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Worst brisket yet...

So, I bought a 13.5 choice angus brisket from Sam's club. I trimmed it up, and I thought it was my best trimming job to date. I got my egg running at 275, all rubbed, and I put it on at noon. Fat cap up. I also had a pork butt and three racks of baby back ribs on as well. I never wrapped the brisket and it was done in 7 hours and 20 minutes. It was over cooked, and the bottom side, not the fat cap, was really tough, like sawing through tree bark. The inside was juicy, over cooked and it really made better chopped brisket than slicing. So after thinking about it I think 275 might work good in an offset smoker, but it was too hot for the egg. And I'm wondering if the hot section is on the bottom. So either I should have turned the brisket over, or put it fat cap down... I did have my platesetter in. The picture is the tough side...

Comments

  • I forgot to mention that everything else turned out awesome. The ribs and pulled pork were fantastic
  • saluki2007
    saluki2007 Posts: 6,354
    First thing I would say is check and make sure your thermo is calibrated correctly.  7 hours is really fast for a brisket to cook at that temp.  Second thought would be that the brisket was in fact not finished.  Sometimes under cooked brisket can be tough and chewy.
    Large and Small BGE
    Central, IL

  • SSQUAL612
    SSQUAL612 Posts: 1,186
    7 hours 20 min seems a little quick...what temp was the fattest point of the flat probing when you pulled and to quote a local brisket connoisseur "Did it probe like buttah"?  I always go fat cap down to protect my bark from sticking to the grid, but that's just a preference.  275 isn't too hot for the egg...I run anywhere from 260-270.   
    Tyler, TX   XL BGE 2016, KJ Classic 2019,  MES, 18.5 WSM,  Akorn Jr,  36"&17" Black Stone, Adj Rig, Woo, Grill Grates, SS Smokeware Cap, KAB,  FB 300, Thermapen 
  • SSQUAL612 said:
    7 hours 20 min seems a little quick...what temp was the fattest point of the flat probing when you pulled and to quote a local brisket connoisseur "Did it probe like buttah"? 
    Yup, like buttah...
  • I calibrated my thermometer a couple weeks ago. It was definitely over cooked, which wouldn't have been to bad by itself, but that combined with the super hard bark on made it a real pain to try and slice. I had bark dust lol, sawing through the bark, and I have an extremely sharp wustof serrated knife. 😣
  • nolaegghead
    nolaegghead Posts: 42,102
    Add sugar to the bark?

    I'm not going to guess what happened, seems like you did everything right.  I would suggest fat down next time if that configuration overcooked the bark on the bottom.

    Once you get the bark where you want it, you can wrap with paper and arrest bark development and finish the cook.
    ______________________________________________
    I love lamp..
  • Woodchunk
    Woodchunk Posts: 911
    edited January 2019
    Temp of the brisket when pulled?
  • thetrim
    thetrim Posts: 11,352
    Did you slice your finger while trimming it?  If not, try that next time.  It works for @SaintJohnsEgger
    =======================================
    XL 6/06, Mini 6/12, L 10/12, Mini #2 12/14 MiniMax 3/16 Large #2 11/20 Legacy from my FIL - RIP
    Tampa Bay, FL
    EIB 6 Oct 95
  • Add sugar to the bark?

    I'm not going to guess what happened, seems like you did everything right.  I would suggest fat down next time if that configuration overcooked the bark on the bottom.

    Once you get the bark where you want it, you can wrap with paper and arrest bark development and finish the cook.
    Yeah, I'll try that. The color was right where I was liking it, but it was at 195-197 degrees so I decided to let it finish unwrapped since it was so close. I misted it with water and apple cider vinegar as well, I wish I had turned it over....oh well...next time. 
  • thetrim said:
    Did you slice your finger while trimming it?  If not, try that next time.  It works for @SaintJohnsEgger
    Uh, no...but I only need to hand a knife to the wife, and it's on. Band-Aids and super glue.
  • SonVolt
    SonVolt Posts: 3,314
    edited January 2019
    IMO -

    1) stop trimming*
    2) wrap


    *unless you're doing a competition cook. No real reason to perform surgery at home and just means more food waste.**


    **general speaking
    South of Nashville  -  BGE XL  -  Alfresco 42" ALXE  -  Alfresco Versa Burner  - Sunbeam Microwave 
  • SmokeyPitt
    SmokeyPitt Posts: 10,490
    edited January 2019
    Did you have a drip pan over the plate setter? I have a large so I always use a large drip pan that extends past the plate setter to shield the brisket that hangs over. On the XL you probably don't need that as much...but still probably wouldn't hurt. If you place the drip pan on some kind of spacer like a cooling rack then I think it also adds an additional barrier between the fire and the meat.


