Brisket Didn't Turn out - any ideas??

codydham · November 2014

The flavor of my brisket was excellent, however it wasn't nearly as tender as it should have been (if at all). Here is what I did..... any advice is much appreciated.

Had a 4.7 lb brisket that I scored, rubbed, placed in fridge overnight. The next day, I waited till my LBGE got to 225 degrees and placed the brisket on the girl (indirect heat, legs up) at 1245 pm. I inserted a iGrill mini meat thermometer into the meat at this time too. After 5 hours (didn't open lid once, temp stayed within 5 degrees) my meat was still at 147 degrees, so at this time I decided to take the thermometer out of the meat and place it on grill (ambient temp) the temp on the thermometer read 188 degrees. SO, i thought maybe my BGE thermometer was calibrated wrong, boiled water, placed thermometer in it, perfect.... Turned grill temp up to 350 so my meat would get done before midnight.... Within 1.5 hrs, meat was up to 170 degrees so i wrapped it in foil and let it sit for 30 min. Cut into it and tough as leather. Meat was on grill at total of 8 hours. I thought this was probably too long for 4.7 lb brisket, but i was trying to go off of meat temp.... No smoke ring there either.

Any advice would be awesome. Thanks in advance.

Shiff · November 2014

If it was really at 170 degrees then it probably hadn't even gotten through the stall. Briskets shouldn't be removed from the grill until it is tender by testing it with a probe or something similar. You could wrap it in foil and leave it on the grill so it doesn't dry out so much.

That size brisket is pretty small and might have gotten dried out no matter how you cooked it. Perhaps you could have cooked it in liquid like the "Travis method" suggests. Was it just a flat? Packer briskets are usually bigger than that.

Botch · November 2014

Agree with Shiff. I'd always wrap a smaller brisket in foil for the final part of the cook to keep it from drying out, but the collagen hasn't melted until at least 195, and I've gone as high as 210.

It seems counterintuitive that a piece of meat can be dry and tough at 170, but will change to moist buttah at higher temps, but that's what briskets do.

:-B

lousubcap · November 2014

@Shiff-as noted can't hurry the cow. Patience is the watchword especially with brisket. Likely declared victory too soon. The finish-line indicator is when you can probe the thickest part of the flat and it feels like"butter". Not temperature driven.

dldawes1 · November 2014

codydham...as you have read in previous comments...more time, more patience ! 1st piece of advice from me.....do your research here on the forum.....Also, I started out cooking the smaller brisket cuts, and the points were the toughest for me, too ...especially with the learning curve...not much fat there to render and the lean can dry out dry.

I have also found ~5# caps that cook eggcellently...much easier than the points alone. Personally, I never tried foiling and adding liquid (broth), but have read numerous posts where it works. I just went ahead and jumped into the full briskets and have had awesome results with every cook..from my 1st to my last, not a bad one yet.

Also, there are many many tricks of the trade with briskets...slicing across grain, probing like butta, FTC, etc etc...but once you get that information and learn your egg/brisket combo....you have conquered the greatest taste on planet earth...well..when you have an egg, its all good !!!!

Good luck in the future. Listen to the "old timers" above...they will steer you right...they did me !!!!!!!

Donnie

Shiff · November 2014

Three great sources of brisket cooking information are:

http://playingwithfireandsmoke.blogspot.com/1996/03/brisket.html

and

http://bubbatim.com/Bubba_s_Brisket.php

and

http://amazingribs.com/recipes/beef/texas_brisket.html

codydham · November 2014

Thanks all for the advice. Yes @shiff it was just a flat. I cooked it by following a recipe that I found online. I have just heard in the past that you cook brisket at 225 for an hr/#. So I wasn't sure if I had it on there too long, or not long enough. I'll check out the websites you posted above and maybe that will help.

This is the recipe I followed. The only thing I did was leave it in the foil "texas wrap" for 1 hr instead of 2 because my meat temp at that time got to 197 then when I took it out to do the glaze and put it back on the grill, stuck the probe in, the meat temp dropped to 168.

http://grillgirl.com/2013/01/better-than-sex-brisket-recipe/

dstearn · November 2014

codydham said:

The flavor of my brisket was excellent, however it wasn't nearly as tender as it should have been (if at all). Here is what I did..... any advice is much appreciated.

