Trying again… brisket going in.

[801driver]

Gotta know if you ask for "honest ratings".....

Distill down what you get and determine if helpful or not. I think most posts on this website are genuinely offered to help you to be a better smoker and in the end, get a superior end product.

Here's some brisket texture and dryness info that is great to have.

• Dry and not very tender (usually tough) = under cooked. The collagen in the flat muscle still has not broken down into juicy goodness. When it does you get juice and tenderness.
• Dry and fall apart or crumbly = over cooked. The collagen has been broken down and even cooked completely out of the brisket to the point where the juiciness is lost and the brisket comes apart too easily
• Dry and burnt. Well if it's dry to the point where it has no moisture and is crispy, crunchy, etc. it is burnt. This state is pretty evident and sometimes you get corners or knobs that are burnt but not the whole brisket

In any case with your brisket you are not out of luck, and there is a great way to still eat it as BBQ brisket!
Simply chop it up, throw it in a pan, mix in your favorite BBQ sauce and reheat it until it is hot and steamy.
I bet you eat AMAZING chopped brisket sandwiches with it.

Honestly this is my favorite way to eat brisket no matter what but everyone seems to enjoy the slices on their plate and eating it as is or putting that on bread for a sandwich so I slice most of my brisket.
When serving for a bunch of people (like 4-5 briskets feeding a bunch of people at an event) you can guarantee that it will be chopped brisket around here.

Don't get discouraged, you can still turn this thing into amazing BBQ meals! :D

I will put my 2 cents in here. I solved my dry brisket issue when i discovered the rest was too rapid, it was cooling before the juice could redistribute. Once i discovered and solved that, moist brisket.

Corey

I am very late here reading this thread, but in case someone later goes through it looking for info, I will throw in my opinion. The comments I quoted above are what I consider most important.

As anyone can see, each of us do different things, different ways, different temps, use different equipment, etc.. We share what works for each of us while trying to help other get a grasp of what they can do with what they have to work with.

A real experienced wood burner brisket cooker can smoke a brisket maby 10% better than me, but I can get by with what I do with what I have to work with.

Myself, I have gotten lazy and usually use a "set it and forget it" Smoke-it #2 "analog" set at 225 for briskets for the past several years. I don't know if the knob will turn or not after 8 years of usually smoking something every week or so minimum at that temp. I open the door every hour or so to add small wood chips during the early part of a brisket smoke, then go to bed. Yep, two remote probes, one in cap, one in flat. Lower limit at excess of where I am going to bed temp in case of a power or equipment failure. (never had one yet) and the high temp alarm at 200' to start poking and take a guess if it needs 2 or 4 more hours to really get poke tender which by putting a 12-15 lb brisket on at 1PM is not going to wake me up in the middle of the night, but will let me know where temps are the next day around noon to get close to poking test. (every chunk of meat is different)

I have analog temp control, just like the oven mentioned in this thread, so what if it swings a little, it still bakes the cake right? My controller is at least 8 years old, have not used my spare yet. (I sold and installed PID controllers for 20 years in the process control industry) Yep vary the temp on some materials like plastics a couple degrees and it hardens or totally liquefies. Briskets do not do that. Analog is like your oven. Just cooks.

Temp you smoke at is not all that important 225 or 275? So what? as long as your external is above what you want the center of your meat to be, so what? Tme it takes to get equalized is the difference.. I like low and slow myself.

I have wrapped after the stall with foil, butcher paper etc. To me not worth the trouble most of the time. Oklahoma usually has enough humidity, it really does not matter. My bark softens up during the rest. True wintertime very low humidity, yes wrap after the stall to keep the bark a little softer.

I am a very firm believer in resting is one of the most important parts of smoking a brisket. Pull it out of the smoker, wrap in foil, then towels, then straight into the cooler. Let its internal heat start doing its magic.

I had a situation one time. Had just put a brisket in the cooler. Got a phone call and needed to run a short errand. Stuff happened and I got back to take the brisket out of the cooler almost 5 hours later. It was still over 160' and very very tender. 2-3 hour rest can do wonders.

