need help diagnosing dry brisket

[klflowers]

Did he probe it before removing it from the cooker? It may have needed even more time. I tend to cook brisket by probing now rather than just temps - start at about 190 and keep checking until it is like butter. I always cambro, never held in an oven so I can't speak to that. Finally, it may have just been that brisket. Some of the real pit masters will be along soon with better answers, I expect.

Bottom line, if everyone liked it, sounds like a score to me. AR makes us all kind of perfectionists, but that is us.

[Ahumadora]

1./ Should have been poking it more when it was getting clloser to 200F. May have overcooked it a little. Easy to do if it is grass fed or lean piece of meat. Higher temps is fine. I blasted out a brisket in 3 hours Sunday at 350-400f. Where you running any water in the pit? Wrap in tinfoil helps a bit more than paper, but if the meat has no fat content it is going to be a dry brick when you cook it.

[JamieBBQ]

Certified Angus beef isn’t always a guarantee anymore. I always inject unless Waygu. I also have a unofficial trick. If there are a pile of brisket I pick them up and pick the most flexible. Yup I think it matters in the end.

[Sonoman]

A friend smoked a brisket, about his third or fourth, and he texted me all day for coaching. From what I can tell, he did things correctly and his earlier briskets came out great, but this one was dry and we are trying to figure out why. Any thoughts on how to prevent the brisket from drying out?

Re-creating the timeline from his texts and comments:

- 13-14lb CAB brisket, wet aged for 5 weeks. Trimmed the thick, hard fat on the point end Thursday night.

The fat side had thin layer of fat on it. Put it

in a covered baking pan in the fridge overnight. (I stopped by to help trim, drink beer)
- Put into Traeger pellet smoker at 6am Saturday morning at 225
- Temp was 140 at 9:30
- Temp 154 at 10:30
- Wrapped in butcher paper around 11:15. He said it was wrapped tight, with double paper (same paper I use...I gave him some of mine since I will never use my entire roll)
- Temp was at 187 at

2:45pm

. He started to worry about finishing on time and resting it 2hrs so bumped the temp up to 275 or 300
-

Temp hit 204 at

3:40pm. Put meat, still wrapped in paper, in oven to keep warm until party. He had oven set at 175
- I arrived at his house at 5:30 and poked the meat through the paper and it felt firm and dry, not like "buttah". Uhh ohh
- Served it around 6:30. The point end was good but the mid and flat were dry. Bummer...

Most of the people at the party thought it was great, but he was pretty bummed and we talked about what could have gone wrong...or what he did differently from what I normally do. I am trying to retain my "trusted coach" status, but clearly we did some things wrong.

Some thoughts...
- the piece of meat is a big variable. Still, we would like to know how to "work the process" and make adjustments to get good results
- I normally inject mine with beef broth. I don't know if it makes a big difference, but it makes me feel better. He didn't inject (we didn't think of it until the next day)
- Did bumping the temp up in the afternoon hurt the meat by taking it too high too fast? I know guys who run theirs up to 300 (including Kreutz in Lockhart) so I don't think that should matter, but maybe it did. I normally start my smokes earlier the night before, around 2-3am, so I don't stress about finish times, but I am sure I have bumped it up too in the past
- Did keeping it in the oven at 175 dry it out? It was still in the paper. I typically use a cooler, which retains high humidity, or I cycle the oven temp between off and 175 to keep it warm but not cook
- Also, he ran it up to 204 and did not poke it as it went up. I had a couple Costco Prime briskets over-cook at 203. Maybe he should have been poking it after it hit 195 or so and taken it out earlier?


Any thoughts on adjustments to improve the result next time? Things to do differently? Things to avoid? It is always a big disappointment to go through the entire process on an expensive piece of meat, only to have it dry on the other end when the party is already going. Looking for ways to improve the final product with greater confidence.

thanks