Baffling Brisket Cook

cayenne · October 2017

Smoked a brisket yesterday that absolutely baffled me, ended up tossing most of it after dinner. Picked up a 14.3lb packer from Costco. Prime that had nice marbling and a good color throughout. Trimmed it up, very thick fat cap with a significant amount of hard fat. I hate having to pay per lb when your throw so much away. After trimming I weighed it, she was just about 11 lbs, with a nice 1/4" fat cap. Rubbed, wrapped in Saran wrap and left it in the fridge until Saturday morning.

Got my butt out of bed nice and early and had it on the egg by 5AM, primarily oak but with a dusting of black cherry throughout. Had my CyberQ going and she settling in very nicely at 250F grate. I like to leave a probe in the meat to see what's going on throughout, probe in the thickest part of the flat. I looked at my iPad and was nearly 140F 3.5 hours in... Went about my business, planned on wrapping ~165F I live in North Colorado so I've found wrapping almost necessary even with Pork to prevent the meat from drying out. Smoking at altitude is a challenge sometimes.

Returned from an errand 5 hours into the cook and it was already at 168F, looked at the meat temp graph and it showed no signs of stalling, figured it would be a late stall in the low 170's. Wrapped her up and put it back on. Never stalled at all... It hit low 190's at 7.5 hours. I've never seen a brisket cook that fast... Started probing for tenderness and it was like butter throughout the flat and point. Figured my CyberQ probes were wrong and but checked meat temp throughout with my Thermapen and she was spot on. Too early to eat so it was FTC time. Had warm towels in the Yeti ready to go... Let it cool off on the counter for 15 mins and wrapped tightly into the cooler. Had a probe in it so I could watch for the danger zone, tried to maximize the time. She dropped like a rock, 150F from 190F in 3 hours. Wife finally came home, said screw it we are having an early dinner.

Nice bark, but nearly no smoke ring. Extremely juicy, filled the cutting board and overflowed as I cut it up. Parts of the flat hung well and tore perfectly, but were very chewy, yet moist?!? Most of the point was nasty, but the ends were still good to go. We made sandwiches with the good pieces, but everything on the cutting board turned to cardboard by the time we had a quick sandwich.

Checked all my calibrations this morning, was still convinced I must have cooked this too hot. All calibrations were right, checked the CyberQ against my Maverick, and Thermapen. Ice slushy test was 33F and boiling water was 203F which is spot on according to Thermoworks calculator for 4,800 feet above sea level.

Sorry for the long, boring explanation. Tried to provide detail, and hoping to learn something here... I've never had a brisket do this, is it just a crazy cow??

pgprescott · October 2017

What do you mean by “nasty” Point. What was the final temp? Low 190’s? I often dampen the towel and microwave it to create a mild heat source if I have a long wait. I’ve had them cook in 8-10 hours on the egg with a wrap routinely. Not to insult you, but you are sure you cut it across the grain, right?

Brisket is quite finicky. It can dry out almost immediately upon slicing. Hard to know for sure , but I would suspect it needed another 5-10 degrees. The probe test should have been your guide though. Idk? Have you cooked some in the past? Have you done the probe test much?

Fwiw, I would have saved some for chili and such.

lousubcap · October 2017

Welcome aboard and enjoy the journey. Above all, have fun even after the above cook.
With 250*F on the grate you likely were initially running around 270-280*F on the dome. (I only go with dome temp). I have had several briskets in your weight range run at around 0.7-0.8 hrs/lb so the timing of the cook is not an out-lier to me. Reads like you had the process well-in-hand.
I'm surprised that the point wasn't meat goodness based on your description of the cook. Also odd that the flat probed like buttah, was moist and was chewy. If you sliced it all in one shot then you will get significant dry-out, especially of the flat pieces as they are cut. That's about all I can offer.
Sometimes you get hosed by the cow-coulda happened here. Sorry to hear about it.

cayenne · October 2017

pgprescott said:

What do you mean by “nasty” Point. What was the final temp? Low 190’s? I often dampen the towel and microwave it to create a mild heat source if I have a long wait. I’ve had them cook in 8-10 hours on the egg with a wrap routinely. Not to insult you, but you are sure you cut it across the grain, right?

Brisket is quite finicky. It can dry out almost immediately upon slicing. Hard to know for sure , but I would suspect it needed another 5-10 degrees. The probe test should have been your guide though. Idk? Have you cooked some in the past? Have you done the probe test much?

Fwiw, I would have saved some for chili and such.

Point was just tough and tasteless. Yes, absolutely cut it in the correct direction. Fair question, I've seen it cut incorrectly and there are some similarities to what I'm describing. I've been smoking for 15 years, I do the probe test every time rather than just trusting the temp. Finish IT in the thickest part of the flat was 195 when I pulled it off.

Terrebandit · October 2017

I think you took it off too soon. I've never had a brisket get done in the low 190's. I've had them stall in the high 180's or low 190's. You are working in a different elevation, so the game might be completely different there.

cayenne · October 2017

Terrebandit said:

I think you took it off too soon. I've never had a brisket get done in the low 190's. I've had them stall in the high 180's or low 190's. You are working in a different elevation, so the game might be completely different there.

Anything is possible, but yes I typically see lower finish temps here at this altitude compared to when I leaved on East coast or even Louisiana. The lack of humidity and I think the lower boiling point dries out meat if you go too high.

CanDid · October 2017

I don't necessarily have any advice per se, as I still consider myself a novice on the BGE, but something jumped out at me in your post. A while back I did a pork shoulder at 250 degrees pit, which is supposed to be the easiest and most forgiving L&S and the butt oddly never had a stall period.

Pulled the butt around 200 IT. After letting it rest for an hour I began shredding it and noticed it looked dry. Tasting confirmed not only dry, but also a little bit tough and not much taste. I was so stunned I was going to post about it on here, but never got around to it. Didn't mean to bore you with my story or anything, just thought it odd that even though different meats, similar results with the lack of a stall period.

I did read one time on amazingribs that the stall period has something to do with all the moisture in the meat I think. I will have to go back and find that read, but it could be the meat was somehow lacking moisture to begin with??

GATraveller · October 2017

Sounds like that point would have been a perfect candidate for burnt ends.
I've held brisket FTC for 6 hours before slicing with no ill effects.
I'd guess there was very little humidity which also sucks the moisture out of the meat quickly. I've been eating a sandwich at high altitude and the bread became hard as a rock before I could get through half. My best guess.

Baffling Brisket Cook

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