First "Solo" brisket.....haha

[BigJon]

Did my first brisket this weekend. I had a blast....and it turned out AWESOME. I was pretty proud! Smoked with cherry and pecan . Used apple juice in the water tray. Couldn't decide to wrap in foil or not, so I did a little research on the forum. Decided no foil. Some other advice I took from the forum.....I rubbed it down with some home made pepper rub and kept wrapped over night. I am already addicted. Ready to do this again soon!!

[Swamp Donkeyz BBQ]

Good job!!

[Boots]

Great first try. Yes, be advised: you are now a brisket addict.

[ChileFarmer]

Yeah man, you got that smoke coming just right. Bark and smoke ring have good color. nice cook. CF

[WestCoastSmoke]

Looks dry?

[3 star redneck]

Looks dry?

[jtilk]

Looks dry?

Quite possible considering it was his first go round, but hey lets cut him some slack

Any idea at what temp you pulled it?

[BigJon]

Didn't seem dry to me, but who knows. I pulled it at 190 degrees and wrapped in foil. Any other suggestions on what temp to pull the brisket?

[BluDawg]

For a first brisket it was a good one nice bark & smoke ring and Cherry is a great choice,I can see by the pix it had a little farther to go before the Nirvana Stage.It needed to cook longer.

BBQ RULES FOR SUCCESS

YOU CAN NOT COOK GREAT BBQ ON A CONSISTENT BASIS BY COOKING TO AN INTERNAL TEMPERATURE OR BY TIME ( XXX MIN PER LB) YOU MUST COOK BY FEEL! For Brisket it must pass the poke test(probe like soft butter Ribs pass the Bend Test, Pork Butts when the bone wiggles loose. These are the only reliable methods to ensure that your cook will be a success. There is one exception to these rules and that is Poultry which must achieve and internal temp of 170 deg in the thickest part of the thigh and 160 in the breast.

[BigJon]

Well my question would be that if I cooked longer, wouldn't that make it dry? What do you guys say is the perfect temp to pull off smoker. I pulled and wrapped in foil until we were ready to eat later that night. I am looking for help, so any info is appreciated. Help me out with "probe like soft butter" that is alien to me. haha. If you pull off by "feel" do you still wrap in foil and let rest?

[Swamp Donkeyz BBQ]

The "finished" internal temp can vary in brisket from 195 to as high as 210. Almost every brisket will "finish" at a diffrent internal temp. "Probes like buttah" refers to when you probe the brisket and once it gets past the bark the probe will fall in with verry little resistance. Like poking butter. Brisket is it's own little critter. An undercooked brisket will be dry because the fat has not completely rendered to lend to the moistness.

[BluDawg]

Well my question would be that if I cooked longer, wouldn't that make it dry? What do you guys say is the perfect temp to pull off smoker. I pulled and wrapped in foil until we were ready to eat later that night. I am looking for help, so any info is appreciated. Help me out with "probe like soft butter" that is alien to me. haha. If you pull off by "feel" do you still wrap in foil and let rest?

No! the collagen needs to break down between the muscle fibers this can happen as low as 185 up to 220 in rare cases. No two briskets will act the same that is why the Poke test is important to consistency. I'd be willing to bet you cooked somewhere between 225-250 as well. and there is nothing wrong with that but there are better ways IMO. If you want to use foil once the brisket has passed the poke test( You only need a good result in the thickest part of the flat, if it probes like butter the rest will be outstanding) allow the brisket to sit for 20 min before wrapping or it will continue to cook. Wrap it and put it into a preheated beer cooler and stuff it full of old towels. Allow to rest at least 1 hr 3-4 is better.

I'm one of those crazy pitmasters that used the book to start a fire. I cook at 300 deg on the grate, at the 4 hr point I wrap the Brisket in a single layer of Butcher paper, and continue to cook it until it probes tender (1.5 -2 hrs longer on average). Then I let it sit wrapped on the counter top until the internal temp drops to 150 before serving. The only temp I check is the pit temp.
CHEERS

[limey]

Good job on the first of many, probably not dry but could have used a lil more cooking time, good advice from others about when its done its done.
Anyway, bet it was good eating. Hats off to ya..

[Boots]

Different guys get similar results from different methods (Blu's and mine are way different) but man, I would never argue with his results, comes out really pretty and I would welcome a sit down at his table any day. You wouldn't go wrong at all using his method as a trial. Try different ways from all us loonies on here for yer first 3-4 cooks, and pretty soon you'll start forming your own opinions on what works bestest. Not long after that, you'll actually be arguing with us about what works best, and then you'll be having even more fun with it.

Without diving all the way down the rabbit hole of the physics of the thing (Papa Tom is the local science expert not me), I theorize there is actually a mathematical sliding scale of heat versus time that produces a sloped line, and that each point along said line represents an "ideal" point of "perfection" for a brisket (or any meat) at the corresponding time and temperature. But that would be the theoretical perfection only as the temperature tends to vary in a volatile manner within a range, and thus the line would actually be a curve, or even more accurately, a squiggle. So in the theoretical sense, you should be able to cook down the meat and render it to a perfect tenderness at most any temperature between say 180 and 300, but just at different lengths of time. Maybe one of those rocket scientist NASA types on here can explain it better than me. Just experiment with it until you find a way that works best for you. Like 'ol Einstein once said, "Imagination is more important than knowledge."

Or just ignore all my high school science theory BS and keep it simple like Blu says, and just cook that puppy until you can shove yer finger in it and it feels good.

[BigJon]

Thanks to all of you. I get excited reading all the tips. I really do appreciate all the ideas and advice you guys put out there. That is THE reason I joined the forum. I'm fired up to get back on another one again. Working this weekend but plan on getting another one in the smoker next weekend!