Brisket Over & Under Cooked?

[Xtropy]

I am having challenges cooking brisket on my GMG Davey Crockett pellet grill. I am following all recommendations, I set the pellet grill to 225F (verified with a 3rd party sensor) and put a 10lbs brisket on (both point and flat).

Whenever I do this, the point hits 205F but the flat is around 180F. I leave it awhile longer and when probing with a instant read thermometer, I have parts of the brisket at 220F and other parts are 190F and I have no "jiggle". The brisket is dry and disappointing most cooks.

What should I do here? Should I split the brisket into the point and flat and cook separately? I am not wrapping, would that fix this? Is it the meat that's the problem? Do I need to cook this so that every part of the brisket is at 200-205F and anything that is at 190F means the entire brisket needs to stay on until the coldest part is 205F?

After 20+ hours I just give up and take what I have and try to find the "edible" pieces but I think there needs to be a better way and looking for advice. Anything else I do on this pellet grill is perfect and the problem is isolated to brisket.

I've included a screenshot of my Meater thermometer cook graph during one of my cooks as maybe this could help too? There were parts still at 195F at the end (but didn't move this thermometer) but at 209F, I took it off as that was the middle ground between various temp checks.

Thanks in advance for any help/suggestions

[Jerod Broussard]

Leave it together. Go until the flat is probe tender everywhere and stop temping the point.

[HawkerXP]

+1

[Sid P]

+2

[STEbbq]

You are definitely overcooking it. The no wrap, meat, and smoker are not the issue.

A 10 pound brisket should probably be done in 10-13 hours at 225 though you can easily run at 275 and save time with no noticeable loss in flavor.

I start with probing in the 190s and you should take it over when your thermometer starts to slide into the meat like a knife though warm butter. There should be little resistance. Most of my briskets are probe tender in the 190s and I never really end up having to cook them beyond 201 or 202. If the flat is not cooking quickly enough, I would move the brisket so the flat is closer to the main heat source, not the point. The entire brisket definitely does not need to be over 200 to be done.

[Xtropy]

Thanks guys. So stop looking at the temp on the thermometer and just go with resistance with the thermometer? The issue is really that the flat (under the point, thickest part) is under and the thinner parts are way over. Where am I checking "probe tender" as it depends on where I insert it and that causes confusion as it's all over the place, some places are and some aren't. Looks like I am taking it too far based on where I am probing?

Thanks again

[STEbbq]

You want most of the brisket to be probe tender and typically that would be done in the 190s. I wouldn’t want to cook the brisket beyond 203 and risk it becoming inedible to make it 100% probe tender. There’s probably some room to experiment later but let’s make sure you can have a nice brisket first!

Keep in mind that you should also rest the brisket in a faux cambro (wrap in tin foil and towels and place in a cooler) for about 2 hours after you pull it off the smoker before slicing to eat.

[Xtropy]

Thanks so much! I’ll give it another run and update this post with the results. Truly appreciate your time and advice. Not many people do brisket in Toronto and want to nail it

[Jerod Broussard]

Briskets can be weird. The more you simplify it, the less variables you have to mess it up.

[DaveD]

To answer your specific question, yes indeed, at some point in the temp range STEbbq mentioned, the tenderness when inserting the probe is waaaaaay more important than what the actual temperature is. This is true not just for brisket, but for any large cut, like pork butt or chuck roast. Once you get to 190ish F, start probing every couple degrees of IT until it gets that way in most spots. You won't be able to miss it when it happens - you feel essentially no resistance, like if your eyes were shut you wouldn't even be able to tell when the tip of the probe went in. When most of the cut probes like that, you WILL have jiggle!

Good luck! You'll get this! If I can do it, ANYBODY can, trust me...

[Bob K]

As STEbbq said, the rest time is not a "nice-to-have," it’s critical. If it’s mostly probe tender, take it off and give it at least 2 hours, even up to 12 if you can maintain 140-150 temps like in a low oven (don’t trust the oven’s temp setting though, learned that the hard way). If not using oven, I let it cool for 20-30 minutes until it’s dropped to 175-ish, then foil wrap and in the cooler padded with towels. The rest time will finish tenderizing the less-done parts while no longer heating the done parts. Also juices will redistribute (or so the smart people say).

[Johnny Booth]

+1
Rest is a critical part of a brisket cook. 👍

[Xtropy]

Update:

Did my first brisket since this post last week (yay for warm weather in Canada) and used all of your tips this time (THANK YOU) and made the best brisket I've ever done on my pellet smoker. I took it off after 15 hours @ 225 with the lowest temps in the 190 range, no wrapping until the end. Everything felt probe tender except the top of the brisket that was furthest from the heat and had some mild to moderate resistance when probing. As suggested, I wrapped in butcher paper, dropped temps to 150 and held it for 6 hours until dinner; it came off at 163.

