What went wrong-brisket?

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Panaceafrog

Newbie
Original poster
May 30, 2021
4
1
22" Weber Smokey Mountain.
I have been smoking briskets for the past 5 or 6 years on the three major summer holidays, and pork butts scattered throughout the year. I'm always changing a few things and tweaking, trying to get better bark or get through the stall easier, seasonings, etc.
-This time hear the things that I changed
I added gasket material along the rim of the top and the door. It took quite a while to actually find the spot or I didn't choke off the fire, but once I got it it literally stayed at 225 all night long.
-I bought the Costco brisket back in January and kept it in the freezer until about a month ago when I transferred it to the refrigerator and let it wet age in the cryovac. I think this is probably the biggest issue that changed the meat enough that I didn't realize how quickly it was cooking.
-I also separated the flat from the point before cooking. The flat was on the top rack, the point was on the bottom. I did have a bowl of water just above the coals. This also may have been a big contributor.
-I put the brisket on last night about 9:00 p.m. at about 11:00 p.m. It was at a steady 230 degrees.
-I was up a couple times last night to check the temperature of the grill. I have a thermal pro TP20, but one probe was broke so I was only monitoring the air temperature. This obviously was a problem.
The thing is is it by 8:00 a.m. the flat was at 215°, and totally dried out. The point was around 205 and a little better, I'm sure because of the fat content.
The thing that gets me, is this obviously blew through any stall and was done in less than 12 hours. Do you guys think that any one particular thing caused this? Other than not having a thermometer in it Wet aging? Separating the flat and point? The tighter seal from the new gaskets?
That was an expensive lesson, help me narrow it down.
 
Thinking about it more, I might have trimmed more fat than I should have in separating the flat and point. Insulation?
 
Hmm... the obvious one is to replace the broken probe so you can be alerted when the set IT has been reached. Personally wouldn't have seperated the point and flat. Since the labeling we have around here rarely indicates how long the brisket has been in the cryo, we usually freeze if not for immediate use then thaw in the fridge for 5 days before smoking. With that key missing info, I'm uncertain about wet aging after a thaw. Hopefully someone with more knowledge will chime in with the answer. Unfortunately it becomes very hard to single out what might have been the cause when multiple variables were introduced. Then of course, there's the fact that every brisket can be different.
 
I did have a bowl of water just above the coals. This also may have been a big contributor.
This to me could have been a big factor on the stall. If the humidity around the meat was really high at the time the stall would normally occur, then the lack of surface evaporation would cancel the cooling effect on the meat of the stall (evaporative cooling) It would act more like it was wrapped and there would be no stall.
 
Did the flat crumble when sliced? Or stay intact and kinda stiff?
The entire flat was dried through... IT Temp said 219 degrees. I don't know if it's worth simmering in BBQ sauce to revive it, and have something to eat out of it.
The point, wasnt a total loss... Made a few decent sliders with sour apple slaw and a little smokey bbq sauce.
 
It was steady as a rock. That's rare for me and my WSM.
I have a 14 , and it's usually a crap shoot for temps .
I have a TP-20 that was awesome at first . After awhile it just didn't read correctly . Boil and freeze test were good , but in between was way off . That's why I mentioned temp readings above .
 
-I also separated the flat from the point before cooking.

I am not saying that this was the cause, but after separating the flat from the point, it is better to approach the flat as different cut of meat by panning it in some beef stock, etc and smoking it separately.

But don't toss the flat. Cube it up, freeze it, and add it to some chili this fall or winter.

Just my 2¢ opinion...
 
I'm not expert but I've cooked a few briskets and I've had a few problems. I cooked one yesterday and it came out pretty good, but not perfect. I cooked to an IT of 205 in the point. The full packer brisket weighed 15 pounds before trimming and it took about 20 hours to get to 205 using a box temp of about 230-240.

The flat was pretty dry with a lot of bonus "burnt ends" but the point was excellent.

How much did your brisket weigh?
I also separated the flat from the point before cooking
I did this once and the result was a dry flat and a dry point. I think I was also a bit aggressive about trimming the fat layer between the two. I won't separate them again.

The thing is is it by 8:00 a.m. the flat was at 215°
I probably missed something, but that's way too hot. I normally aim for 203 but yesterday I aimed for 205 and, as I said I ended up with a dry, but edible, flat and a nice, moist point. I'll revert to 203 next time.

The entire flat was dried through... IT Temp said 219 degrees
Again, this seems way too hot to me.
 
I suspect the biggest problem was separating the point and flat. Two small(er) pieces of meat cook much faster than one larger one does. Think ribeyes versus rib roast or pork chops and roast.

Also get your thermometer replaced with one that works and has a set temp alarm. That way you will know when to start probing for doneness.

Save the flat for future uses. Finely chopped and BBQ sauce should work. The chili idea should work too. Chop it and make smothered "beef tips" and noodles. If nothing else grind it and add it to something with some kind of liquid.
 
