Smoked a 9lber this passed weekend, high heat, and wanted to share my experience as this one didn't come out as good as the first and I think I know why.
First, the cuts of meat were pretty identical, this one was just shy of 9lbs and a flat with part of the point, the previous one was all flat..
Day of the cook, I use the Kingsford competition, these seem to get the hottest and last the longest. one full chimney of unlit briquettes, topped with 5 chunks of apple wood then a 3/4 chimney full of lit briquettes to get it going..
Used a Dalmatian rub, same as before, salt, pepper and celery seed..had it in the fridge overnight..
What I did not do this time was inject it and while I didn't note it on the last smoke, that brisket was injected with beef broth.
Read that placing a couple of wood chunks under the meat can help with smoke penetration..I'm not sure whether it works, but I gave it a try..
Temps were being monitored by my inkbird..
You'll notice in this pic where I have my probe..it's actually in the thicker part of the meat..that was one of my mistakes..It should have been inserted horizontally into the flat as that's going to cook the fastest. High heat cook calls for fat cap down for the first part of the cook, than flip it over when foiled.
Smoker was cranking, between 325 and 375 is where I wanted it..once it settled down I was averaging about 340.
Should have realized that something wasn't right, it was taking way too long to get up to 170..at this point it had been on for almost 4 hours..typically the flat should get to 170 in about 2 1/2, so this meat had been exposed to that high heat for a little too long..it still looked good, but I'd rather my brisket taste good then look good..you can't eat looks...
Pulled and wrapped in pink butcher paper and foil, then back on to 190..
Again, the probe should be in the flat and it's not..
Took about 45 minutes to get to 190..Pulled and cut the wrapping open..wanted to make sure it didn't cook any more..left it rest for an hour before cutting..
Cut..it had a good smoke ring and nice flavor, but like I said the flat was a bit too dry..
So lessons learned from this smoke, injection is good for a high heat smoke and make sure you're checking temps from the right part of the meat..hopefully all of this will add up to a better brisket next time..