Help with my Brisket so I dont screw up again and my family starts to doubt my skills :-)

[jimwheeler]

Hello,
I am looking for any help or suggestions all you fine people can offer.

My equipment is a Pit Boss 22" Kamado Grill with a Vision Grill top vent. I also have a Flame Boss 300 electronic controller, which works like a champ. i only use lump charcoal, and lite with a torch in one spot.


This weekend I bought a huge brisket from a local butcher shop. This was my FIRST attempt.

As this was too much meat to cook at one time I cut it in half, vacuum sealed and put in freezer. While I was cutting the fat off of it, I ended up deciding that it still was too much and with a large vein of fat running down inside, I cut it up again into another 2 pcs. If I'm not mistaken what i cut off was the point, which gave me the remaining other half of the flat. I have picture that I will attach. Pardon my pictures as they are frozen. Both frozen pieces are about 3.5" thick. I only used a 50/50 mix of salt & Pepper as my rub and really not a lot of it.

The piece of Brisket was very dry but IMO had good taste. I used Pecan for my smoke. I also had a drip pan full of water.

I have attached pictures of the meat and my cook. You will notice the drops in the Pit Temp, that is where I misted the brisket with water.








Here are the pictures of the meat.
​



Before i cook the next pieces I want to make sure I don't SCREW them up like i did the first attempt.

[kmhfive]

Welcome to the Pit!

Cant see pictures. Maybe describe your process? What didn’t go right. Where did you stop the cook? How long in a Cambro?

[JCGrill]

The variables I usually see here are pit temp, injection or not, crutch or not, cambro or not, and when you pull it off the smoker. What did you do for each?

[jimwheeler]

Thanks for the quick responses.

No injection, It was done on the grill grate above the deflector stone with the water pan on the deflector, grate above the water pan. No Cambro but placed in a tin foil pan for 30minutes with a piece of foil so crap or bugs didn't land on it, while i had to cook a hot dog for my daughter.

BTW what is a "crutch" ?

Also are the pictures showing up?

[JCGrill]

Don't see pics. Foil/crutch, same thing. Take a look at Meathead's brisket recipe over on the free side, he explains virtually all of the terminology you will see the rest of us use. After that, feel free to ask more questions, there's a lot of help here.

By the way, welcome to the pit.

[jimwheeler]

Thanks,
Not sure why the pictures are not showing up..... UGH !

[JCGrill]

Lots of us have trouble with the pics occasionally. Try making a minor change to the pictures, like a small crop or change in brightness. Save and post again.

[RonB]

Welcome to The Pit Jim. My biggest question is how did you determine it was done? The most accurate way to tell it's done is to start probing around 190* internal temp, and when the probe goes in like a knife in warm butter, it's done.

And I agree with JCGrill - go to the free side and read Meathead's instructions for smokin' a brisket. Then come back here and tell us what you did.

[jimwheeler]

i removed it 40minutes after it had climbed to 200+ after the 4hour stall, it felt "loose & flexible" when i picked it up with my tongs...... Plus my family was hungry.

I will most definitely read Meathead's guide.

[ecowper]

The flat, by itself, is easy to overcook. I personally cook the whole brisket, even when I’m only feeding a few people. I have tons of uses for the leftovers .... brisket hash, chili, beef barley soup, etc. That said, the single biggest thing that will impact your brisket cook, in my opinion, is learning when the meat is done and should come off the cooker. The temperature is just a guideline. The real deal is how it feels when you probe the meat. I use my thermapen to probe, but any reasonably slim metal probe will work. It should feel the same as a butter knife going through room temperature butter. Once your brisket hits 190, time to start probing the meat and seeing if it is done. When it is probe tender, regardless of the temperature your thermometer reads, the brisket is done. :-)

[Steve R.]

BTW what is a "crutch" ?

I think I see the problem.

Like you said, follow Meathead's directions on this site and it will be fine.

[Spinaker]

Jim,
On the next cook, I would make sure to hold the brisket for at least two hours, in the cambro. You can either use a warm cooler or an oven set to 170 F. Personally, I consider this to be an essential portion of the cook. I always allow for cambro time when I am cooking large cuts.

When you have the chance, check out this article on the Faux Cambro, if you have not already. There is a lot of great science behind the hold and you will see why this is such a crucial step. Be sure to check out the section on "holding" in Meathead's article on Texas Beef Brisket.

When holding, I like to use Heavy-Duty aluminum foil. I double wrap the meat as tightly as I can. Then I will wrap it in a large cotton towel and place in a warm igloo cooler for at least two hours. Once you take the meat out of the cooler and out of the foil, save the drippings. After you slice or pull the meat, drizzle the Au jus over the meat for added flavor and moisture.

Let us know if you have any other questions. Your brisket should be something you are proud to serve. We can get you there.

Finally, when shopping for brisket, do what you can to buy Prime. Choice and Select briskets are more difficult to be successful with.

[kmhfive]

!!This!!

I can see pictures now.

[DWCowles]

Welcome jimwheeler

[Mosca]

I've run into similar when cooking small flats from the grocery, the kind that were butchered to be braised rather than bbq'd. They taste good, but are dry.

First, instead of cutting the whole packer into pieces and freezing, cook the whole thing and then whatever you don't use as leftovers in other dishes, freeze. Personally I like the idea of making chili with it, then freezing what chili I didn't eat.

I split the point and flat, but cook them at the same time. Others leave them attached. Since everyone seems to make some pretty good brisket, I don't think that matters. But your brisket does get done sooner, so there's that.

Ditch the water pan. You don't need it in a kamado. You can dry out meat in a slow cooker, or when braising it in a Dutch oven. It wasn't the moisture in the cooking chamber (or lack of it) that dried out the brisket. Not having been there, I couldn't say what it was, but it wasn't that. You might have done everything right and just gotten a tough piece of meat, you know, even for brisket.

I inject my briskets, but I don't bother with crutching them, mostly because I split the point and flat and they get done in about 8-10 hours. On an overnight cook they are past the stall by the time I wake up.

I absolutely recommend the rest in a cooler. Once they are probe-tender (you'll know), wrap in foil, then a towel, then put in a cooler or in a 170* oven for at least an hour but no more than four hours. (More on probe-tender: I didn't understand this until I did it. You're sticking that skewer in and thinking, "Is this it? This? How about THIS? And then ten minutes later the skewer goes into the meat like a knife through butter. It's pretty cool, actually.)

And, I've found that slicing it makes a difference. Get the sharpest roast-cutting knife you can find, and cut that brisket a little bit THINNER than a pencil thickness, as close to perpendicular to the grain as you can get. If it starts to crumble, then go to about 60* off perpendicular, that will help it stay together.

[kmhfive]

Awesome advice on the cut! Thanks

[Spinaker]

Good call on loosing the water pan in a Kamado.

[JCGrill]

I have to say, my first ever brisket was like sawdust, and I never knew why, but I got it from the grocery store and now you have me thinking. Since then I buy better meat and have better success. Hmmm.

[TheCountofQ]

Mosca So when you split but cook at the same time, are you totally separating and cooking side by side, or more of putting it back together as if it was still a whole packer without the fat between the two muscles?

[Pirate Scott]

I have had very good results using Meatheads Technique. In fact it is why I joined! All the information on the free section is awesome!