Unsuccessful Brisket - Would Appreciate Advice

Unknown

Well, I cooked my second brisket yesterday without as much success as I would have liked. It was a 5 1/2 pounder (small) and I did it with a dry rub. My understanding is that you want to target an internal temperature of at least ~190-192 degrees so that the meat becomes sufficiently tender. [p]After 12 hours smoking at ~250 degrees (per the dome thermometer), the internal temperature of the meat was only 182 degrees. (Note: I did get a dip in the internal temperature around the 10 1/2 hour mark as my thermometer read 181 degrees before it declined to 173 degrees when checked 45 minutes later)[p]As everyone was getting hungry/ornery, I finally threw in the towel and pulled the meat off the grill after 12 hours and let it rest for 45 minutes before digging in. Unfortunately, the brisket was no where near as tender as I had hoped it would be.[p]The question I have is: should I have cooked it at a bit higher temperature or just kept goinng longer until the internal temperature finally got there? Even using the rule of thumb of 2 hours per pound, at 12 hours I was well beyond a normal expected time frame for a piece of meat this size (rule of thumb time ~11 hours.)[p]Your input would be valuable! Otherwise, my brisket cooking may not be as well received in my house next time. Thanks for your advice,[p]Cliff[p]

mollyshark

Cliff Favrot,[p]Quick question. Since it was a small brisket, it was obviously not a whole packer style. Was this one trimmed of all fat...like a nice roast-looking piece? My gut feeling is that this was a very trimmed brisket without a large fat cap on it. Without that fat, you can end up with shoe leather quite easily. If you do a smaller brisket without a fat cap, you need to get a layer of fat to cover it and drip through it as it cooks.[p]Lemme know on this one and we'll move on after that. KISS principle![p]mShark

Nature Boy

Cliff Favrot,
Sounds like you did everything right except giving it time to finish. Probably would not have been too much longer before it gave up and got tender. [p]Something I have been doing lately that really helps with timing is to start off a bit hotter and get the thing cooking, then lowere the temps when your meat temps get into the pateau range. Especially since the cooking level is often a lot lower that the dome temp when you have a big chunk of cold meat on there. Monitioring your cooking level temps will help a lot too.[p]Better luck next time
Chris

terrafirmay

MollyShark,
Fat up or fat down? I've never Egged brisket at it's almost that time of year.[p]Thanks.[p]****

terrafirmay

terrafirmay,
Also, do you use a platesetter?[p]****

mollyshark

terrafirmay,[p]Fat side on top always. The idea is to get the fat to melt and drip into the meat as it is cooking, thereby keeping it nice and moist and juicy. I usually stick a rack on top of a drip pan and that's it. If it is a very THIN drip pan, you might want a pizza stone or plate setter, but no biggie. I use an old roasting pan like they sell to do turkeys. Looks like hell when I'm done, but who cares![p]mShark

Nature Boy

terrafirmay,
Just another view. Fat down works great. It protects the meat from the heat coming off the drip pan. [p]Cheers!
Chris

Unknown

MollyShark,[p]I did, at least, avoid this rookie mistake. The brisket was not fully trimmed but rather had a nice layer of fat on one side. [p]Speaking of which, per other comments, I kept the fatty side closest to the coals. My understanding is that this fat does not help tenderize the meat but rather that it is the breakdown of the internal fat that causes the tenderness.[p]The big answer that I am looking for is should I have gone longer or gone a bit warmer? Please share with me your thoughts,[p]CF

TRex

Cliff Favrot,[p]I think your cooking temp was fine (was your thermometer calibrated?), you probably just needed to wait maybe an hour longer. [p]Lately I've been pulling my briskets at 185 internal and resting in a cooler for 1-2 hours. I may be wrong but I think the cooler resting also helps the tenderness.[p]Good luck,[p]TRex

mad max beyond eggdome

TRex,
sure it does... when you wrap it tight in aluminum foil, it is steaming itself for a few hours. ...definitely tenders them up. . ..