Brisket another try

booksw

I bought my 12 pound packer at Walmart last week and rubbed it down with Salt Lick Friday night.  I woke up at 4:30 this morning to get the fire started (prepped the egg last night) and of course things aren't going exactly as planned-just enjoying the journey.  I am using wood chunks (hickory) instead of the chips I had recently been using.  Not for any good reason other than they were what I happened to have.  I lit the fire with one firestarter in the middle of the lump.  This usually works well for me for a low and slow but today it is maybe not enough or the chunks cooled off the fire too much but I have had a hard time getting the temp up to the 200 mark.  I was at about 110 and figured I was on the way so I placed my plate setter legs up with aluminum balls and the water pan on that and then the grate and I anticipated the temp to drop again at that point but it has been taking long or I have been too impatient.  It will happen I know (I will actually probably over shoot).

Here is a pic of the meat: 

Chris_Wang

As long as you have airflow in the egg, you will have fire you can control.

Hotch

200 may be a little low for the target temp. Myself, I like 235-245 at the grate. Good luck, I am sure you will have a great cook. Remember to FTC at least an hour or so once you pull it to let it rest.  

booksw

Thanks! Every time I have made a brisket it was done way too early so I wasn't sure if I FTC out of convenience or necessity but I will be sure to not skip that step today. One thing I am doing different this time is that I foiled after 4 hours. My goal is moist meat like the brisket at a BBQ place around the corner from my house. Mine is always delicious but drier than theirs.

So I put it on at 6 AM and foiled it at 10 AM. Before I opened it to foil, the dome temp was 210 and the meat temp was 170. Immediately after foiling and closing the dome, the meat temp had dropped to 150. Now, an hour later, the meat temp is 163. I find this odd. I expected the meat temp to stay steady or if anything increase but instead it decreased. I was careful not to move the probe but I did turn the meat 180 degrees so maybe that is part of it but still odd.

Another thing I discovered about my set up. This is the first time I didn't do over night. In the past I would make sure the temp was stable for about 1-3 hours and then go to sleep for a couple of hours only to find the temp had shot up. Today after about 3 hours the temp started to creep up and I had to adjust the daisy wheel AND the bottom vent to bring it down.

I am sitting outside posting this from an app on my phone and I have never posted pics before from the app so I am going to post this and then try to upload the pics from foiling at 4 hours.

radamo

Good luck with the brisket!... 

booksw

 this is what it looked like after cooking for 4 hours

booksw

  this is foiling and putting it back on

booksw

booksw

As always, the meat was delicious but to me it was dry.  The first two pictures are slices from the flat.  Honestly, it was really really good.  My family was eating it as I was slicing it so that it was hard to get the platter to the table.  Also, it stayed steaming hot after 4.5 hours in FTC.  The point was the best- as the second two photos show.  If only I could just cook a point...?  Not sure what I could do differently to make it juicier.  One thing is that it only cooked for 8 hours or so.  It was definitely done and tender and very soft inside.  It just wasn't moist.  Maybe if I cooked it longer but lower?  Not sure I could, though.  I kept this one at about 200-210 dome the whole cook.  Any suggestions appreciated!!

Philly35

You could try injecting it. Foiling it till it's tender with some beef broth always helps too. 200 degrees dome and done in 8 hours for a 12 lb packer seems a little fast. Stupid thing to suggest, but keep that thermo calibrated! Whenever I have a brisket fail, I just blame it on the meat. Makes me feel better!