Second brisket and I already made some mistakes,.. can it be salvaged?

[PhilWebb]

What I did wrong was to misread the label "Certified Angus Beef (BRAND)" so not even sure if it's really Angus as I thought that Angus was some industry standard and not a BRAND.

Second I decided to cut the brisket into the two pieces as there was a large thick and hard layer of fat drifting back into the center. I got distracted with trimming and wound up trimming almost ALL the fat off the brisket pieces. So now I have 2, what looks like pieces of very large flattened steak.

I made up a rub and let it season for about 5 hours and decided to put on the XLGreen Egg just a few minutes ago with grill temp set at 235 and meat probes into the pieces set at 150 so that I will know when to wrap.

I have the plate setter for indirect cooking with no water pan. I'm smoking now for 2 hours with apple as all I have was apple or Mesquite to choose from. I did read where separating the brisket into the 2 pieces would allow for a 1/3rd time to be taken off the 12-18 hours estimated cooking time. Do I need to flip the meat at all during the smoke period?
Any other things that I should know about that you can think of that might help with this brisket would be appreciated.

As a side note I plan on getting some hunks of wood for smoking on the BGE as you cannot easily add more chips without removing the meat, grate, plate setter and then back again.

Also on this piece of brisket I was surprised at the coarseness of the "point" piece of meat. The fibers looked almost the size of a #2 pencil or a bit smaller. It looked like it was not really interconnected with the other meat fibers very much. I have not cooked that much meat before so do not have a lot to compare it to but was a bit surprised by the look of it. I should have taken some pics.

With the Cyberq pit controller I can have the BGE hold a meat temp to 203 once it hits that number. I'm wondering just how long I should keep it there. I know that the longer I keep it there the more tender the meat will become to a point where it is not the most desirable. Any estimations as to how long to shoot for?

Thanks,.. Phil

[_John_]

A lot here but the first and foremost is relax, it's gonna end up fine! Top to bottom, Angus is a breed of cow, the people that have those cows found a good marketing angle and made it popular, it has nothing to do with the quality or really anything else. It sort of is a brand really, from a marketing standpoint.
If I am picturing right, the fat you trimmed is called the deckle, it runs between and to the side of the point and flat. If you trim this deeply you will often separate the two. These pieces cook differently, the flat is usually done earlier, and a lot of people put the point back on, so why not separate from the start and not have missing bark? Some people say to leave them connected so the fat keeps it moist, but fat won't move into the meat below, if anything it would just baste one part making the flat cook unevenly.
I don't know a lot about the BGE so I can't comment on your setup unfortunately.
The point does have a surprising grain, big thick strands that seem like they would separate, but they don't for the most part, but they do help make the point more tender, especially when there is fat down in there.
Once you hit 203 I recommend throwing it in the faux cambro for a couple hours at least if possible. If the edges of the flat get overdone or dry, cut them off into 1" cubes along with some of the point, put on some sauce, and toss them back on until ready to eat for some burnt ends.

Try not to fiddle, or worry, if you hit the temps the worst you are looking at is dryness, and sauce can remedy that. If you want to impress somebody there, slices from the flat near where the point was are probably the juiciest and most tender and the most like what people picture when they think of brisket.
If it all seems just ok, finely chop it all, toss in some rub and sauce any you will have some great chopped brisket.

[_John_]

Oh, forgot this.

[PaulstheRibList]

No problem. I've been experimenting with cooking my brisket's with the point and flats separated, and with only a little fat left on them. My results have been pretty, tasty briskets that were too dry. I had to leave for work during each of my last few cooks, and was a couple of hours LATE in wrapping them.

My suggestion, after about 6 hours, Wrap them both per @Meathead's instructions, and cook to the 203 internal temp.

My cooks where my limited fat, separated points and flats where I did not wrap, or wrapped late (about 10 hours in, internal temp in the 170's) ended up with too tough a bark on some parts of the brisket, and more dry than they needed to be.

Have fun!

[PhilWebb]

Thanks for the input,..
My internal meat temp is already 160 on both pieces. I've read on here where you should pull and wrap at 150 but the meat has only been on the pit for 1:45 minutes. I feel I need to leave unwrapped for a bit longer to give it some more time unwrapped. It came straight out of the fridge before putting on pit.
After I wrap it I plan on setting the cyberq pit controller to hold 203 meat temp for several hours.
Phil

[CurlingDog]

Phil, recommend you remove from teh grill at 203, wrap and place into a Faux cambro to rest. I would not recommend leaving it on the cooker at 203 for several hours. that would invite drying out the meat excessively. 2 hours (or until you are ready to dig in) in a faux cambro will keep the meat moist.

[Medusa]

WOW! I did my 1st brisket the other day. This was a 3.28 lb Flat on a Weber Kettle with a Vortex / water pan. It took 3 hr 47 min @ temps between 225-250 to get the IT to 150. Another stat I took for planning purposes was - 2 hr 12 min to raise the IT 51 degrees.

--Ed

[Rodcrafter]

That was really quick to 160, at that rate this baby is going to be done by 3:00 am for sure. I wonder if your temp is really 235. It usually takes about 4/5 hours to reach 160 for me. Then wrapped and she is done in another 4. But I use a offset RF, and that is 14lb brisket.

jm2cw

[_John_]

Update? I've had them get hot fast, though maybe not that fast, only to stall there for hours. Many of us only wrap once there is good bark, so whatever temp that is.

[PhilWebb]

I pulled off at 12 hours total and am letting it cool down a bit as it's a little wet. I think it is over cooked as it almost fell apart using 2 tongs to move out of aluminum wrap to pan.
I was also wondering how the internal temp rose so quickly and assume it was due to a thinner flat. What was unusual was the probe in the point which was thicker rose in temp quicker than the thinner flat.
When I saw that the meat temps were accelerating skyward and would hit the 203 temp sooner than expected I had the pit controller start tracking and holding at the 203 vs the grate temp of 235. It looks like the meat hit up into the 211 over night and took a bit of time to come back down.
I'm assuming that I really should not put the meat into the cooler wrapped as it has already been cooked enough.
Thanks for all the input on this brisket,
Phil

[_John_]

I would still wrap it after it cools down enough to stop cooking, this is the last chance to get some liquid back in it.

[Medusa]

I agree.

I drained off all of the jus to mix with black-eyed peas. Won't do that again as the meat was dry, but still $*%& good. Made sammiches the next 2 days with our own Aus Jus for dipping. #1 said do it again - good enough for me!

Remember, this is a journey and lessons are learned.

--Ed