Does brisket ever follow the rules ?

fairchase · January 2017

I'm beginning to believe that the rule for brisket is that it abides by no rules !
I hate this I'm a rules kinda guy.
What I have learned with brisket is that you better learn to punt and WHEN to do it ?
I am envious of you brisket masters that can put a brisket on with a set plan and have it done in your set time frame without deviating from the plan !
I have yet to accomplish this.

Now I'm not saying I'm not happy with my results , because they usually turn out really good , but they never follow my rules .

Case in point. My last cook.
6 PM chow time Saturday
2 choice 11 lb. pre trimmed packers.

My plan.
Trim these up should be about 10 lbs apiece.
1 - 1.2 hrs / lb. Cook time , wrap in paper when need be.
4 hrs rest time.
Start time 3 am Saturday on a 250 degree egg.
Eat at 6

Reality

Trimmed to about 10 lbs. apiece
Put on 250 degree stabilized egg ( calibrated probe) at 3 am
2 pm still stalling at 160 deg.
Crap this isn't going to work . Throw away the plan and come up with another one.
Brake out the foil. (Argh said I wasn't going to do this.)
Foiled them and cranked the heat to 300.
2 hrs later they are at 198 and feeling pretty good.
Pull them out of the foil ( bark still looks pretty good just a little soft) ,
and put them back on the egg naked at 270 to firm the bark back up.
After 30 minutes wrapped them in paper and rested them on the counter
for 1 1/2 hrs .
Ate at 6 .
Every thing was great except the cook didn't follow my game plan.

JohnInCarolina · January 2017

No.

lousubcap · January 2017

Generally no but the key is to build in some flexibility. In a prior post there were a couple of suggestions to start the cook at around 11PM-midnight to provide some options once the AM arrived. If you can work that into he plan then the stress meter goes way down. FWIW-

fairchase · January 2017

lousubcap said:

Generally no but the key is to build in some flexibility. In a prior post there were a couple of suggestions to start the cook at around 11PM-midnight to provide some options once the AM arrived. If you can work that into he plan then the stress meter goes way down. FWIW

My trouble with starting them real early is the cook that goes faster than expected. Then I'm dealing with how to hold for 8-10 hrs before mealtime.

yljkt · January 2017

All my briskets have done what they want, when they want. I haven't done more than 7 or 8. Maybe it gets better after a few hundred?

Botch · January 2017

You had enough flexibility to make changes (foil, higher temp) when needed, and had a success.

I've really only had one brisket "fail"; I had two on my old water smoker, cooked the usual time, one was perfect and one was underdone. If I'd had a Thermopen back then I probably could've fixed that one, too.

The Cen-Tex Smoker · January 2017

fairchase said:

I'm beginning to believe that the rule for brisket is that it abides by no rules !
I hate this I'm a rules kinda guy.
What I have learned with brisket is that you better learn to punt and WHEN to do it ?
I am envious of you brisket masters that can put a brisket on with a set plan and have it done in your set time frame without deviating from the plan !
I have yet to accomplish this.

Now I'm not saying I'm not happy with my results , because they usually turn out really good , but they never follow my rules .

Case in point. My last cook.
6 PM chow time Saturday
2 choice 11 lb. pre trimmed packers.

My plan.
Trim these up should be about 10 lbs apiece.
1 - 1.2 hrs / lb. Cook time , wrap in paper when need be.
4 hrs rest time.
Start time 3 am Saturday on a 250 degree egg.
Eat at 6

Reality

Trimmed to about 10 lbs. apiece
Put on 250 degree stabilized egg ( calibrated probe) at 3 am
2 pm still stalling at 160 deg.
Crap this isn't going to work . Throw away the plan and come up with another one.
Brake out the foil. (Argh said I wasn't going to do this.)
Foiled them and cranked the heat to 300.
2 hrs later they are at 198 and feeling pretty good.
Pull them out of the foil ( bark still looks pretty good just a little soft) ,
and put them back on the egg naked at 270 to firm the bark back up.
After 30 minutes wrapped them in paper and rested them on the counter
for 1 1/2 hrs .
Ate at 6 .
Every thing was great except the cook didn't follow my game plan.

You are ready to coach. That's a perfect brisket plan in my mind. Way to adapt and overcome

FarmerTom · January 2017

I have nowhere near the experience of many of the folks on here, but I have learned a lot from them. Allow PLENTY of time. It is much easier to heavily wrap in foil and towels and put in a cooler than be short on time(I have had brisket still too hot to handle after 6 hours). Also, check it's temp far enough in advance to allow adjusting the egg as needed, just as you did here. There is just too much variability in fat content, marbling, etc.., from brisket to brisket to count on much consistency in cooking over such long timeframes.
I would check temp a good 6 hours before wanting it finished (Not when needing to eat) to allow time to adjust the egg as needed. I remember a post from @nolaegghead , mentioning how he ramps up the temp as the cook proceeds to provide a shorter cook time. I would like to see him expound on his method, and describe his technique and any differences he may see in the finished product.

bigalsworth · January 2017

don't fight it, go with the flow and enjoy the results

Hntnhrd · January 2017

fairchase · January 2017

This was also the first time I had cooked smaller briskets.
The reason I picked the 11 pounders was so the cook would be shorter..
Now I'm wondering if there is enough size difference between a 11 pounder and a 17 pounder to make any difference in cook time.
The larger packers are longer and wider while only marginally thicker than the smaller ones.

jtcBoynton · January 2017

@fairchase Briskets follow the rules - their rules. Sometimes they let you play along and make you think you know what the rules are. But you don't really! Sometimes they put you in your place and you understand that you don't really know the rules that brisket is using.

