Brisket Problems

[tdf2001]

Hello,

I am a beginning bbq man and after some initial good luck, I am finally stumped.

I used to use a kettle grill to BBQ. I have had good luck with ribs and a couple of small briskets. I usually smoked these first and then wrapped them in aluminum. As I said this has worked well for me.

I ended up buying a Smokey Mountain smoker from Walmart to do things right. My kettle method usually had higher temps than desired and I wrapped toward the end, mostly because I got tired of managing the charcoal in the kettle all the time.

I also bought a digital remote thermometer which measured the cooker temps and the temp of the brisket which I was about to cook for a family dinner. The brisket was fairly flat (1 1/2' or thereabouts). I smoked it at 200-225 for about six hours. The temps slowed down toward the end and I increased the temp to about 260. The brisket finally showed 185 at which point I pulled it out, wrapped it in foil and a towel and stored in a cooler. A couple of hours later it was serving time. The brisket was white with clear running juices. Sadly, it was undercooked. A day later, I put it back in the oven for 2h at 350 and, voila, it turned out the way it should have the first time around.

I am not sure what I did wrong here. Should I have waited for the internal temp to go higher than was it was? The cooker did register probably 290-330 for about 30 minutes toward the end. Does the drive up the internal temp quicker than desired without cooking the meat properly through?

[allsmokenofire]

Just cook it longer, at whatever temp your cooker likes to run.

I always recommend cooking to tenderness instead of time or internal temp. Time or internal temp can be used as a guideline, i.e. internal temp of 190-195* will be getting close. I've had briskets come out great at 185* internal, and some that have taken up to 210* internal to become tender. When a temp probe or skewer slides into the flat with very little resistance, you're done, regardless of internal temp or time on the smoker.

Good news is, the brisket was edible and you get to try again.
_________________
Mike
Team Enoserv

[lantern]

I agree with ASNF.

Brisket is alot like ribs in that temp isn't as important as feel. I use 187 as my starting point and cook till it just feels right.



Quite a few people use the resistance of the meat to a probe thermometer the judge when it's done. When it's like butter it's done. I tend to use my hands and then the probe.

[tdf2001]

Thanks for the feedback. I will have to try that next time which will be Tuesday.

The Smokey Mountain has three stacked grills. I want to smoke some chicken, one spare rib and a small brisket on Tuesday. Which ones would you put closest to flame, which one closet to the top vent?

I am planing from bottom to top:

Bottom shelf: Brisket
Middle: Spare rib
Top: Chicken thighs

Does this even matter?

[lantern]

never put chicken over anything. Bad mojo.


I go by the "pork fat rules" method. Meaning pork over beef and lamb over chicken and seafood.