My brisket was destroyed. Any idea why?

ckillian · July 2009

I got my Egg this week. So far I've done burgers (came out excellent), and pizza (also excellent).

I did a brisket last night. It was an 8 lb packer brisket. Using the instructions that I found in the manual, as well as the consensus of most of the internet recipes, I set the Egg at 250 degrees. I planned on at least 12 hours to cook, possibly up to 14-16 hours. I put the brisket on at 11pm. I checked the Egg temp several times over the first couple of hours. It was holding 250 degrees very well. So I went to sleep.

When I woke up this morning at 9am, I went to check the brisket. The Egg was at 210 degrees. I decided to take a peek at the brisket.

What I saw was a blackened, charred, hunk of beef jerky. Very disappointing. Internal temp was something like 220 degrees.

Any idea why the brisket would cook so fast?

fishlessman · July 2009

did you cook it indirect

ckillian · July 2009

Yeah. I used the Plate Setter, legs up.

The only thing that I can come up with is that while I was sleeping, the temperature must have climbed, and then fell back down before I woke up.

But that doesn't seem very likely, as it goes against everything that I understand about the Egg.

I'm really perplexed (and disappointed). I keep looking at other people's posts about their briskets, and I did basically the same thing as everyone else.

Fidel · July 2009

are you sure your dome thermometer is correct? Maybe it read 250* but you were cooking at 350*.

wrjohns · July 2009

I haven't yet attempted brisket, but want to kinda soon.... so this may not be extremely helpful. Did you use a drip pan, or platesetter for indirect heat? If the brisket was exposed to direct heat, then as some juices would drip onto the charcoal, you'd get flame ups.

The photos I've seen for brisket also involve setting it on a V-rack, instead of directly on the grate. (Not exactly sure what this buys you, but I assume its important).

Other advice I've read says to put the fat end of the brisket pointing up, so that as it cooks, it will soak into the meat below as it cooks.

Finally, are you sure your thermometer is calibrated? (ie, maybe it was cooking hotter than 250 deg). Actually, if the dome was reading 210 in the morning, but the meat was reading warmer than that (presumably using a different thermometer), then be highly suspect of this as the culprit.

bubba tim · July 2009

If you used a sugar based rub or cooked it direct, you may want to change the way you do brisket. Go to http://bubbatim.com/Bubba_s_Brisket. I promise you will get better results if you follow these instructions.. :woohoo: :woohoo:

Panhandle Smoker · July 2009

Are you sure you had the temps stable? What were your vent door and daisy wheel settings like?

fishlessman · July 2009

alot will foil a brisket afew hours before its done, a moister product, i dont, i just cook it and it dries quickly when slicing if you dont serve it fast enough. i cook 235 at the grill level and the cook is typically 10 hours plus or minus with that size brisket. with flats i also cook a butt on a raised grid abouve it, figure i can freeze that for later. if your looking for a really moist and tender product, i do this some times, its a quick cook and its tasty, not quite brisket in flavor but close enough for me, its what ive been doing lately when all i can find is a flat without much fat on it
http://olddavespo-farm.blogspot.com/search/label/Brisket

Essex County · July 2009

Sorry for your bad outcome. A brisket is a terrible thing to waste. It's gotta be too much heat. You went from raw to 220 internal in 10 hours. That's quick, but it's those last 20 degrees that did the most damage. Like others, I also suggest you recalibrate your thermometers. I thought the same thing you did, maybe the temp spiked during the evening and dropped by 9am. If so, you should have gone through most of a load of lump. On the other hand, if you stayed in the 210-250 range, you should have more than half of a full load.

Do this again soon. Or alternatively, you may want to try pulled pork first. The pork butt is very forgiving. The brisket ain't.

ckillian · July 2009

The bottom door was open maybe an inch, and the top sliders were about 1/4 of the way opened.

FlaPoolman · July 2009

I think you and Fidel hit the nail on the head

FlaPoolman · July 2009

For me it's bottom draft door open about the thickness of a credit card and petals open the width of a nickle. Check your dome thermometer like others have said.

Crimsongator · July 2009

8lbs is a small brisket and probably very thin. They take much less time to cook. A whole packer done at home falls in the 12-16 pound range, depending on what is available.

I think you did fine, just expected a longer cook time that what is realistic. Next time, just keep a closer eye on that thing at a 1-1.5 hr/lb rate (especially if it is a flat)

stike · July 2009

essexco hit the nail on the ehead.

a FINAL internal temp of 220 is the killer.
briskets are a cook that requires close monitoring.

10 hours isn't too fast, especially at 250. i will often start an overnight cook at 225 to slow things down, then bump it hotter in the morning.

and i hate to say it, but on the morning of an overnight, i'm up much earlier than 9 to check on things. nerves, maybe, or anticipation wake me up.

Crimsongator · July 2009

yeah, but ckillian expected a 14-16 hour cook on an 8 lb brisket. He should expect something closer to 10-12 hours. The culprit was his sleeping through the finish time.

FearlessGrill · July 2009

Sorry about your brisket. A lot of good advice so far so I won't repeat what has already been said. Another thing you may want to try that I don't think has already been mentioned is investing in a remote thermometer like a Maverick ET-73. As you discovered, the 90 minutes/lb cooking time is just a guideline. To help 'keep an eye on it', having the remote thermometer with both meat and smoker probes and alarms lets you know if your meat is done early, or if your smoker temp spikes or drops. One saved cook and this thing pays for itself.

-John

ckillian · July 2009

I think I may have had a couple of things working against me here.

First, I should have gotten up to check it more often during the night.

Second, I put the dome thermometer in a pot of boiling water and it read 155 degrees. I would assume it should have read 212 degrees. So I'm thinking that instead of cooking at 250 degrees, I was cooking at closer to 310 degrees.

Put those two things together, and I think the mystery may be solved.

By the way, I've now lost faith in the dome thermometer that came with the Egg. Any suggestion? Should I just add 50-60 degrees to the temp I see on the dome thermometer, or should I go find a replacement?

AZRP · July 2009

You can calibrate it by turning the nut on the backside. -RP

Panhandle Smoker · July 2009

Same here

stike · July 2009

just recalibrate it. the things are mechanical. if they are out of whack, it's usually a linear thing. meaning, yeah. fifty degrees low all along the whole temp range.

they aren't very complicated. the tel-tru gets much praise, but the technology is virtually the same.

the nut in the back will loosen/tighten and allow you to recalibrate it in a pot of boiling water. only the last half inch or so need be in the water,

stike · July 2009

i predict, paul, that one day, either a newbie or a long-time egger (other than fishless or me) will actually respond to one of your posts. keep trying!

maybe it's your cologne? i can't think of any other reason....

:ermm:

LunaC · July 2009

How was it inside?? They will look like a meteorite when done but succulent on the inside

LunaC · July 2009

deleted

LunaC · July 2009

deleted

ckillian · July 2009

Extra extra well done. It went straight into the trash.

Crimsongator · July 2009

Bpy I wish that worked for some of the other "nuts" around here

Shiff · July 2009

If you're going to do more overnight cooks in the future, you might want to buy a remote thermometer like a Maverick ET-73. It has 2 probes, one for the meat and the other for the grid temperature. It has a range of about 100 feet. I keep the display next to my bed while doing a cook and check it a few times during the night without having to gte out of bed and go outside.

Cost is about $40 online.

My brisket was destroyed. Any idea why?

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