Smoking a brisket flat at high heat

[tallbm]

Thanks tallbm , that is absolutely helpful..I used the pervious 200 degree temp to start probing the meat for tenderness, but the tip about using multiple probes isn't one I had considered..my inkbird has 4 probes, so I'll do 3 in various parts of the flat..I know the feel I'm looking for based on probing that last brisket, but I'm sure I can make it better..

It will be a very interesting exercise for you.
I FIRMLY believe probe placement is the main reason why people have accounts of a brisket being ready at 215F and other reported high temps.
Now I do think each piece of meat is different. However, I personally find the most common occurrence for such different finished brisket temps to be probe placement. It's just hard to get 1 probe in the most precise spot.

When I have Prime briskets I start to check for tenderness at 198F with 3 probes. When I have choice or select (select is rare to have in my area) I start checking at 200F with 3 probes.
I know for sure Prime are usually tender at a lower temp. This makes sense since the cut of meat is clearly a prime brisket so it makes sense up front that the higher grade of meat should/could be tender at a lower IT :)

Give your approach ago and it should be very educational.
On the brisket you do after this attempt, try 3 probes from different angles all aiming for the same spot and that will be very educational as well.
The best spot to probe on a full packer brisket is the thickest yet center most part of the FLAT muscle. The point will always be tender way before the flat. The flat is always the problem child when it comes to tenderness.

I look forward to what you report back with! :D

 

[jeremymillrood]

Hi everyone. Happy to report that this last brisket was probably one of my best and I'm pretty critical of my smoking. tallbm , thanks for the tip on using the multiple probes that was very helpful.
Let's start with the brisket..this was a 16lb prime from a local meat market..hands down one of the nicest briskets I ever cooked..paid 7.99 a lb which I figure was fair for prime.

I got pretty aggressive with the trimming and took off close to 3 lbs of fat and other misc pieces, so when it hit the smoker it was closer to 13lbs.

My go to dalmatian rub applied over yellow mustard, 50/50 kosher salt and ground black pepper, 1/4 cup celery seed and a couple of tbsp of lowerys seasoned salt for good measure. This went into the fridge over night.

I love hot and fast..Got the smoker fired up at 10am, full charcoal chamber of kingsford comp 5 chunks of oak and then another 3/4 chimney of lit coals. Brisket was on at 10:15..

perfect day for cooking outside!!

Brisket is on..had to shoehorn this one in, barely fit.

Fat side down sitting on a couple of oak blocks to prevent the juices from pooling. Pan was foiled to catch the drippings. Was monitoring with two probes in the flat and one for the smoke chamber..temps were between 340 and 375..Had the vents open half way. Plan was to rotate 90 degrees every 30 minutes or so and sprits with water, but things got a little off track..

Everything was going along great until about 2 hours in..huge grease fire(sorry no pics), flames shooting everywhere out of the dome..Lifted the lid and I'd never seen anything like this..somehow some of the fat must have caught fire, I was able to get the meat moved off to the side, but the fat in the pan was still burning..it got so hot the gasket around the top of the dome burnt and the grommet where you put the probes into the smoker melted, a couple of my probes were destroyed...After some time, I was able to bring it back under control and finish the smoke, but I was worried I had wrecked the meat..

After another couple of hours I got it to 170 and wrapped..put it in the pan fat side up.
Ready to wrap..

Started probing when the temps hit 200 and I found no resistance to the probe so it was ready to pull..

6 hours from the start of the smoke, she's resting..

I've never been able to do the jiggle test with a brisket before. I'd heard about it and seen it on youtube, but this was a first for me..

Finished product, great smoke ring..

Plenty of leftovers..

 

[tbern]

It looks amazing and so delicious, nice job overcoming the grease fire!! Thanks for sharing!

 

[tallbm]

Wow lots of chaos, glad you made it through. Looks good!

How did it taste?

 

[jeremymillrood]

Wow lots of chaos, glad you made it through. Looks good!

How did it taste?

Chaos just about describes it I was impressed with how good it tasted, probably my best yet.. Just need to figure what caused that flame up and make sure I don't do it again .

 

[tallbm]

Chaos just about describes it I was impressed with how good it tasted, probably my best yet.. Just need to figure what caused that flame up and make sure I don't do it again .

With such a big brisket my guess is fat down dripping into the coals may have started it but the fat in the pan was a pool of fuel.

With a brisket that big there may be no way to avoid drippings hitting the coals. Maybe fat up will allow the fat less free reign to drop straight down and I wonder if the fat having to run around and down may be enough to prevent a big flame from happening.

This is all just guessing though lol.

Brisket is one of those cuts that doesnt care what temp it is cooked at as long as it isn't being burned so I'm sure it had no issue with a little flame.

Glad to hear it came out so well, keep at it man! :D

 

[jeremymillrood]

Hey guys. It's been a while. Hope y'all are doing good. I'm back with another round of high heat brisket smoking..

Picked up a 16.4 lber from Demkota Racnch at the same meat market I got the last one. Price was even better this time. Go figure.

Same process as before..Trimmed, rubbed with mustard, dalmatian rub, wrapped and in the fridge over night..

I need to work on my trimming skills, was pretty aggressive, wound up removing about 3.5 lbs of fat..Next time I'm keeping that to make tallow..

Rubbed up and on the smoker. Temps were running perfectly right between 345 and 375, didn't even need to have the vents all the way open.

A little over an hour in, I started misting with water. Temps still holding steady.

Right before I pulled to wrap, was just a shade over two hours when it hit 170.

Wound up pulling a little too early, it hit 200 but I was still getting some resistance in the mean, so I put it back on for another 1 hour..That made a huge difference, the probe was going in easily at that point..

Didn't get as many pics of the finished product as before. Meat tasted really good, everyone was happy. Nice smoke ring and right amount of smoke on the meat, but the flat got a little dry at least in my opinion. I'm still learning, may leave more fat on next time. Thanks!