    Which came first the chicken or the egg?  I egged the chicken and then I ate his leg. 

  • ryantt
    ryantt Posts: 2,532
    Sounds like you did everything correctly.  Sometimes you just get a bad brisket.  One question once you pulled it did you wrap it and let it rest?   Sometimes this will help the bark soften up and lets the juices redistribute.   
    XL BGE, KJ classic, Joe Jr, UDS x2 


  • JRWhitee
    JRWhitee Posts: 5,678
     When I have cooked numerous pieces of meat on my large the bottom always cooks a lot hotter. If your temp gauge said 275 I bet the bottom grate was close to 300 with all the meat covering the brisket. I always cook fat side down as I want the meat to have bark not the fat cap. I think the 275 was too hot for the brisket since it was on the bottom and there was a butt and ribs not letting the air circulate around it. 
                                                                
    _________________________________________________
    Don't let the truth get in the way of a good story!
    Large BGE 2006, Mini Max 2014, 36" Blackstone, Anova Sous Vide
    Green Man Group 
    Johns Creek, Georgia
  • ryantt
    ryantt Posts: 2,532
    @JRWhitee that’s a good point, didn’t think about the lack of airflow or the fact the dome temp is going to be lower than the cooking serface.  I always run a temp probe on the grate to monitor temp. 
    XL BGE, KJ classic, Joe Jr, UDS x2 


  • SonVolt
    SonVolt Posts: 3,314
    JRWhitee said:
     When I have cooked numerous pieces of meat on my large the bottom always cooks a lot hotter. If your temp gauge said 275 I bet the bottom grate was close to 300 with all the meat covering the brisket. I always cook fat side down as I want the meat to have bark not the fat cap. I think the 275 was too hot for the brisket since it was on the bottom and there was a butt and ribs not letting the air circulate around it. 

    Not to sound disagreeable, but my Thermoworks Q always reads the bottom grate about 25F cooler than the dome, even when it's packed to the gills with meat. 
    South of Nashville  -  BGE XL  -  Alfresco 42" ALXE  -  Alfresco Versa Burner  - Sunbeam Microwave 
  • I did wrap it up in butcher paper after I pulled it and let it rest about an hour. 
    I didn't have a drip pan on the platesetter but it wasn't hanging over anywhere ..the ribs and pork butt were on the edges...and a little water pan...
  • DieselkW
    DieselkW Posts: 894
    A brisket that is 195º is not necessarily overdone. 13 lbs in 7 hours is simply too fast. I've had to wait on briskets until 205º before it's ready to pull - and I've never had a dozen pounds take less than a dozen hours, most times it takes 15.

    I like to smoke brisket at 225º, and I have learned from too many last minute dinner plan changes to time the end of the cook around noon to 3pm. That usually means a 10 pm start, and a 3am wakeup to check on the temp. Somebody has to do it, and in my house, it's me. I have a remote thermometer so it's just a matter of making sure the fire hasn't gone out. If it's good after 5 hours, it's good until it comes off.

    I do not recommend meat from Sam's, but I would not venture to say that's the problem here. I think, from what you're describing, is too hot and/or too quick.

    When the probe slips into the thickest part of the point VERY easily (there's an obvious difference between probing underdone, done, and overdone) I like to take it out, wrap in foil, wrap the foiled brisket in a towel, and put all that in to a cooler for two hours. If I've timed it right, it's 5pm when I begin to slice.

    A brisket holds heat like that for a long time... when it's unwrapped, the bark has been softened, the meat is tender, the flat slices easily, and even the point is edible. (Eggs and point hash is the best breakfast around)

    Sorry to go against the tide on opinion here... but 30 minutes per pound is just not long enough.

    Indianapolis, IN

    BBQ is a celebration of culture in America. It is the closest thing we have to the wines and cheeses of Europe. 

    Drive a few hundred miles in any direction, and the experience changes dramatically. 



  • xfire_ATX
    xfire_ATX Posts: 1,110
    I cook every one of my briskets at ~275 and they finish in 8+ hours for a 12# and more for larger.  I do run mine with fat cap side down.

    I run a PSWOO with Both half deflectors installed so the airflow is well under what the Platesetter does.   I also dont use a drip pan- makes a terrible mess of the deflector but I clean that up later.
    XLBGE, LBGECharbroil Gas Grill, Weber Q2000, Old Weber Kettle, Yeti 65, Yeti Hopper 20, RTIC 20, RTIC 20 Soft Side - Too many drinkware vessels to mention.

