First Brisket flat tomorrow.....

A31unit

Ok. So here's the lowdown. The bark and fat cap was awsome. The smoke ring too!  Flavor from the Holy Cow was also awsome. 
With that being said this brisket was wayyyy too dry. I knew this was going to happen and I  learned a lot about cooking a flat.  Honestly I followed the IT and I think that was a mistake.  The IT never got up near to what I thought done was so I'm not sure what if anything I would do different with this cut of meat next time.

SmyrnaGA

It's all good, I've heated up dry leftover brisket in beer before.  There's always next time.

A31unit

The next time will be a packer

lousubcap

 "Honestly I followed the IT and I think that was a mistake." As you have realized the IT is only a guide-the finish-line is about the feel.  That's a consistent theme with brisket cooks regardless of the cut.  BTW-the same criteria applies to packers.   All that said, enjoy the results.  Looks great.

A31unit

I probed it for temp every half hour after I thought it came out of the stall. Never one time did it probe like buttah or jiggle around all loose like the one Aaron Franklin unwraps in his video.

Monty77

Nice first brisket, enjoy many more, they are such a fun cook!  Happy Eggin

Raymont

We've all struggled with flats drying out. Any thoughts or suggestions? What about a modified "Travis method" where you would put the flat in a foil container with some juice for last few hours to try to add some moisture? 

tarheelmatt

A31unit said:

I probed it for temp every half hour after I thought it came out of the stall. Never one time did it probe like buttah or jiggle around all loose like the one Aaron Franklin unwraps in his video.

^^ Not so sure that was the best thing to do.  I try to start looking closely once it gets around 195°.

A31unit

I only have a thermapen and I didn't want the temp to shoot up suddenly and get away from me so that's why I did that

nolaegghead

it takes forever to cook the flat.  It's likely under cooked.

Ladeback69

It looks good from the photos.  Sounds like you need to invest in a dual probe for low & slow cooks. Many choices out there to chose from.  I would like one of the newer ones that hook up to your smartphone via Bluetooth.  did you let it rest and did it have much juice if you did?  The last brisket I did was a small 9 pound trimmed packer, where I separated the point from the flat to make burnt ends.  It was done about 6 hours early so I put each on in foil pans with some warmed up beef broth, put foil over the top and placed them in a warmed up cooler with hot towels.  Both the burnt ends and flat were juicy especially the flat.  Brisket can be hard, but once you get it it is awesome.  It's fun getting there to.  Try a small packer next time if you can find one.  Are you near a Sam's or Costco, they have packers at an ok price most of the time for what beef is going for right now.  Above is from my labor day cook.

nolaegghead

Poking, shaking, stabbing it is the ONLY way to tell if it's done.  The internal temp is just a "ballpark" measurement. 

A31unit

@Ladeback69 once I took it off I did let it rest for about 20-30 min. It really did not have as much juice as I would have hoped for.

Just enough to dampen the cutting board as seen in my photos above.

I will say that a day later (today) I took the shredded up leftovers mixed w/ a homemade BBQ sauce and warmed slowly to about room temp.
my god it was good. Almost good enough to dry out my next Brisket ;-)

A31unit

nolaegghead said:

it takes forever to cook the flat.  It's likely under cooked.

You really think under cooked??  That blows my mind

Judy Mayberry

I think this is the Aaron Franklin video on the three types of finishing that @lousubcap was referring to earlier: 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lnRRDSYgdmw&feature=youtu.be

nolaegghead

A31unit said:

nolaegghead said:

it takes forever to cook the flat.  It's likely under cooked.

You really think under cooked??  That blows my mind

Quite possibly.  If the mouth texture was al dente at all, it needed more cooking.  Dryness is often associated with overcooking, (and it can be) but more often a result of undercooking. 

KSwoll

Aaron Franklin did a wrap test on an episode with BBQ with Franklin. I think it is up to personal preference on whether to wrap or not. Here is the link if you're interested. He cooked three briskets; one wrapped in Foil, one wrapped in butcher paper, and one un wrapped.

https://youtu.be/lnRRDSYgdmw

KSwoll

Judy Mayberry said:

I think this is the Aaron Franklin video on the three types of finishing that @lousubcap was referring to earlier: 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lnRRDSYgdmw&feature=youtu.be

lol, I should have read through the whole thread before commenting. my bad