I promise I will go back and write my intro soon per the intro page request. I am hosting a party for my twins' first birthday in a couple of weeks and want to serve up some delicious brisket. I realize that there are lots of threads with general advice, but I am looking for some specific help. I have done some reading, but I am having trouble diagnosing my problem and I hope you all can help!
Thanks in advance for reading!
Background
When I moved to Colorado a few years back I brought with me an old cheap offset smoker. It never worked well and a last summer I abandoned it in favor of a Camp Chef DLX pellet smoker. I was looking for something that would require a lot less fire maintenance during long smokes and still make good meat. I have read a lot of discussion about how pellet grills are different than offsets or bullets, but am committed to getting this cooker working well. Full disclosure: I am a nerdy engineer and love the fact there is a PD controller on this unit and that I can instrument and control things.
While having a controller sounds nice, I was having a lot of trouble getting the out of the box unit to maintain a steady temperature. Over the past month I have made a handful of modifications to the grill to seal up the gaping holes that let smoke leak out everywhere. I also added a silicone tadpole gasket around the entire lid and some clamps to keep it in place. I can maintain heat much better than before, but occasionally I will run into problems where newly augered pellets do not catch on fire immediately: the temp plummets down (to 120 or so) and then they finally all pile up and catch and it shoots up high (325+). I think I know what is causing this problem (the chimney cap restricting airflow) and I am going to test a fix this week.
I have a Maverick dual wireless temperature probe so I can see both my meat temperature and the air temperature. After surveying temperatures across the grate, I moved the control probe from the side of the chamber to the rear next to the chimney where I measured the grill at its hottest. When looking at the control probe and the maverick probe they are within 5-10 degrees of each other so I typically use the maverick probe to keep an eye on the smoke temperature. The unit only has settings at 25 degree increments (175, 200, 225, etc) and generally the controller runs such that the temp overshoots the setting by 10-15 degrees on average (less than ideal, I know)
Past briskets
I started a brisket log to help me keep track of all of the details while smoking the past 3 briskets
#1 3.5 lb trimmed flat (USDA Choice) from local meat market (claim only local young beef used)
#2 6.0 lb trimmed flat (USDA Choice) from Costco
#3 11.0 lb full packer (USDA Prime) from Costco
Things I kept the same
#1
#3
Help I am looking for (pretty please)
Answer what you can - I appreciate your feedback or relevant links! Keep in mind I am trying to get my pellet cooker working better, not buy or use something completely different. I do have a nice electric oven that I would use if needed, plus a gas grill next to my smoker.
I think what I really want to achieve is a more tender brisket where the intramuscular fat has rendered down and the meat "falls apart". This gif shows what I am looking for (I realize this is the large layer of fat between flat and point)
Q1) Based on the above - are my briskets underdone? I have heard the magic internal temperature for a brisket is 203 - should that be the hottest part of the brisket (i.e. everywhere else is 195-200) or the coolest part of the brisket (i.e. everything 205-210)?
Q2) There is a lot of discussion about smoking briskets on the hotter side of the traditional temp of 225. When I am at 210 or below in my chamber is that detrimental? Does cooking hotter have an effect on tenderness?
Q3) Having done only one full packer - how important is it to have uniform thickness on the lean (flat) side? I was surprised to see the thinnest part of the flat was the coolest
Q4) If the temperature is kept low is there a benefit or detriment to keeping the brisket unwrapped (versus using unwaxed butcher paper)? Is this making my bark tougher (and harder to slice - see next question)? I have read that there is a limit to how much flavor can be gained from staying in clean smoke - where is that limit?
Q5) Why is it so hard for me to slice and not rip the bark off in large chunks? I have seend suggestions for serated knives or electic slicers. I have also seen that with a sharp knife and the right technique, sawing is not needed. Any tips (or better: videos) would be great
Q6) Colorado has a less humid climate - how important is having a water pan and keeping it full? Does the elevation affect what temperatures I should be seeking inside my cook chamber and internal to the meat (since the boiling point is so much lower here)?
Thanks!
-matto-
Photos
#1 Before
#1 After
#2 Before (not rubbed)
#2 After
​​​​​​​
#3 Before
#3 After
​​​​​​​
Thanks in advance for reading!
Background
When I moved to Colorado a few years back I brought with me an old cheap offset smoker. It never worked well and a last summer I abandoned it in favor of a Camp Chef DLX pellet smoker. I was looking for something that would require a lot less fire maintenance during long smokes and still make good meat. I have read a lot of discussion about how pellet grills are different than offsets or bullets, but am committed to getting this cooker working well. Full disclosure: I am a nerdy engineer and love the fact there is a PD controller on this unit and that I can instrument and control things.
While having a controller sounds nice, I was having a lot of trouble getting the out of the box unit to maintain a steady temperature. Over the past month I have made a handful of modifications to the grill to seal up the gaping holes that let smoke leak out everywhere. I also added a silicone tadpole gasket around the entire lid and some clamps to keep it in place. I can maintain heat much better than before, but occasionally I will run into problems where newly augered pellets do not catch on fire immediately: the temp plummets down (to 120 or so) and then they finally all pile up and catch and it shoots up high (325+). I think I know what is causing this problem (the chimney cap restricting airflow) and I am going to test a fix this week.
