Welcome to the EGGhead Forum - a great place to visit and packed with tips and EGGspert advice! You can also join the conversation and get more information and amazing kamado recipes by following Big Green Egg to Experience our World of Flavor™ at:
Facebook  |  Twitter  |  Instagram  |  Pinterest  |  Youtube  |  Vimeo
Share your photos by tagging us and using the hashtag #BigGreenEgg.

Want to see how the EGG is made? Click to Watch

I don't even know what happened...My Last Brisket Cook with pics

Last Saturday I decided that I was going to make a brisket overnight, my first.  Now, I have done brisket low and slow, but I was always awake, although maybe under the influence of rum.  

Things got started ok...
image
Got a nice Select from Tom Thumb. A 10'ner...Didn't have too much to trim.
image
Royal Oak, a couple chuncks of Oak, and she cooked all night at 250.  Came out PRETTY!  
image
FTC'd her for about 2 hours...I thought she was going to be the BOMB...She jiggled, and the little bite of bark that accidentally fell into my mouth was yummy.  

At first, since I was cutting the tip of the flat, I thought the tip had overcooked since it was not over the PS.

But as I kept cutting slices, the whole thing was BURNT to the point that I could not slice the thing....the bottom 3/8" of the thing was as tough as nails.  

Any ideas on what happened?  If the egg had gone up in temp wouldn't the whole brisket be tough as nails?  

image

I have a very hard time engaging in passive relaxation. Twitter.Instagram.
Dallas, TX

«1

Comments

  • that's happened to me but on the ends where the plate setter doesn't completely block the direct heat. your egg must have gotten really hot through the night
    Austin, Texas
  • henapple
    henapple Posts: 16,025
    Did you thermapen it?
    Green egg, dead animal and alcohol. The "Boro".. TN 
  • You cooked this select grade packer fat side up the whole time?
    Gittin' there...
  • It was exactly 202 after 16 hours. I cut the bottom 1/2 inch off and ate the rest, but I don't want this to happen again... The only thing different I can think of, I didn't have the spacer under the drip pan. Maybe the fat dripped into the pan, caught fire and jacked up the bottom?

    I have a very hard time engaging in passive relaxation. Twitter.Instagram.
    Dallas, TX

  • Yip, fat side up...

    I have a very hard time engaging in passive relaxation. Twitter.Instagram.
    Dallas, TX

  • bicktrav
    bicktrav Posts: 640
    edited January 2014
    This is a confusing one.  Only explanation is that the bottom was exposed to direct heat.  If the heat was indirect, a temperature rise would have burnt it comprehensively.  Every part of it would be charred.  If it was only the bottom, it had to have been exposed to the coals.  Don't understand how if you had the platesetter in though.  Very mysterious.
    Southern California
  • henapple
    henapple Posts: 16,025
    Cut of meat?
    Green egg, dead animal and alcohol. The "Boro".. TN 
  • Eggcelsior
    Eggcelsior Posts: 14,414

    It was exactly 202 after 16 hours.

    I cut the bottom 1/2 inch off and ate the rest, but I don't want this to happen again...

    The only thing different I can think of, I didn't have the spacer under the drip pan.

    Maybe the fat dripped into the pan, caught fire and jacked up the bottom?

    This is where I'd place my bet.
  • bicktrav
    bicktrav Posts: 640
    Agreed.  The theory about the fat dripping into the pan and burning right below the meat seems the most plausible.
    Southern California
  • brimee
    brimee Posts: 127
    I didn't have the spacer under the drip pan. Maybe the fat dripped into the pan, caught fire and jacked up the bottom?
    I have never had a spacer under my drip pan and have never had this happen, although I do pour an unwanted can/bottle of beer into my drip pan at the start...
    image
    Brian
    Fairview, Texas
  • DMW
    DMW Posts: 13,832
    I have never had a spacer under my drip pan and have never had this happen, although I do pour an unwanted can/bottle of beer into my drip pan at the start...
    image
    I do not understand...
    They/Them
    Morgantown, PA

    XL BGE - S BGE - KJ Jr - HB Legacy - BS Pizza Oven - 30" Firepit - King Kooker Fryer -  PR72T - WSJ - BS 17" Griddle - XXL BGE  - BS SS36" Griddle - 2 Burner Gasser - Pellet Smoker
  • henapple
    henapple Posts: 16,025
    Unwanted beer? Must have been a Lonestar light....@Griffin
    Green egg, dead animal and alcohol. The "Boro".. TN 
  • bud812
    bud812 Posts: 1,869
    Oh where is @centex when you need him????

    Not to get technical, but according to chemistry alcohol is a solution...

    Large & Small BGE

    Stockton Ca.

  • @henapple it was a brisket... Everyone else, give @brimee a chance to explain. These days everyone thinks they are a craft brewer. And let me tell ya, they ain't. There is some real crap that is bottled and sold, although I did learn long ago that if you wouldn't drink it, then don't cook with it.

