christmas this past year, my wife bought me a Masterbuilt 40" smoker. Since then, I have smoked 2 briskets (separate smokes), 2 racks of baby back ribs, and some chicken breasts. The only thing that has come out to my standard would be the chicken breasts. But those are easy as pie.

My ribs came out OK...The end bones were just like I like them (bone pulled right out of the meat), but the middle thicker meat were chewy. Not sure what happened yet.

But I'm here for my briskets. I can't figure it out.

I have NOT purchased the full brisket in either of my smokes. I went to Kroger and bought...Uh...Well it was between 3.5-4#. I want to believe it was the flat in both cases.

So I'm going to include pictures of both times I've smoked the brisket to show a bit of the progress as well as a description. I'm hoping that some of you experts can guide me to getting that perfect consistency, moisture, and flavor!

In both cases, I injected the brisket with beef broth throughout. I used mustard as a binder and rubbed the entire thing down with kosher salt and black pepper. One the one I did this past weekend, I also used some garlic powder. But otherwise, similar setup.

Both rested overnight in the fridge for ~18-24 hours.

I set the smoker to 225 and filled the pan with about 4 parts water to 1 part apple juice. Filled the entire pan so that I would, in theory, have moisture in there the entire time.

I put the thermometer into the meat and went to 160-165. Took it out, wrapped it in foil, put the thermometer back in, and cooked to (what I thought) was 185-190. Wrapped them tighter in foil after the fact, added some towels, and put them in a cooler for at least an hour.

I feel like I did everything "by the book", but I obviously didn't because they didn't come out how I expected.

The first one came out...Chewy? Like the fat didn't render in the meat. I may have hit a fat pocket when I took the temp, but I don't know.

The second one came out dry and tough. I was taking the internal temp at the thickest part and was getting about 188-190. I did the toothpick test and it wasn't going in and out like I expected. So I took temps at other locations throughout the meat and was getting readings of 175-180. So maybe the probe on the smoker was off? But that said, the fat seemed to render fine, it was just dry.

I need some help!

One thing I have considered next time is to cook it low and slow and don't wrap it. With how big of a water pan I have, would that help keep the moisture in? Means less time in and out and handling the meat?

I don't know. Any help and tips would be awesome. I want to get this right!

First brisket (very chewy and not a pleasant eating experience):

Second brisket (tough and dry despite careful temp monitoring):

 

[CoachJ2013]

I have only done packers, but typically the reason they are tough (from experience) is that it wasn't cooked long enough. Take your temp to 195-203. It also has a lot of variables; choice, prime etc, temp, water bath, spray it or not, wrap and when to wrap. I am still figuring out a bunch myself and I suspect that after my 20th brisket I will have it down haha. My best brisket so far, again was a packer, but I could feel it starting to give way. It was loose and by my clock, shouldn't have but briskets are weird and it was super tender and I never wrapped it. My feeling is I only need to wrap it if I dont have enough moisture/fat, or too much smoke. Other than that I dont like to wrap.

 

[SmokinAl]

Well your finding out why brisket is the toughest piece of meat to get right. As said above it was almost certainly under cooked. Next time go with your gut & believe in the toothpick test, even if you have to finish it in the oven. I have had briskets done at 195 & others not done until 210. So each piece of meat is very different in the way it cooks. Don't give up, you will get it right. And get yourself a good reliable thermometer. It sounds like the one you have may be way off. Before your next cook, check it in boiling water (212) depending on your altitude, & ice water (32-33).
Al