    Not quite in Austin, TX City Limits
    Just Vote- What if you could choose "none of the above" on an election ballot? Millions of Americans do just that, in effect, by not voting.  The result in 2016: "Nobody" won more counties, more states, and more electoral votes than either candidate for president. 
  • JRWhitee
    JRWhitee Posts: 5,678
    SonVolt said:
    JRWhitee said:
     When I have cooked numerous pieces of meat on my large the bottom always cooks a lot hotter. If your temp gauge said 275 I bet the bottom grate was close to 300 with all the meat covering the brisket. I always cook fat side down as I want the meat to have bark not the fat cap. I think the 275 was too hot for the brisket since it was on the bottom and there was a butt and ribs not letting the air circulate around it. 

    Not to sound disagreeable, but my Thermoworks Q always reads the bottom grate about 25F cooler than the dome, even when it's packed to the gills with meat. 
    I use the flame boss and mine has always been hotter.
                                                                
    _________________________________________________
    Don't let the truth get in the way of a good story!
    Large BGE 2006, Mini Max 2014, 36" Blackstone, Anova Sous Vide
    Green Man Group 
    Johns Creek, Georgia
  • IDK, I smoked everything at 225 for years on my Wsm, but I'm trying the higher temp after reading the book Aaron Franklin wrote, but, trying to get the same results from an Egg as he gets on an offset stick burner is futile. I'm saving all I can to buy a Yoder Kingman. The Egg is amazing as a grill/oven but it's not cutting it as a smoker. 
  • I'm guessing radient heat from the platesetter caused the hard crust. Having a full width drip pan sitting on foil ball spacers, or going fat side down might have helped things.

    Have you cooked that much stuff with a brisket before? 
    Gittin' there...
  • I'm guessing radient heat from the platesetter caused the hard crust. Having a full width drip pan sitting on foil ball spacers, or going fat side down might have helped things.

    Have you cooked that much stuff with a brisket before? 
    I agree. I'm thinking the same thing. I will go fat side down next time .thats the most I've cooked at once with a brisket. And I expected a longer cook with that much meat.
  • pgprescott
    pgprescott Posts: 14,544
    A bit redundant for sure but here goes, fat toward heat source ( down) lower temp. Brisket is the only cook that I really make a serious effort to keep the heat at 250. I even have gone so far as to install a heat sink ( pan of water) before. Sometimes however you just get a bad brisket. Egg on!
  • Jasonbird said:
    I'm guessing radient heat from the platesetter caused the hard crust. Having a full width drip pan sitting on foil ball spacers, or going fat side down might have helped things.

    Have you cooked that much stuff with a brisket before? 
    I agree. I'm thinking the same thing. I will go fat side down next time .thats the most I've cooked at once with a brisket. And I expected a longer cook with that much meat.
    I reckon the heat sink (extra food) required a hotter fire to maintain 275 which in turn got a good hot spot going on the plate setter. The other meats, and maybe the point, had enough fat content to ride it out and still come out good. 
    Gittin' there...
  • SonVolt
    SonVolt Posts: 3,314
    edited January 2019
    Jasonbird said:
    IDK, I smoked everything at 225 for years on my Wsm, but I'm trying the higher temp after reading the book Aaron Franklin wrote, but, trying to get the same results from an Egg as he gets on an offset stick burner is futile. I'm saving all I can to buy a Yoder Kingman. The Egg is amazing as a grill/oven but it's not cutting it as a smoker. 

    My thoughts exactly. I came from a 250 gallon offset to the egg. Egg ain’t cutting it as a smoker on taste. I probably would have never noticed had I not started but out with an offset.  But I did...  I love it for what it is though, a charcoal oven with grilling capabilities.

    I’m also saving for a Kingman now. 
    South of Nashville  -  BGE XL  -  Alfresco 42" ALXE  -  Alfresco Versa Burner  - Sunbeam Microwave 
  • Sometimes the meat has a mind of its own. The 7 hours seems a little too fast but you say it probed like "buttah" which indicated that it was done. So who know what really happened.

    PSA: I'm not sure if cutting your thumb would have saved this brisket. It seemed to work for me but I don't think I'll try that again. Thumb still hurts and looks ugly. Once is enough.
    Marshall in Beautiful Fruit Cove, FL.
    MiniMax 04/17
    Unofficial BGE MiniMax Evangelist
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