What's going wrong?..

[k.a.m.]

So many great thoughts/ideas on this thread but be careful and don't make too many changes at one time. I've done that and was left wondering not only what went wrong but what went right as well.

Sound advice Sir.

[Kylem.cmp]

To me your times are not adding up to your brisket size and temps.
Cooking 225° to 250° with a 13 lb. packer and wrapping in 5 hours is premature in my opinion. I am wondering if a meat probe or grate probe is off.
It could also be that cooking at such low temps especially on the choice that you just dried what moisture you had in it out. What was your injection?
Personally I have found that cooking between 275° and 300° yields a better product for me. If the briskets do not have much marbling they push through the cook faster keeping what little moisture they have in them.

*I could have wrapped premature, next time I'll go off of temp and just wrap at 160. That's possible, I bought the smoker used and no telling how old any of the thermometer is. I'll check it and my digital to make sure. On my.old ofset I probably was cooking at that temp since I usually put briskets closer to the firebox.. just didnt want my ribs cooking that hot really. I used copycat to inject with.

So many great thoughts/ideas on this thread but be careful and don't make too many changes at one time. I've done that and was left wondering not only what went wrong but what went right as well.

Sound advice Sir.

true that lol I'll make slight adjustments each time, starting with wrap temperature and makeing sure thermometers are accurate.

[Mule rider]

How much sauce and drippings did you use when you wrapped with foil. Too much could make your brisket mushy. Just my thought.

[spacetrucker]

Kylem…
I would echo what others have said, not too many changes at one time...
you have a lot of great advice and surely one or combination of the comments will assist you to "fix" what is happening.
I have cooked untrimmed packers, super lean trimmed prime, trimmed flats; the one thing I have learned is briskets do react differently ( but only in minor amounts) so be prepared for that; take good notes and you will get there, the sad thing is now days briskets are not cheap anymore so experiments can be expensive... Good Luck and keep up posted do include pictures if you can

[Kylem.cmp]

Trying again....

Bought a few from kroger this week on sale. I select mine by folding them end to end making sure they are not stiff.
One I'm cooking tonight is a 20 lbs before trimmed. Couldn't find anything smaller.

Start off this time with less seasoning. I'm thinking I've been putting way to much causing it to cake up and become mushy. Not allowing the bark to crisp up. I also trimmed this one alot less. Hopeing the more fat will keep it from drying out. Didnt inject either, just seasoned with kosher salt and course pepper.


Smokers running 230 -250

Put in on the smoker at 5:30 pm

Double wrapped with foil and set in pan at 162 degrees at 9:50 pm.

Didnt put any juices in foil this time either.

Hopeing going simpler will help me out. I check thermometers also and all check out pretty good.

More updates to follow, just put on some logs and about to take a nap!

[Rambo]

[Kylem.cmp]

Woke up smoker was at 215 brisket was at 197, probed it and point was like butter but flat was a little tough. Giving it about 45 minutes and checking again. Juices in it were crazy, had to be halfway up the brisket. I'm feeling good about this one

[Kylem.cmp]

Just looking at times again it seems like it cooked fast? I expected a 16 hour cook on this 20lbs brisket. Guess wrapping it in foil helped expedite it? Its coming up on 12 hours now.



5:30 Update** meat probe said it was at 194 now?... dropped a little. Giving it a hour then check with probe again, still tough on flat.

[Rambo]

hang with it Brother . I'm firing up my old stick burner in a few minutes

[Chasdev]

I'm going back to butcher paper wrap, either that or I'm going to poke holes in the underside of the foil and place it on a rack (in a pan) due to what you are experiencing.
I've also noticed some "strange" internal temp behavior if there's too much liquid under or near the meat, it goes up and down as the meat's internal moisture content cooks off, or to be more accurate, fails to cook off due to the extra in the pan or foil.
The stall, as everyone knows by now, is caused by internal juices coming to the surface which dumps heat as it evaporates and makes it stall, so preventing that moisture evaporating seems to re-stall the meat.

[Rambo]

I use a foil pan with a cheap grate. I elevate it by making home made aluminum foil balls . since I cook on straight wood I'll wrap after 5 or 6 hours with pink butcher paper . I don't know if that helps

[Texan79423]

It's a cabinet and not a offset. I had the same problem with my assassin. I found brisket was better cooked at @300 but not the bark I like. Smoke ring was hit or miss. Sold pit and got a Rocking W offset.

[spacetrucker]

the smoke ring is a product of nitrates caused by burning wood, no flavor there...pure cosmetics
Watching to see your final out come; I believe your meat temp may have dropped because your cook temp dropped?

[Kylem.cmp]

Bark wasnt as solid as I wanted. Rested for 3 hours, good beefy flavor. Best brisket I've made.

bad picture of slices. That was after a few people had already made a plate. It did fall apart a bit. Maybe over cooked a little?