Had a 4.7 lb brisket that I scored, rubbed, placed in fridge overnight. The next day, I waited till my LBGE got to 225 degrees and placed the brisket on the girl (indirect heat, legs up) at 1245 pm. I inserted a iGrill mini meat thermometer into the meat at this time too. After 5 hours (didn't open lid once, temp stayed within 5 degrees) my meat was still at 147 degrees, so at this time I decided to take the thermometer out of the meat and place it on grill (ambient temp) the temp on the thermometer read 188 degrees. SO, i thought maybe my BGE thermometer was calibrated wrong, boiled water, placed thermometer in it, perfect.... Turned grill temp up to 350 so my meat would get done before midnight.... Within 1.5 hrs, meat was up to 170 degrees so i wrapped it in foil and let it sit for 30 min. Cut into it and tough as leather. Meat was on grill at total of 8 hours. I thought this was probably too long for 4.7 lb brisket, but i was trying to go off of meat temp.... No smoke ring there either.

Any advice would be awesome. Thanks in advance.

At 4.7 lbs at 225 you are looking at a 7 hour cook 1.5 hrs per lb. dependng on the fat content of the flat. I did a similar thing with my first brisket. It just requires a good cut, I prefer whole packers and trusting the egg. I also have a DIgiQ DX2 so once I have placed the brisket on I can maintain a consistent temp for a low and slow cook. There is a good recipe for flat from Dr BBQ on the BGE site that you might want to check out. http://www.biggreenegg.com/features/dr-bbq-coffee-brisket/

codydham · November 2014

@dstearn - OK, so I have decided I didn't cook it long enough. Thanks for all the info guys. Has anyone else ran into the thermometer on the egg being 50 degrees higher than the ambient temp on the rack?

dstearn · November 2014

codydham said:

@dstearn - OK, so I have decided I didn't cook it long enough. Thanks for all the info guys. Has anyone else ran into the thermometer on the egg being 50 degrees higher than the ambient temp on the rack?

I was cooking 2 slabs of Baby Backs yesterday and my dome temp was 75 degrees higher. The dome temp can be 25 - 75 degrees higher depending on the cut of meat. When I cook a packer or butt the variance is usually around 25 degrees as the larger cuts of meat soak up more BTUs.

Griffin · November 2014

Ignore the dome temp. It's only going to confuse you on why it's higher or lower than grate temp by x degrees. Just go with grate temp and you will be fine.

henapple · November 2014

Check the calibration

Shiff · November 2014

The recipe in your link was for a brisket point which has a lot more fat than the brisket flat that you cooked. Try to get a packer cut next time which has both the flat and point.

In your first post you said you wrapped in it foil and let it sit for 30 minutes. Was that on the grill or in a cooler? The recipe said to wrap it in foil and put it back on the grill for 2 hours, then unwrap and put back on the grill to finish. That doesn't sound like what you did.

A brisket goes through a "stall" right about 170 degrees where it converts some of of the tougher parts of the cut into a more tender form. During this "stall" the temperature will remain the same for quitr some time and then begin to climb again. They are usually done between 195 and 205 degrees but check for tenderness before removing. Every brisket is different.

The purpose of the "texas crutch" is to make the stall last less time and keep the meat from drying out. Many people do not like to use the crutch, but for small briskets I think it is necessary. Either that or use the "Travis method" where the brisket is cooked in liquid.

Don't give up - try again and see if you can find a larger packer cut brisket. Around here Walmart, Restaurant Depot, and some smaller markets carry them.

codydham · November 2014

@Shiff - Do you use the green egg thermometer or cook based on the grate temp itself?

I did the crutch for 1 hr then the temp got up to 190 (surprisingly fast) so i took it out of the foil, placed the glaze on it, put it back on the grill for 30 min. Then took it off and wrapped it in foil and let it sit for 30 min.

I don't think i included that in my first post.

codydham · November 2014

henapple said:

Check the calibration

I did that the next morning via boiling water... spot on. 100 Celsius.

Shiff · November 2014

codydham said:

@Shiff - Do you use the green egg thermometer or cook based on the grate temp itself?

I have a Maverick 733 and use that to measure my temperature at the grate.

Brisket Didn't Turn out - any ideas??

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