22" Weber Smokey Mountain.
I have been smoking briskets for the past 5 or 6 years on the three major summer holidays, and pork butts scattered throughout the year. I'm always changing a few things and tweaking, trying to get better bark or get through the stall easier, seasonings, etc.
-This time hear the things that I changed
I added gasket material along the rim of the top and the door. It took quite a while to actually find the spot or I didn't choke off the fire, but once I got it it literally stayed at 225 all night long.
-I bought the Costco brisket back in January and kept it in the freezer until about a month ago when I transferred it to the refrigerator and let it wet age in the cryovac. I think this is probably the biggest issue that changed the meat enough that I didn't realize how quickly it was cooking.
-I also separated the flat from the point before cooking. The flat was on the top rack, the point was on the bottom. I did have a bowl of water just above the coals. This also may have been a big contributor.
-I put the brisket on last night about 9:00 p.m. at about 11:00 p.m. It was at a steady 230 degrees.
-I was up a couple times last night to check the temperature of the grill. I have a thermal pro TP20, but one probe was broke so I was only monitoring the air temperature. This obviously was a problem.
The thing is is it by 8:00 a.m. the flat was at 215°, and totally dried out. The point was around 205 and a little better, I'm sure because of the fat content.
The thing that gets me, is this obviously blew through any stall and was done in less than 12 hours. Do you guys think that any one particular thing caused this? Other than not having a thermometer in it Wet aging? Separating the flat and point? The tighter seal from the new gaskets?
That was an expensive lesson, help me narrow it down.

Hi there and welcome!

I didnt see you mention how large the brisket was. How big was it pre trim?

I THINK the issues are the following combo:
  1. Too high of an Internal Temp (IT). The 215F IT is very high. Especially since you trimmed it heavily and separated flat from point.
    With a brisket temp is an indicator to check for tenderness, not an indicator that your brisket is done.
    When you hit about 198-200F IT you check for tenderness by stabbing all over with something like a kabob skewer and if it goes in like into butter then its done, if not let IT raise a degree or 2 more and try again until tender.

  2. You separated the point and flat making it the cook faster/shorter than you may have expected.
    I buy 15 pound minimum briskets. Trim about 3 pounds of fat, remove about 2-3 pounds of thin flat meat leaving behind about 9-10 pounds of brisket left.
    If you had a smaller brisket like a 10-12 pounder and removed 3 pounds of fat/meat, then separated flat and point, you might have ended up with two 4-5 pound cuts of meat in the smoker smoked for too long and too high of an IT.

  3. Smoker may have cooked at a hither smoker temp than you thought but only a good proper thermometer at rack/meat level will help you figure this out. Also this is not so important because briskets dont care what temp you cook them at as long as you arent burning them. HOWEVER, it does matter to start figuring out so you can estimate your overall timing.

To fix your situation I wouldn't trim as aggressively (you already mentioned this).

I wouldn't separate the point and the flat. The Flat is the problem child and having the point and it's fat still around helps it behave a little bit better but you still have to keep an eye on it.

Put a couple of temp probes into the thickest yet center most portion of the FLAT muscle and around 198-200F IT start checking for tenderness ALL OVER by stabbing all over with something like a kabob skewer. Pull only when it goes in like butter, if it doesnt let IT raise another 1-2 degrees and test again. Understand that both thermometers may read different. This is because hitting the magic spot in the FLAT is difficult to do, hence using 2 probes and likely the lower one is most accurate.

As for estimating general cooking time frame. Know that at a steady smoker temp of 275F my briskets easily take about 1hr 5-7min per pound before they may start becoming tender. So a 10 pound brisket would likely take around 10hrs 70 minutes at 275F smoker temp for an unwrapped brisket. Add 4 hours to ensure the cook/smoke completes on time to eat.
So I start the smoke 14hours 70minutes before I plan to eat so it will definitely be done.

Simplify to doing these things and practice on much less expensive pork butts, and you will be way better prepared for your next brisket attempt :)

Let me know if this all makes sense and ask any questions you have. I have 4 briskets in the fridge wanting to be cooked soon, so know I cook them all the time :)
 
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Do you have any dogs?
The entire flat was dried through... IT Temp said 219 degrees...... I don't know if it's worth simmering in BBQ sauce to revive it, .....
I don't mean that as a rip, but do you have any dogs?

When I get a result, the type of which you mention, and I certainly have, I've found it better to feed it to my dogs. They love overcooked brisket.

Indeed, watching them struggle to choke it down is somewhat therapeutic in that I know that if my dogs, which are meat eating machines, struggle with getting it down, then I know that I would have struggled getting it down.

There is no point in wasting good sauce on it if it is as dried out and overcooked as you're describing.
 
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As mentioned above the flat will make a dang good chili. I also like to use for hash, omelettes, or mix it in with macaroni and cheese. There are so many uses out there for tough brisket.

Cooking the brisket whole is the best way. When the two are ready to be separated they'll let you know by starting the separation process on their own.

Chris
 
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