First Brisket In The Books

[Tennessee Trash]

Did my first brisket today. It was a 14lb select grade packer I got at Wal-Mart. I tried a butcher shop in Knoxville and the guy wanted to order me a waygu brisket for 10 bucks a pound. Since I'd rather eat a steak than steak-priced brisket I had not had the opportunity to try one until I came across three of thrm at Wal-Mart. I put it on the heat at 2am, weber kettle with smokenator, wrapped at and rested at 5pm and ate at 7pm. I did not crutch. Once I came out of the stall the thing went pretty quick. Kept it between 215 and 235 grill temp all day long, and that was a long day. Turned out great, well worth the effort.

[Huskee]

Looks great!

[fzxdoc]

What a pretty sliced brisket. I bet it didn't last long.

Kathryn

[Deuce]

Nicely done, bet it was good

[biggreenmatt]

There needs to be a "X went wrong with my brisket" thread- in lieu of same, I'm tacking my question on to this one.

Made a good 10 pounder yesterday, indirect on a BGE. Because the brisket overhangs over the plate setter, I used loose foil as a guard between the coals and the product.

Salted the night before, seasoned lightly, and since I had some time, I completed the smoke without a crutch. Top bark and centre were magnificently beautiful- one of the better smokes I've done. The bottom, however, was awful. Not so much of a bark as a thick crust, that was knife-resistant when slicing. Super-caramelized bits, that were so thick as to be unappetizing.

Suspect it's part-and-parcel with using a round kamodo where the heat is generated, and is therefore more intense, at the bottom of the brisket than it is at the top, and because of the physics involved, short of flipping the meat at various intervals during the smoke, there ain't nothing that can be done about it (short of getting a Primo, which is actually in the cards).

Thoughts (he asked, wearily)?

[cdd315]

... Suspect it's part-and-parcel with using a round kamodo where the heat is generated, and is therefore more intense, at the bottom of the brisket than it is at the top, and because of the physics involved, short of flipping the meat at various intervals during the smoke, there ain't nothing that can be done about it (short of getting a Primo, which is actually in the cards).

Thoughts (he asked, wearily)?

I've done several briskets ranging in size from 8 - 14 lbs. The larger ones I had to drape it over a V rack to get it to fit in my Large BGE. I haven't experienced what you described above though which I find odd. Did you leave the fat cap on your brisket? Did you cook the brisket fat cap down? I don't usually trim the fat cap much, but prefer to scrap it off before serving. With the plate setter in place, you really shouldn't get too much heat in the center to get a hard crust like you describe. I just did a 4 lb. pork but cut in two which took 13 hrs to come to 203F at 225F. It was great with no hard crust but a nice dark brown bark!

[biggreenmatt]

Fat cap up, 225F, smoked directly on the grate, right over the plate setter.

To be sure, the bark on the top was so beautiful as to restore one's faith in humanity. The bottom was just so thick as to be a solid crust, and while not inedible (we picked at the remnants after slicing- tough but tasty-ish), it should really stay with the meat.

Sigh. Looking forward to Wednesday's podcast.