W.W.W. (What Went Wrong)

[handy54]

I wanted to impress the family with a 11 lb. Packer brisket for a late lunch for Fathers day.

I worked the time line backwards from a 4 pm serving figuring 12 hrs for the brisket and another 2 hrs for the burnt ends, which gave me a start time of 2 am Sun am. On Sat. I injected it and applied the rub. I use a Master built off set smoker that I modified to LP. and a smoke pan. At 1:30 am. I preheated the the smoker, I use 3 different thermometers, 2 bi-metal and one electronic. At 2 am. I put the brisket on at 220 degrees, checking it every 30 min. for temp. and smoke, the temp. never got over 250. I planned to wrap the brisket at 160 degrees so at 8am I checked it with a instant read thermometer and to my surprise the lowest temp I could find was 200 degrees. With 7-8 hrs. to go I was at a loss of what to do, I put the brisket in a aluminum pan and added some beef broth and turned the heat down to 190. At 1pm I pulled the brisket and carved it. It was very stringy and hard to slice and a touch on the dry side.

http:// I would Appreciate anybody’s input on what went wrong and what they would have done different .

 

[ismoke]

I had a brisket that was stringy and hard to slice one time, what had happened was my thermometer was off, and I had way over cooked it.  I served it pulled, and while dryness wasn't an issue (I guess because I injected - I don't know, I was suprised, too) it didn't have the presentation that a well sliced brisket does.

As far as what I would do differently, I would probably have just pulled it when you checked it, and double wrapped in foil, then towels, then into a cooler. Let it rest for a couple hours, then remove the point for the burnt ends, and put the flat (unsliced) back in the foil/towel/cooler.  When the ends were done, I'd then do the same with them.  You'd be amazed how long things will stay piping hot in that setup.  I had a pork butt in there one time for about 6 hours and it was still so hot I couldn't touch it with my bear hands when I finally got back to pulling it.

 

[s2k9k]

I agree with iSmoke, your therms must be off. 11# in 6 hours? it must have been cooking hot. I would definitely check the calibration of the therms.

 

[bama bbq]

Wow! An 11 pounder would have taken me about 20 hours low and slow.

 

[handy54]

Two of the 3 thermometers have been checked and calibrated. The third is the bi- metal in the dome of the smoker and it reads 20 to 30 degrees hotter than the ones at grate level. If you inject the brisket does that cause it to finish faster?

 

[jakethessnake]

It's possible that the injection sped it up a little, but it shouldn't have been that much. Your temp probes are at grate level, how close are they to the actual meat? For reference, I did a similar sized brisket this weekend in just over 5 hours wih an average temp of 330. I really dont think it's possible to do a brisket that fast without being 275+, something has to be wrong with the temps.

 

[handy54]

Two of the thermometers were mounted about 2 inches from the brisket on the down draft side from the firebox. The point was pointed toward the firebox

 

[jakethessnake]

Any way you could give us a better picture of your smoker, including the mods you did? Also, I'd like to see exactly where the probes are at. I've had a few different setups that had a 50-100 degree difference across the grate at only 2ft apart. One of them I somewhat fixed with a tuning plate/heat deflector, the other I just dont put any food in that area lol.

 

[handy54]

This will show that Rednecks are still alive and do live in Iowa

I bought this last fall on clearance for less than $100.00 @ Kmart

The First mod I did was to make a heat baffle

When I smoke I always put a water pan in front of the firebox

This spring I converted the fire box to LP by mounting a burner from a Bayou Classic SP-10. I can remove the burner head and still cook with wood if I want.

When I Smoke I use a wood pan

I NEXT ADDED A ROTISSERIE

This photo shows the hangers for the Rotisserie and the 3 temp. probes

Motor mount

Best chicken & pork tenderloin I ever ate

All Three of the temp. probes are on what I call the down wind side of the smoker.

 

[jakethessnake]

I cant see the 3rd probe, so I'd like to see what kind of temps you are getting right above the water pan, or right at the edge of where you put the meat at  (on the right side looking at it).The water pan should definitely help. I wonder if having a smaller baffle so it sits a little lower would help. It might be soaking up a lot of heat and baking the meat since it's so close to the grate. That tenderloin sure looks awesome though!

 

[handy54]

 

[jakethessnake]

Ok, I didn't realize the one with a wingnut was a probe. When you had the brisket on, how far to the right did it go? Using the above picture, was it clear over to the "06" date stamp? If it was, i'm guessing the temps were way higher over there. As it stands, the meat is soaking up a lot of heat and giving you a sort of false reading on the probes. Also, are you sure you sliced it across the grain? I've used toothpics to mark the grain before on briskets when it was hard to tell.

 

[handy54]

I have trimmed some off the edge of the heat baffle to lower it and have a new duel Thermometer on the way. The brisket point end was half way between the 6 and the end of the baffle, I tried to keep it as far away from the firebox as I could. The point came off very easy but was hard to cut cross grain because it keep falling apart. The flat had a thin layer of hard crust on the bottom and the

rest of it would not slice so I made it into chopped brisket.  Is a Brisket done when it reaches temp or do you have to hold that temp for a period of time?
 

 

[jakethessnake]

I have trimmed some off the edge of the heat baffle to lower it and have a new duel Thermometer on the way. The brisket point end was half way between the 6 and the end of the baffle, I tried to keep it as far away from the firebox as I could. The point came off very easy but was hard to cut cross grain because it keep falling apart. The flat had a thin layer of hard crust on the bottom and the

rest of it would not slice so I made it into chopped brisket.  Is a Brisket done when it reaches temp or do you have to hold that temp for a period of time?
 

 It's done when it reaches your desired temp anywhere from 180-205 depending on whether you want to slice or pull. I usually go to 190-195, separate the two pieces and put the flat in a cooler to rest while the burnt ends are tossed back on. Wrapping it in towels and resting it in a cooler helps hold that temp for a while and usually makes it more tender, but I'm not sure that's 100% necessary. Holding it's own temp in and continuing the cook at 200 degrees are two different things though. I think if you put a temp probe at the (right)edge of where the meat was, you'll be shocked to see how much higher it is. I wouldn't be surprised to see 275+

Case in point, and some more Iowa redneck engineering

. I added a side fire box to my Masterbuilt gasser and used 3 temp probes to measure temps. I had a grate level with the factory therm shown in the pic. A probe to the left of it was around 215, the center one was around 230, and one off to the right side was almost 280, iirc. All the heat was shooting up the right side of the smoker. I used a small tuning plate next to the wall, and a pan full of sand to help it out, I haven't had a chance to redo the probe checks, but it seems to do the job so far.

 

[handy54]

Thanks for the input. I will run a temp test when the new thermometer gets here.  Welcome to the Big Ten ( or 12 what ever it is this year)

GO HAWKEYES