First Brisket...check.....came out dry...check.

unoriginalusername said:

MeanGreenEggofNTX said:

Marinated meat for 24 hrs in the fridge.  Got the egg dialed in at 225, using a Flame Boss 300.  Within 4 hours, my 11 lb brisket was at 170.  Is that normal?  Seemed a tad fast.  It was downhill from there.  I started overthinking everything.  Needless to say, did not impress the family with my culinary skills!  

Sorry to hear, what did you marinate with?

did you wrap?  How long did you let rest before slicing?  Did you slice against the grain 

Theophan said:

How about completing the story?  Within 4h it was 170.  Sure, seemed a bit fast, but what happened then???  That's only the beginning of the story.  Probably whatever made it "dry" happened after that.  A few thoughts:

• I'm not sure it matters a lot, but for what it's worth, many people here find that everything just goes better on a Big Green Egg if the dome temp is at lest 250°.  I know, I know, people who use stick burners often shoot for a lower temp than that, but those are stick burners that have a small but brisk fire making that temperature.  For a Big Green Egg to keep a temperature that low it's NOT a brisk fire, but one that's teetering on the edge of going out.  I'd suggest 250°-275°, but see what others say.  I doubt that this was the problem, though.
• If the finished meat was falling apart and dry, then yeah, it might have been overcooked.  But if it was still holding together well, and was "tough and dry," it was probably undercooked!  Time and temperature do NOT tell you when it's done.  Only probing it to actually test its tenderness can do that.
• Many people find that at least a couple of hours of FTC (Foiled, wrapped in Towels, kept warm in lots of towels in the Cooler) really helps with brisket.  But if the brisket is plenty hot inside and is truly completely cooked the way it should be, then FTC-ing it will "cook" it for 2-3 more hours, which might wind up with it being overcooked.  I'll hope someone with lots of experience doing that will say how they try to gauge whether it's ready for FTC or not.  I'm no brisket expert, and I usually try to get them about done before I pull them out of the Egg, and then just let them rest 20 minutes or so without FTC.

Stoogie said:

MeanGreenEggofNTX said:

Stoogie said:

MeanGreenEggofNTX said:

Theophan said:

How about completing the story?  Within 4h it was 170.  Sure, seemed a bit fast, but what happened then???  That's only the beginning of the story.  Probably whatever made it "dry" happened after that.  A few thoughts:

• I'm not sure it matters a lot, but for what it's worth, many people here find that everything just goes better on a Big Green Egg if the dome temp is at lest 250°.  I know, I know, people who use stick burners often shoot for a lower temp than that, but those are stick burners that have a small but brisk fire making that temperature.  For a Big Green Egg to keep a temperature that low it's NOT a brisk fire, but one that's teetering on the edge of going out.  I'd suggest 250°-275°, but see what others say.  I doubt that this was the problem, though.
• If the finished meat was falling apart and dry, then yeah, it might have been overcooked.  But if it was still holding together well, and was "tough and dry," it was probably undercooked!  Time and temperature do NOT tell you when it's done.  Only probing it to actually test its tenderness can do that.
• Many people find that at least a couple of hours of FTC (Foiled, wrapped in Towels, kept warm in lots of towels in the Cooler) really helps with brisket.  But if the brisket is plenty hot inside and is truly completely cooked the way it should be, then FTC-ing it will "cook" it for 2-3 more hours, which might wind up with it being overcooked.  I'll hope someone with lots of experience doing that will say how they try to gauge whether it's ready for FTC or not.  I'm no brisket expert, and I usually try to get them about done before I pull them out of the Egg, and then just let them rest 20 minutes or so without FTC.

Thanks for all the good info.  

Once my brisket got over 200, I began to panic.  I thought I was going to burn it up and took it off the Egg way too soon.  Wrapped it up and put it in cooler for a few hours.  Checked it again when I got up, and realized it wasn’t close to being done.  Through it back on the egg, and cooked it 4 more hours.  It probably would have been ok if I would have taken it back off after 2-3 hours.  I should have watched it more closely.  You cook and learn!

Were your temp probes in the thickest part of the flat?  

@lousubcap keeps reminding us that the meat drives the cook so it could certainly rise to 170* within 4 hours.  Did it hit the stall at that time or did it not stop for the stall?  If it didn't stop for the stall then I'd think that it was the brisket itself... a lean cut like @pgprescott suggested.

Don't let this one cook discourage you.  Use the meat for chili.  Like someone said above - make sure your dome is dialed in and correct.  We've all had a brisket go sideways on us at one time or another.  Plus, we all have our kryptonite.  Mine is ribs.  

No it wasn’t.  I had it in the point.  Maybe that was my problem?

What works for *me* is that I put a probe in the thickest part of the flat and another probe in the next thickest part.  The point typically has so much fat that I don't bother with it until the flat temps start getting in to the 185*-190* range and then I just start probing until there's no resistance or it has that "buttah" feeling.

Everyone has their own way of getting to the finish line, but I think we all agree that once the brisket gets to 185-190, it goes until it feels done.  That might mean that it goes to 200 or if you have a SRF brisket, it could be done at 185.

TBH, I really don't know what the point from my briskets temp out at once the flat is done.