Brisket Surprise(s)

Texas Geezer

After messing around with various sized brisket flats, and never really feeling I had turned out a great brisket, I decided to try a whole, untrimed one: 12.5 lbs. I had some surprises in store for me.[p]Set up the BGE for indirect with place setter, and drip pan between the place setter and grid. Since I thought this was going to be a long cook, I started the fire at 7:00 p.m., and put the brisket on at 8:00 p.m. (fat side up). Dome temp was at 230 at this point, but I intended to let it creep up to just under 250 (for the entire cook, except about a 2-hour period - see below), it remained at 230-250.[p]Set up my Maverick ET-73 with one probe in the brisket, and one attached to the grid, being careful to place it over the plate setter (which was difficult since the brisket was so large).[p]About 2:30 a.m. I woke up to check things, and noticed that the meat temp was 180-degrees, and the grid temp was about 245. Went outside and the dome temp was reading a rock-steady 250, or a degree or two less. Not believing that the grid temp was really that close to the dome temp, I moved the location of the grid probe (still taking care it was over the plate setter). Having difficulty believing that the brisket was already at 180 degrees internal, I repositioned the meat probe too. Bottom line, after moving the two probes I only got about 5 degrees less temp on each.[p]Thinking something was seriously out of whack to be at that high a temp so early, I closed down the vents to just a crack to try to reduce the fire temp. At 4:30 I checked it again, and the meat temp was still at 180, but the dome temp had dropped to around 200 (and the grid temp was about 195).[p]OK, I decided I'd probably ruined this hunk of meat, but decided I'd try to see it through to the end. I opened up the vents a bit, and at about 6:30 the dome temp was back to 240-250, with grid temp still tracking at 5 degrees less. The meat temp was still hanging in there at 180, but starting to climb.[p]At 8:00 a.m. the internal meat temp was 195, so I pulled it, wrapped it in foil, and let it rest for an hour.[p]When I started to trim the fat off and slice the meat, I ended up with as much fat as meat. And the drip pan was almost full of rendered grease. Turns out that was one fatty piece of brisket, which, in retrospect, I should have trimmed before starting.[p]BUT, the brisket - though not a prize winner - was surpisingly very good - tender, moist, with a good smoke ring (bottom side), and a very good brisket flavor.[p]As mentioned above, the two things that really surprised me in this experience - to where I almost abandoned the cook and chucked the thing away as a "goner" - were the short cooking time (exactly 12 hours, and it would have been ready sooner if I hadn't lowered the temperature for a few hours at one point), and the fact that the grid temp was very nearly the same as the dome temp (and I had only recently calibrated the dome thermometer prior to the cook, and re-checked it immediately after).[p]Could all that excess fat account for those two surprises? (Perhaps the short cooking time, but I'm having trouble trying to imagine how that excess grease might have affected the temp difference).[p]Guess I proved at least that all briskets have their own rules...

Celtic Wolf

Texas Geezer,[p] I recently had a guy tell me that him and his friends never cook a brisket in less then 3 days. I can not imagine cooking anything that long. Well maybe my ex-wife, but that is another episode..[p] I have never had a brisket take more then 15 hours and in fact most I have cooked reached 190 in less then 12 hours. The briskets I buy are typically between 10 and 12 pounds. I do trim most of the fat from the bottom leaving at least a quarter inch. Depending on the amount of fat it will that about an hour to two hours per pound.[p] As has been said before: It is done when it is done.

The Virginian

Texas Geezer,
As you may know a full brisket has two parts, the flat and the point. The point has a much higher fat content, and will reach high temps faster than the point. Sounds like you had the probe stuck in the point. Next time put it in the heart of the flat and you will probably end up with a longer cook, and more of the fat rendered from the point. [p]Brett

icemncmth

Texas Geezer,[p]My last brisket took 18+ hours....and it sat at on temp for probably 10 hours....[p]It turned out pretty good.. So I talked to a friend of mine who make a living pumping out some darn good brisket...[p]He told me that he will start the whole brisket...
Then about haf way through the cook he removes the point and then when he removes the final brisket flat he leaves the point in so that it will get good and dark..and he uses it for burnt ends..[p]Next time I think I will try it this way

Texas Geezer

icemncmth., now that makes sense (especially after my experience). I'll try it that way next time, too.[p]For what it's worth, there's more variations recommended for doing briskets in all the BBQ cookbooks than I can shake a stick at. I guess it's just a matter of trying different techniques until one can come up with one that works for your particular rig, and for the way meat is provided in your area.