    I have a very hard time engaging in passive relaxation. Twitter.Instagram.
    Dallas, TX

  • I've had this happen a few times in the past. Now I always keep my temperature at 250 or lower and I wrap in unwaxed butcher paper (from Aaron Franklin's videos) after 6-8 hours once it looks like the bark has set in pretty well. I'm not sure if it's keeping the temperature lower, the butcher paper, or just plain luck. But since I've been going max 250 and using butcher paper, I've not had the problem.

    My theory is that after 6-8 hours, the brisket has plenty of bark. The butcher paper seems to stop more bark from forming without damaging the bark that's already there (unlike foil). I'm thinking the hard outsides are too much bark built-up. This might be some of what Franklin meant when he said the biggest problem people make with briskets is using too much smoke on them. Not sure.

    Anyway, like I said, that's all just a theory, and I might just be getting lucky. My theory might be completely wrong.
  • bud812 said:
    Oh where is @centex when you need him????

    Unconscious.
    "I've made a note never to piss you two off." - Stike
  • @clintmiller , it was hard and burnt only in the bottom. The rest of the brisket was great. The point was absolutely PERFECT. I am not sure wrapping it would have helped. And let me say, after you cut the bottom 1/2 inch off, the flat was not horrible. I've been served worst.

    I have a very hard time engaging in passive relaxation. Twitter.Instagram.
    Dallas, TX

  • Philly35
    Philly35 Posts: 858
    Perhaps a lot of sugar in the rub? Looks kinda carmelized.
    NW IOWA
  • No sugar at all in the rub.

    I have a very hard time engaging in passive relaxation. Twitter.Instagram.
    Dallas, TX

  • Terrebandit
    Terrebandit Posts: 1,750
    You need a Texas crutch on a select to make it edible. That's been my experience.
    Dave - Austin, TX
  • SteveWPBFL
    SteveWPBFL Posts: 1,327
    Looking at your set up I see that your brisky on one end was hanging over one of the plate setter openings. It could be that the hot gas flowed up from there and under your brisket. So maybe dome was 250F but under brisket significantly higher. I use the same set up but line the drip pan with foil long enough to shield the brisket overhang and don't have this problem.
  • @stevewpbfl It was burnt the whole length of the brisket...not just the tip...that's what has me confused.  

    I have a very hard time engaging in passive relaxation. Twitter.Instagram.
    Dallas, TX

  • I'm experimenting with fat side down to protect the meat. Seems counter-intuitive. I need a couple more samples to decide.
    Gittin' there...
  • Debated the same thing with the Wifey after this cook...

    I have a very hard time engaging in passive relaxation. Twitter.Instagram.
    Dallas, TX

  • Same thing happened to me with a Boston butt when using a drip pan without spacers.
    Large Big Green Egg, Griffin Georgia 
  • @Meridian Sun ,  I usually fill the drip pan with water, but this time I put a water bowl on the top grate.  

    My thinking is that "usually" the water keeps the fat from flaming up, but this time the fat caught fire. Also the pan must have gotten pretty hot since the spacers where not there.   

    Next time, the spacers are going to be there.  

    I have a very hard time engaging in passive relaxation. Twitter.Instagram.
    Dallas, TX

  • Terrebandit
    Terrebandit Posts: 1,750
    Never had this problem and I always cook em fat side down.
    Dave - Austin, TX
  • Griffin
    Griffin Posts: 8,200
    henapple said:
    Unwanted beer? Must have been a Lonestar light....@Griffin
    No such thing. Never seen a leftover cooler than had any Lonestar in it. Bud Light? Yup. Millet Lite? Yup. PBR? But of course. Can't give that stuff away unless there be hipsters around. or SMU students who are pretending to slum it.

    Rowlett, Texas

    Griffin's Grub or you can find me on Facebook

    The Supreme Potentate, Sovereign Commander and Sultan of Wings

     

  • henapple
    henapple Posts: 16,025

    @henapple it was a brisket...

    Everyone else, give @brimee a chance to explain. These days everyone thinks they are a craft brewer. And let me tell ya, they ain't. There is some real crap that is bottled and sold, although I did learn long ago that if you wouldn't drink it, then don't cook with it.

    Duh huh...I know it's a brisket. I meant maybe the problem was the quality of the BRISKET. I've also chugged some skanky home brews with a Sheldon Cooper smile to avoid hurt feelings.
    Green egg, dead animal and alcohol. The "Boro".. TN 
  • Foghorn
    Foghorn Posts: 9,795

    I've seen this once with ribs that were ruined because of it.  I attributed it to radiant heat from below from a hot platesetter.  When I use a drip pan and use something to raise the pan off the platesetter then I haven't had this problem. 

    I wondered if it was related to allowing the initial fire to get too big that got the platesetter really hot, because I (before I fully recognized the wisdom on these boards) did numerous indirect cooks with a bare platesetter that went well before I had the bad rib experience.

    XXL BGE, Karebecue, Klose BYC, Chargiller Akorn Kamado, Weber Smokey Mountain, Grand Turbo gasser, Weber Smoky Joe, and the wheelbarrow that my grandfather used to cook steaks from his cattle

    San Antonio, TX