The Prime Brisket that Almost Wasn't with Qview!!!

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tallbm

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Dec 30, 2016
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I'm glad the site is back up and running in time for me to report a new adventure.
Pics first and then the story :)


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I feel I have gotten my brisket stills to the point to give a prime brisket a shot and Costco had prime briskets for $2.79 a pound which is the best price I have ever seen them have so I bit on a 14.43 pound whole packer.

The last time I used my smoker the roll out limit switch flipped a couple of times but once I lowered the set temp it held with no issue so I thought the issue was just airflow and meat position and thought nothing more of it... well I was wrong!

So about an hour into the smoke (11:30pm at night) of this prime brisket the rollout limit switch flipped. I reset (it has a manual reset) and continued. Well as it was heating up a freak 45 sec power outage occurred for my entire apartment. As I was walking to check the breaker box all the power came back on so it was just a perfectly timed odd coincidence. So things kicked back on and continue running and then again the rollout limit switch flipped. This time at a much lower temp than before so I knew there was an issue.

I checked the rollout limit switch and sure enough one of the tabs on the switch was wiggly and causing the plastic on the rollout limit switch to begin melting!!!

I then had to pull the AMNPS, pull the brisket and set inside :(
Luckily the smoker quickly cooled down with the door open and I was able to switch out the rollout limit switch with an extra (bought a pack of 4 originally) in about 15 minutes. When I rewired my MES40 I built/cut/installed a panel to get to the rollout limit switch without needing to pull the entire back off the MES40 :cool:. I was working as fast as humanly possible to repair things so quickly.

I finished the repair, put the brisket back in, and put the AMNPS back in my mailbox mod. I crossed my fingers and flipped the on switch and everything was back up and running like a champ!!!

The brisket came out amazing! I think I have my brisket making skills down. I just need to get more consistent with trimming but that will improve as I do more briskets. No two are alike so some will be trimmed better than others and I DEFINITELY need to sharpen my kitchen knives lol

So I guess the the moral of the story is to be prepared, don't panic, and don't let anything get you down or you will be telling the story of the Prime Brisket that Wasn't versus the Prime Brisket that ALMOST Wasn't :D
 
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Sucks you had problems with your smoker, but you overcame and put out some good BBQ.
Wow, that's some juicy looking brisket, very nice.
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Oh yeah man, that point (the picture) was so juicy and tender it was crazy. I could tell the difference in quality between this Prime brisket vs the Choice briskets I have been cooking.

I can tell you that I trimmed ALOT more fat off this Prime cut than my Choice cuts from the past but I guess that is expected.

Was the difference between the Prime and the Choice enough for me to only cook Primes? Nope, but when the price is good I won't hesitate to buy a prime brisket. I'm the same way with steaks. I'll buy and grill a choice steak in a heartbeat rather than hunt down a prime steak to grill BUT when I find a prime steak on sale for the right price I buy it. Now for Select cuts I won't buy them at all. The difference between Select and Choice is too great IMO to fool with a Select cut steak.
 
Looks pretty good. I feel for you with the issues. I had the temp probe for mine go, Finally got the part changed it then the control board went.... I was lost But we are running now and going to do a brisket tomorrow for the boys. Celebrate Canadian thanksgiving here.
 
I love how juicy your ENTIRE brisket is. I seem to either have a great flat or point, but not both yet.

Ed

NEW FORUM LIKE - I like that you can click on a pic to see the full size photo!
 
That's a fantastic looking brisket!
:) Al
Thanks Al!

Looks pretty good. I feel for you with the issues. I had the temp probe for mine go, Finally got the part changed it then the control board went.... I was lost But we are running now and going to do a brisket tomorrow for the boys. Celebrate Canadian thanksgiving here.
I'm glad yours is back up and running. Good luck on the brisket and happy Canadian Thanksgiving! :)

I love how juicy your ENTIRE brisket is. I seem to either have a great flat or point, but not both yet.

Ed

NEW FORUM LIKE - I like that you can click on a pic to see the full size photo!

Thanks, it is definitely juicy. I noticed the difference in marbling between this Prime cut and the Choice cuts I have been cooking. One thing that helps keep the entire thing juicy has been for me to get over my fear of trimming away meat from the brisket. See the following:

brisketFlatTrimAway.png

One side of the brisket flat will be thicker than the other side of the brisket flat. Be sure to pic one that is as uniformly thick across the flat as possible and you trim less. The idea is to trim the flat so that what is left is almost the same thickness and the brisket much more evenly thereby being juicy rather then burn up or dry for a portion of the flat.

I take any good meat I trim off and I throw it in the pan I set below the brisket to catch juice and drippings. I squish all this meat together and it then braises there in the pan with the juices and doesn't really dry out too terribly much. It often becomes my burnt ends of on the dry crispy side or extra chopped brisket if on the moist non dry side. Either way that it comes out I win! :)
 
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Discovered another bug...when I clicked on your links I got the following error message:

SmokingMeatForums - Error
You do not have permission to view media within this album.
 
Discovered another bug...when I clicked on your links I got the following error message:

SmokingMeatForums - Error
You do not have permission to view media within this album.

Yeah I think I fixed it by doing a file upload rather than using the media gallery feature.
The old site would automatically add any file uploads to your "media gallery". This new site does not seem to add your uploaded images to the media gallery automatically therefore you can't "reuse" straight file uploads (yeah it's confusing) and the new site treats pics a bit differently.

I/We will need to figure this all out as we go but I'm sure we'll get it sorted out :)
 
WOW!!! Great Brisket!!!! Looks both tender and moist. Sure glad you were able to save the day.

POINT (at least I THINK I gave you a point.......not real sure with this new format)

Gary

Thanks Gary! It was both tender and moist. I checked when the lowest prob reading was 203F and it still needed to go a little bit longer I think it was ready when the lowest probe read 206F. I put 3 probes in my briskets to ensure at least 1 is correct lol. It was about 30 min between 203F and 206F.

I really can't speak enough about how trimming off that portion of the flat means the whole brisket is good to go. I honestly would get a little disappointed in the past when the thin end of the brisket was all crisp and basically burnt up. Trimming that section off and braising that trimmed meat is the total way to go in my opinion :)
 
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