For the first time, my brisket didn't shred apart into little pieces when cutting (especially the flat) and either than a few places where it was like "jerky" or charred carbon (some parts of the bottom) it was moist and what I was aiming for.

Follow up questions:

The top of the point still had resistance but I was worried about over-cooking the rest of the brisket. Should I have pushed this further (especially since this area was under 190) until the entire brisket was probe tender or is this the right thing to do? I worried about over-cooking which i've been doing in the past.

Should I have flipped the brisket 1/2 way through? I am using a pellet smoker and just left it the entire time without moving it. The flat was down and point was up the entire cook and wondering if I should have flipped it. I don't see that suggested anywhere but using a pellet smoker, maybe I need to use a different technique?

Would wrapping it in butcher paper have helped the temps be more even across the brisket and should I have wrapped at the stall (150 or so) instead of just at the end?

Am I overthinking this and did it all right? lol

Thanks again everyone for helping me nail this. I think with a few tweaks, I think I got this!

All the best

[IdahoJim]

Xtropy, Do you have an upper grate in your pellet grill? The first brisket I cooked in my pellet grill was pretty crispy on the bottom. I made multiple error on that cook, but one of them was putting the brisket on the main, bottom grate. I use my upper grate now to get further away from the heat source and don't have issues burning the bottom.

[Mosca]

There are others who are better at brisket than I am; but my best briskets, the ones I’ve been amazed at myself, I’ve done the flat to probe tender and let the point take care of itself.

[Draznnl]

Generally, the point will be probe tender long before the flat. If that wasn't the case with your cook, your point may have been in a colder spot on the pellet cooker. Did you ever do a toast test to find the hot and cold spots on your cooker?

[Alan Brice]

Excellent (point), pun intended. If you want bark and dont mind a few crustys, dont wrap. If you are going for tender and dont mind if you get some shredding, wrap .My stalls are in the mid sixties. I love bark. Option would be to spritz, this will lengthen your cook time.

[realdocBBQ]

So you were cooking point-up and fat cap up?

Keep in mind... a pellet cooker is cooking with radiant heat from the bottom (diffuser plate) up and maybe some convective cooking from top/sides down. Think about airflow through the cooker and where your heat comes from...

I think in your case, yes, probably flipping it to lay on the point and keep the point closest to your heat source may have made a difference. The point is fattier and can take a bit more heat, but especially since the top of your point, which is the thickest section of a brisket was undercooked. If you consider the physics... this portion of the point was protected from the radiant heat coming from the bottom by the most vulnerable portion of your brisket - the flat. Did you check temps in different places in the brisket? Even if your flat was 190ish, your point could go up over 200 and not be overcooked, while the flat would have been, at those temps.

I do believe you are right and probably should have flipped halfway through - if not just cooked fat cap down/point down the whole time.

Now you know. Next time you try it, see how that goes.

Congrats on the improvement, though! I know I still screw one up now and then. But it's a journey.

[STEbbq]

Congrats on the outstanding outcome! Well done buddy.

Flipping brisket throughout the cook makes no real difference. I like to do once because it makes me feel better and I like to think the bark is more evenly developed. Science probably won’t support me here. However, cooking with the fat cap down facing the heat source will address both the point issue and ensure the part of the meat that can take the most heat is front and center.

The advantage of butcher paper over foil is that it can help preserve a more crunchy bark. It is a matter of personal preference. I have never used it because I never felt my foiled briskets needed improvement here.

These changes are super small in the overall scheme of things. Your brisket probably won’t take another leap in flavor as the steps you have already done have yielded a fantastic outcome. The trick now is consistency on the core process!

Congrats again.

[Johnny Booth]

Once you get the cook right, you have pretty much nailed the flavor unless you use an offset and real wood. That does produce a higher level of flavor. It’s also a lot more work. 😎

[J-Melt]

Glad to hear it improved for you! I also always cook with the fat cap down and have gotten good results after my first few that needed the Pit to help me improve on!

[fzxdoc]

It's good to hear that you've upped your brisket game, Xtropy , on this most recent cook. Hearty congrats!

Kathryn

[Xtropy]

So you were cooking point-up and fat cap up?

I cooked it like in this pic (not my brisket and didn’t look anything like this but a good visual of the way I placed it on the grill)



the part in the middle (highest point) wasn’t probe tender. It was definitely the coldest part of the grill which is why I thought a flip maybe have been needed. I am also using a GMG Davey Crockett so it takes up the entire grill surface.

Flat was probe tender (and over 200 when removed) long before the point. Based on suggestions here I should flip this over and cook point down?

Thanks everyone for the help and encouragement. Such a positive and helpful community here.

[fzxdoc]

Cut out part of that deckle fat--the fat between the point and the flat. It doesn't render anyway during the cook, it's too hard. That will thin down the point area so that it can cook a little faster. You can leave the point connected or not, your choice, but some of that thick fat should go.

Kathryn