Brisket - to wrap or not to wrap

[Spinaker]

Adding a water pan to your WSM will not make the meat have more moisture. You have to buy a higher grade of meat to achieve that. That ebbing said, having a moist environment for the brisket to cook in has its advantages. Mostly, smoke adhesion to the surface of the meat.

First, a good dry brine is key, as it will help the brisket retain moisture.

As for wrapping........I wrap my brisket when I have the color I like. That is usually at about 185 F or so.

A little trick I like to use is to drizzle the purge from the wrapped foil over the sliced meat. This adds moisture to the slices and it gives a good boost of flavor for your guests. I don't use butcher paper because I loose all of this purge after I wrap as the paper soaks it all up. If you cook it long enough before wrapping, you don't need to worry about not having ample bark on your brisket.

[ecowper]

one thing is certain, there are as many different ways to do this as there are pitmasters :-)

I wrote this a while ago for a friend that had never cooked brisket. I think it's pretty solid. It's what I learned after cooking several dozen briskets and having a number of failures and many that were okay, but not great.

As Spinaker says quality is important. So is the dry brine.

Eric’s Brisket Method - Pitmaster Club (amazingribs.com)​

[DennyWoo]

Agree 100% on the dry brine. I think that what you do before it goes into the smoker (and after it comes off the smoker too) is almost as important as the actual smoke.

[jsaniga]

Great post!

[ecowper]

jsaniga thanks!!!

[DennyWoo]

I wrap. I want to trust the foil boat method, but I tried it on my last brisket and the top became dry. I was cooking at 275. Either way, I wouldn't take a brisket all the way without a wrap. Very risky with an expensive hunk of meat.

Just curious, when you say the top became dry, did you have fat cap up or down? I've been doing fat cap up.

Not sure if it makes a difference, but I am using a PBC.

[hoovarmin]

DennyWoo I am pretty sure I cooked fat cap down. But I trim the fat cap with extreme predjudice, so it probably wouldn't have mattered too much. I've cooked many a Brisket in my PBC, but the one I foil-boated was in my Kamado.

[Rob whatever]

I like to cook brisket to get the fat and trimmings, which I , respectively, use to make tallow and chili. I do like the brisket as well, both to eat and for the challenge.

rob

[jsaniga]

OK - related (but not really) post. has anyone ever had a MASSIVE, I mean big HARD FAT layer between their flat and point? I mean thick and rock solid. I felt I needed to trim some of it.

[Hulagn1971]

Yep, that's the deckle I believe. I cut into that and remove a good portion during trimming.

[CHNeal]

See it a lot. Its hard to know when to stop cutting it out. Take too much and you and separated the point from the flat. Ive left it before and just had some nice fatty brisket!
I once got in a hurry to dig it out and ended up with a brisket covered in blood and 6 stitches in my hand!

[HawkerXP]

I've cut 3 lbs of that hard stuff off an 18 lb brisket. I assume this is why Prime, whole briskets are cheaper per pound then their choice flats at Costco.

[klflowers]

I never wrap. I agree with the quality of the meat though. I have done several choice brisket that were good but not great. Then I did a prime brisket that was the best I have ever done. I always dry brine, lately I have been using Porter Road's All Things Smoked rub, and I almost always use this:

https://amazingribs.com/tested-recipes/barbecue-sauce-recipes/texas-barbecue-juice/

But at this point I only do brisket by request, usually for my mom. I honestly prefer a good chuck roast or some beef ribs. But I keep some of that BBQ juice on hand. I love that stuff.

[klflowers]

hoovarmin either A1 or Heinz 57, whichever I have. Usually A1. And I use standard chili powder.

[hoovarmin]

Gracias klflowers

[hoovarmin]

Holy damn, klflowers you weren't kidding. This stuff is what I've been looking for all my life it's so good!

[surfdog]

I never wrap…unless I got it all wrong and seriously I’m crunched for time.

But, there’s a reason for that…
Way back when, long before I knew ANYTHING about smoking & what not…I didn’t even know wrapping was a thing. Put the meat on low & slow and cook it ‘til it’s done. Seemed simple enough. Once I got better at controlling temps & the like, and learned what I was doing, they got better & better.

The big keys for me though are to start with a quality piece of meat, and dry brine. Get those right and there’s little mystery left to making a good brisket IMO.

That said…one of my brothers & his wife (she’s from Texas) each claim to make the best brisket. Fact is, they make the worst brisket I have ever been unfortunate enough to endure. Like eating a shoe. Not sure how they do it as I’ve never watched their process…but it’s always terrible and always tough…and always wrapped. Go figure.