I have a Maverick dual wireless temperature probe so I can see both my meat temperature and the air temperature. After surveying temperatures across the grate, I moved the control probe from the side of the chamber to the rear next to the chimney where I measured the grill at its hottest. When looking at the control probe and the maverick probe they are within 5-10 degrees of each other so I typically use the maverick probe to keep an eye on the smoke temperature. The unit only has settings at 25 degree increments (175, 200, 225, etc) and generally the controller runs such that the temp overshoots the setting by 10-15 degrees on average (less than ideal, I know)
Past briskets
I started a brisket log to help me keep track of all of the details while smoking the past 3 briskets
#1 3.5 lb trimmed flat (USDA Choice) from local meat market (claim only local young beef used)
#2 6.0 lb trimmed flat (USDA Choice) from Costco
#3 11.0 lb full packer (USDA Prime) from Costco
Things I kept the same
- I used a rub very close to Meathead's big bad beef rub. I kept it light using only about 1/8 cup for each brisket (yes the full packer was very lightly rubbed)
- I salted the meat after trimming for 8-12 hours using 1/2 tsp kosher salt per pound
- I kept about 1/4" of fat on the fat side and placed it facing down in the smoker
- Sliced against the grain using this carving knife
#1
- No water pan
- 10 hours at 200 setting (approx 210 in chamber)
- This was before the smoker had the gaskets to help control temp. Many times the temperature flared up to 250
- Probed with ThermaPen and had temperatures ranging 185-196 right before taking off
- Rested in cooler 60 minutes
- My comments when eating it - sliced meat was a little firm/chewy and spicy from being over rubbed. Bark is hard to slice!
- Added gaskets and clamps, temp much more stable
- Added a 7 cup water pan (bread loaf pan) and kept it full through out
- First overnight smoke (woohoo)
- 8 hours at 175 setting (approx 195 in chamber) (Power went our for one hour and temp dropped very low in smoker)
- 6 hours at 200 setting (approx 210 in chamber)
- 1.5 hours at 225 setting (approx 235 in chamber)
- Took 90 minutes to go from 190 to 200 internal temperature
- Probed with ThermaPen and had temperatures ranging 200-202
- Rested in cooler 80 minutes
- My comments when eating it - not over rubbed (used same amount of rub on more meat) but the bark was very hard to cut and came off in large chunks most of the time. Very tender, but the meat has a "spring" to it. By this I mean I can take a slice and pull on it and the meat separates nicely, but the intramuscular fat is still visible (not fully rendered). Very tasty - best brisket I have ever made! Still not as good as I can buy at a local restuarant, but confirmed that I need to work on temperature control
#3
- First full packer (woohoo). Need to get better at trimming but that is for another day
- No more mods to smoker or water pan
- Only filled water pan once (7 cups) because it is very hard to get to
- 5 hours at 175 setting (approx 195 in chamber)
- 8 hours at 200 setting (approx 210 in chamber)
- 1.5 hours at 250 setting (approx 260 in chamber)
- 5-6 flareups where pellets were not catching (I think it was an airflow problem). Temp dropped to <120 for 10-15 minutes and then shot up to 325-375 for 10-15 minutes. Lots of sooty black smoke. During the hot part of the flareup I can hear fat sizzling in cooker. After removing I could see some charring on the side that was face down.
- Probed with ThermaPen and had temperatures in the flat ranging 195-203 (some parts of point were 209-214). Thinnest part of flat was coldest.
- Rested in cooler 90 minutes
- My comments when eating it - a little under rubbed (used same amount of rub on even more meat) but the bark was very hard to cut and came off in large chunks most of the time. Bark was a little bitter from being burned. Similarly tender to #2 - the lean (flat) side still has the "spring" to it and the intramuscular fat is not fully liquefied. The fatty (point) side was pull apart tender with more liquefied intramuscular fat. Still not as tender as I can buy at a good local restaurant. It was a good brisket, but would have been much better without flareups.
Help I am looking for (pretty please)
Answer what you can - I appreciate your feedback or relevant links! Keep in mind I am trying to get my pellet cooker working better, not buy or use something completely different. I do have a nice electric oven that I would use if needed, plus a gas grill next to my smoker.
I think what I really want to achieve is a more tender brisket where the intramuscular fat has rendered down and the meat "falls apart". This gif shows what I am looking for (I realize this is the large layer of fat between flat and point)
Q1) Based on the above - are my briskets underdone? I have heard the magic internal temperature for a brisket is 203 - should that be the hottest part of the brisket (i.e. everywhere else is 195-200) or the coolest part of the brisket (i.e. everything 205-210)?
Q2) There is a lot of discussion about smoking briskets on the hotter side of the traditional temp of 225. When I am at 210 or below in my chamber is that detrimental? Does cooking hotter have an effect on tenderness?
Q3) Having done only one full packer - how important is it to have uniform thickness on the lean (flat) side? I was surprised to see the thinnest part of the flat was the coolest
Q4) If the temperature is kept low is there a benefit or detriment to keeping the brisket unwrapped (versus using unwaxed butcher paper)? Is this making my bark tougher (and harder to slice - see next question)? I have read that there is a limit to how much flavor can be gained from staying in clean smoke - where is that limit?
Q5) Why is it so hard for me to slice and not rip the bark off in large chunks? I have seend suggestions for serated knives or electic slicers. I have also seen that with a sharp knife and the right technique, sawing is not needed. Any tips (or better: videos) would be great
Q6) Colorado has a less humid climate - how important is having a water pan and keeping it full? Does the elevation affect what temperatures I should be seeking inside my cook chamber and internal to the meat (since the boiling point is so much lower here)?
Thanks!
-matto-
Photos
#1 Before
#1 After
#2 Before (not rubbed)
#2 After
​​​​​​​
#3 Before
#3 After
​​​​​​​
Attached Files
Comment