First Brisket - Good Results! Temp Control Questions (Photos)

drummerben · January 2014

Decided to do a brisket for dinner with my parents tonight, so I picked up a brisket flat from a local butcher (shout out to Heywood's Provisions! in Marietta). Decision was made a little late in the game, and by Friday they were out of packer briskets so I ended up with a CAB brisket flat, 6.5lbs. Side note, these guys also sell Snake River Farms for $9/lb. Not sure how this price compares to other regions, but I was surprised they carry it.

Cranked the egg up late this morning in the rain. Cooked at target dome temp of 250 (more on this later), wrapped with parchment paper after 3.5 hours, pulled after 6.5 hours. Let rest at room temp only about 30 minutes because we were late serving dinner.

Here are a few photos, then I have some newbie observations and questions.

6.5lbs CAB brisket flat.

All trimmed up and ready for the egg. Salt & pepper rub, with a dusting of Dizzy Dust.

An hour after lighting the egg was still very smoky. I think this may have been a result of the raining/foggy morning, but I've never seen this before. It wasn't the smoke that typically goes away 10 or 15 minutes after being lit. It was a heavy fog or steam coming from coals and inside of the egg. Was this just because I lit it in the rain and the coals and egg got wet in the process??

Finished product. Not perfect, but it actually tasted really good. Better results than expected after reading several brisket horror stories on the Egghead Forum! My family loved it though, which was the most important thing.

OBSERVATIONS

The smoke and flavor was great, in fact I wouldn't have changed a thing. I used a combination of hickory chips and apple chunks. The texture and moisture was pretty good, but could have been better. I think this was a result of two things. First, I wish I could have let the meat rest and cool more before slicing, but we were running up against bath/bedtime for the baby, so I had no choice but slice after 30 minutes of rest. I think a longer rest might have helped redistribute some of the juices and rendered fat. I also think the egg temperature fluctuations might have impacted the moisture as well. More on that below.

QUESTIONS

I had a lot of trouble maintaining temperature today. This is only my 8th cook, so I'm still learning how to use the egg, but today I couldn't stabilize the egg at 250 until about 4 hours into the cook. We had a weird weather day today - started cold and rainy, sunny and warm by midday, then cool late afternoon and early evening.

How do you experienced eggers control temperature? I don't have a Maverick or any gadgets, just the dome thermo. When dialing in a temp, I normally try to get the dome temp to within 50-100 degrees of target temp, then slowly adjust the vents to hit the temp. To date, most cooks have been between 325-450, and I've never had an issue maintaining temps in that range. But I had a hard time staying at 250 today. Not sure if weather, user error (ie: impatient vent adjustments), or bad lump (a little damp from rain, plus the very tail end of a bag of BGE lump), but I had temps swinging from sub-200 up to 350. I had to babysit it during the entire cook, not that I minded. If you're not monitoring temp remotely, how often do you guys typically check/adjust your egg?

Thanks for all the insight! While this brisket wasn't quite perfect, it was good enough for me to get gear up to improve on the next one.

Tjcoley · January 2014

Couple of questions. What was the internal temp of the brisket when you took it off the Egg after 6.5 hours? One test of doneness is if a probe goes in and out like butta'. Wrapped in parchment paper? First I've heard of this. Most wrap in Heavy Duty foil. What was the temp when you wrapped it? If the end result tasted good and family liked it, consider it a successful cook.

R2Egg2Q · January 2014

Did you make a lot of vent adjustments? Perhaps you're making too large of adjustments causing temps to swing too far up & down. As far as how often I check the Egg temp when cooking without any monitoring device, I probably check it every 30-60 minutes until it stabilizes (then I can go 2-3 hrs).

caliking · January 2014

That looks pretty darn good to me! I've never cooked a flat before - did you wrap it during the cook?

brimee · January 2014

Stabilize your temp before putting the brisket on, I shoot for 275 - 300, when you put the meat on the temp will drop (big chunk of cold meat) after awhile the temp will be right back where you had it.

Smoking chips was probably where the smoke was coming from. What I do is stabilize the temp with out smoking wood in. After the bad smoke is done I pull the platesetter out and put in the smoking wood and then put all back together and make sure it stabilizes again (10 minutes) then through the meat on.

I shoot for internal of 205 to 210, no wrapping or extra work, I try to keep all cooks simple. Once I reach temp I then wrap it in foil and towel wrap and stick in the cooler chest till time to slice and eat. Sometimes real soon, sometimes 2 hours later.

Comes out perfect every time, put one on about a half hour ago.

drummerben · January 2014

Thanks for the feedback. I wrapped it during the cook because I was worried about it drying out, especially without the extra mass and fat from the point. Also watched Franklin's brisket video showing the wrap, so I figured I'd try it. Wrapped in parchment only because I didn't have any butcher paper. Perhaps I'll skip this step next time. Can't speak to internal temp because I don't have a Thermapen yet (blasphemy, I know!), and my Taylor meat thermo is a piece of junk, so I was just going by feel, jiggle, and probe testing with a skewer. Not the best approach, but I've learned that sometimes you've just got to go with what you've got. Thermapen coming soon. I think you guys are right about the vent adjustments and smoke. I'll use your suggestions next time, stabilize temp then add smoking wood. I do think I have been too quick to make vent adjustments. Need to work on easing into temps with minor adjustments. Interesting point about FTC with brisket - I've read some say they leave it out at room temp to let it cool, in hopes of slowing of stopping the cooking process to keep if from overcooking and drying out. This is a different approach than a pork shoulder or butt where you want the internal temp to increase during the FTC stage, right? Thoughts on this? Thanks again for the advice!

bicktrav · January 2014

First of all, as many have said, seems on the whole to be a successful cook, so well done. A couple comments, some of which others have touched upon.

First--and this is the most crucial--do not mess with your vents unless you absolutely have to (and that should be very rarely). Give yourself an hour to stabilize the temp before you put the meat in. Use 15-30 minutes of that hour reaching your target and use the remainder to ensure it's stable. You want that temp to be as locked in as possible before you throw any meat on.

When you put the meat on, your dome temp will drop. Not only will it drop, it will linger at its new, lowered temperature for a while. A while could mean a couple hours. It's scary, and it's tempting to open the vents to compensate, but do not mess with your vents. This is totally normal, and if you open your vents, your temp is going to shoot up and you'll never get it back down. Allow for the temp drop and try to relax.

Once you reach a specific internal temp (I use 165), double wrap the meat in foil. Don't use parchment paper. Put a braising liquid in with the foil to ensure that the meat remains moist. You can use anything you want as the braising liquid; some mixture of honey, butter and brown sugar is a great start. Cook until 195 internal; then pull it, and wrap it in new foil. There will be a TON of juice and drippings when you do this. Reserve some of that and pour it into the new foil packet with the brisket. Reserve more of it to use as a sauce to pour over the brisket when it's finished. FTC for one hour.

Finish on the grill, at a higher temperature to firm the exterior up. The brisket will have been braising while it was wrapped, so it will be moist, but the outside needs to be crisped up. A final 30 minutes at higher temp (low 300's) will do that.

Good luck with the next cook and let us know how it goes!

drummerben · January 2014

bicktrav - Thanks for the tips. I think you're right - I need to be more patient with the temp and not be so quick to adjust the vents. Sounds like an interesting approach with the braise then crisp process.

First Brisket - Good Results! Temp Control Questions (Photos)

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