So here you have 4 opinions of what we have found it takes to make a great brisket. Add these to what ever else you have found and decide how complex or how simple you would like to make it. I have a friend who sets his alarm clock and changes his temperature 4 times on his digital PID controller during a brisket smoke. He was really flustered once he was going to have to open the lid to see what the pellets were kinda hung up on and sure that would ruining his whole brisket smoke and he would have to trash it.

Myself, I have never seen an overcooked brisket to the point of being unusable brisket. Just out at the tip if thin (which I usually fold over with tooth picks if it is very thin), but I have seen, heard about, and tried to help many with being sure you smoke it up to at least 205 IT then keep going till the meat is tender. I had to take one to 218 one time.

Good Luck to you. Practice, Practice, Practice.

 

[SmokerNTraining]

I am very late here reading this thread, but in case someone later goes through it looking for info, I will throw in my opinion. The comments I quoted above are what I consider most important.

As anyone can see, each of us do different things, different ways, different temps, use different equipment, etc.. We share what works for each of us while trying to help other get a grasp of what they can do with what they have to work with.

A real experienced wood burner brisket cooker can smoke a brisket maby 10% better than me, but I can get by with what I do with what I have to work with.

Myself, I have gotten lazy and usually use a "set it and forget it" Smoke-it #2 "analog" set at 225 for briskets for the past several years. I don't know if the knob will turn or not after 8 years of usually smoking something every week or so minimum at that temp. I open the door every hour or so to add small wood chips during the early part of a brisket smoke, then go to bed. Yep, two remote probes, one in cap, one in flat. Lower limit at excess of where I am going to bed temp in case of a power or equipment failure. (never had one yet) and the high temp alarm at 200' to start poking and take a guess if it needs 2 or 4 more hours to really get poke tender which by putting a 12-15 lb brisket on at 1PM is not going to wake me up in the middle of the night, but will let me know where temps are the next day around noon to get close to poking test. (every chunk of meat is different)

I have analog temp control, just like the oven mentioned in this thread, so what if it swings a little, it still bakes the cake right? My controller is at least 8 years old, have not used my spare yet. (I sold and installed PID controllers for 20 years in the process control industry) Yep vary the temp on some materials like plastics a couple degrees and it hardens or totally liquefies. Briskets do not do that. Analog is like your oven. Just cooks.

Temp you smoke at is not all that important 225 or 275? So what? as long as your external is above what you want the center of your meat to be, so what? Tme it takes to get equalized is the difference.. I like low and slow myself.

I have wrapped after the stall with foil, butcher paper etc. To me not worth the trouble most of the time. Oklahoma usually has enough humidity, it really does not matter. My bark softens up during the rest. True wintertime very low humidity, yes wrap after the stall to keep the bark a little softer.

I am a very firm believer in resting is one of the most important parts of smoking a brisket. Pull it out of the smoker, wrap in foil, then towels, then straight into the cooler. Let its internal heat start doing its magic.

I had a situation one time. Had just put a brisket in the cooler. Got a phone call and needed to run a short errand. Stuff happened and I got back to take the brisket out of the cooler almost 5 hours later. It was still over 160' and very very tender. 2-3 hour rest can do wonders.

So here you have 4 opinions of what we have found it takes to make a great brisket. Add these to what ever else you have found and decide how complex or how simple you would like to make it. I have a friend who sets his alarm clock and changes his temperature 4 times on his digital PID controller during a brisket smoke. He was really flustered once he was going to have to open the lid to see what the pellets were kinda hung up on and sure that would ruining his whole brisket smoke and he would have to trash it.

Myself, I have never seen an overcooked brisket to the point of being unusable brisket. Just out at the tip if thin (which I usually fold over with tooth picks if it is very thin), but I have seen, heard about, and tried to help many with being sure you smoke it up to at least 205 IT then keep going till the meat is tender. I had to take one to 218 one time.

Good Luck to you. Practice, Practice, Practice.

Great post! Thank you for taking the time to pass all this on to me. We definitely used all of it! I’m looking forward to grabbing another one soon and getting back in the ring.