Ozzie_Isaac · January 2017

First rule of Brisket club, no rules in brisket club. You have to adjust and adapt as you go akong.

westernbbq · January 2017

Sounds to me like you have achieved brisket master status! Congratulations!

One thing i failed to mention here with all the brisket (ahem) 'advice' i provided here is that making brisket is a journey, not a destination. The destination is great but getting there, even with all the issues is part of the fun. Your change in a structured plan is not something to be frustrated by but rather something to embrace and to celebrate. It means you've arrived when you can change directions midcook and achieve results 99% of the bbqers out there only dream about.

In all of the times ive made briskys, and ive probably made close to 30 (combo of points and packers), i dont remember a single one that went exactly according to plan. Brisket making is an analog process, not a digital one

It involves a new way of thinking but if you accept it and use it, you will experience wonderful things

The BGE just makes it easier and less labor intensive....

YukonRon · January 2017

No, and I even cheat, as bad as you can.

Ladeback69 · January 2017

Why didn't you just wrap it in paper and skip the foil all together next time. I believe that is what Aaron Franklin does. I would think the paper would help with getting through the stall and not make the bark soft. Your plan seem's good to me. I foiled on my last one on Christmas Eve to get it done and let it rest in the cooler till we were ready to eat other then the burnt ends I made then transferred to a crock pot to keep them warm. Sometimes the smaller ones can be a bigger pain then the big ones. I don't like going smaller then 13 pounds trimmed when I cook one. I like all the leftovers as well.

fairchase · February 2017

Didn't know how the paper would handle the 300 degree heat

DMW · February 2017

fairchase said:

Didn't know how the paper would handle the 300 degree heat

Combustion temperature of paper is 451* F.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fahrenheit_451

SciAggie · February 2017

westernbbq said:

Brisket making is an analog process, not a digital one

I like that.

SMITTYtheSMOKER · February 2017

Learning to pull a cook "out of the weeds" is a sign of an accomplished pit master. The adversity you face the better you are, brisket is not easy.

westernbbq · February 2017

SciAggie said:

westernbbq said:

Brisket making is an analog process, not a digital one

I like that.

thanks Brother!

nolaegghead · February 2017

Didn't ready any of the above, didn't want to jade my advice.

Start off with good smoke, lighting the fire small and letting it go early in the cook. Once the smoke smells good, even it it's 125F or 250F in your egg, put it on WHEN THE SMOKE IS GOOD.

Let it cook low at first. Lay on the smoke. When the meat hits 160, ramp it up, slowly to power through the stall. The stall can dry out the meat, although a fatty brisket will seem moist because it has plenty of fat and collagen.

Once past the stall, let it rip if you need it quick, slow it down, maybe. Either way, there are different bark characteristics from doing different temp profiles and changing the cook to exposure ratio by covering with paper or (heaven forbid) foil. Plenty of variables I've explored most of them, and my best advice is play around and learn to be intuitive about the whole thing.

That's my story. I'm stikin to...nevermind.

avibug · February 2017

In my limited experience, cooking two briskets at once can mess with cook time. Last time I tried it, I overshot expected cook time by about 5 hours.

westernbbq · February 2017

avibug said:

In my limited experience, cooking two briskets at once can mess with cook time. Last time I tried it, I overshot expected cook time by about 5 hours.

With cgs multigrid adj rig setup, w briskys have never been an issue as far as timing goes. I probe em and check point temperature and they are usually a few degrees apart. Last week the lower level one actually hit target temp of 195 about two hrs or so ahead of time and the upper hit 195 2 hrs later? So the done one was taken off egg for a nice rest...and it was tasty....

nolaegghead · February 2017

avibug said:

In my limited experience, cooking two briskets at once can mess with cook time. Last time I tried it, I overshot expected cook time by about 5 hours.

I don't know how that's possible. Do you think it's because you had two, and if it were one, it would have been fine?

bgebrent · February 2017

nolaegghead said:

avibug said:

In my limited experience, cooking two briskets at once can mess with cook time. Last time I tried it, I overshot expected cook time by about 5 hours.

I don't know how that's possible. Do you think it's because you had two, and if it were one, it would have been fine?

Thank God chemistry doesn't follow rules.

Does brisket ever follow the rules ?

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