My Brisket was brilliant! It was juicy (quite juicy) and tender as a babies butt. That "Beef In The Bag" was, ideed, brisket and it had a very nice layer of fat. All I did to it was smear it with Guldens Spicy Brown and some CS Rib Rub. Before we went to bed I tossed it in Smokette at 180 with two sticks of Wild Grapevine. (We need to talk, I2!) That ripped for 12 hours. I didn't even take it's temp, but it was about 160 when I foiled it and cranked up the heat to 200. She went like that for about 3 hours until we were ready to go. Foiled over the foil reall good and wrapped it in a thick towel and put it in a plastic lined cooler. Went West. When we got to our property we promptly got the motorhome stuck. Stuck good. Well, the work party came and after a billion beers and other sundries, we were still stuck and it was late. No one ate that night. Yesterday I got out the brisket and threw it in the oven to heat while I set out a buffet. She was sizzling in her abundant juices in no time! Folks went wild.

Ain't no secret to Brisket! I was right!

The only thing I learned was don't take your dog and your goat and a buffet in the motorhome, if you are planning to bring back the car! The SMALL car! It worked out. Everyone is home safe and sound, and the motorhome is still stuck. The leftover Brisket is safely tucked away in the fridge for further eatin' tonight! Man! That is good stuff!

Do I pass muster, Chancellor?

Andi,only you could make that production out of "a simple brisket".

Hopefully you'll find a few more to enjoy.

Ha ha, Tom! The Brisket was the easy part!

Andi:

Do you have any idea as to what the internal temperature of the brisket was when you finally pulled it? The temperature at completion (from cooking in the CS) has been a topic of much discussion here and it might be valuable for me and others due to our use of internal probes to determine when to pull it.

Thanks, MIN Que

"Pulled" it, as in when I determined it was done? The old Alaskan Way...stuck a finger on it. The fibers began to pull apart under the weight of my finger. Don't push hard, kinda nudge. Juices will gather, too. That's how I did it anyway. I do the Finger Press to determine most meats and fish. If you do use the probe, when it's right by that, then do the finger test. You'll know then what to feel for. Unless your probe is faulty, of course!

I have no idea what the temp was but it was a 6 pounder and cooked 12 hours at 180. Temp shoulda been 180 by then. I foiled it very tightly and let her rip at 200 for close to three hours until I packed her up. Why did I do that? I dunno, instinct said to! Probably cuz I knew I would be holding it for quite awhile, which happened. Safety factor, I guess.

It is such a forgiving piece of meat. The only thing bad you could do is undercook it. Or fail to foil and keep those good juices in! There is SOME advantage to opening that door now and then. To SEE what that monkey is doing! If she was spitting juice like crazy, I would have foiled sooner. Gotta have dem juices! Hold a little back and add to Bloody Mary's in the morning. Yowza!

MIN Que,
When cooking briskets, I always set the temp on my smokette or model 50 at 225 degrees. Cooking at 180 degrees seems to dry it out. This was mentioned about a year ago by FIManager who experienced the same thing. Paker trim briskets around here (when found) usualy run from 10 to 15 lbs. and I usualy get the 12 to 13 lbs. ones (in the middle range).
I don't know about this foil and cooler jazz. I pull the brisket, put on a cutting board on the kitchen counter, and try to fight off the family for 15 to 20 minutes to let it rest. This is what works for us, it sounds like you need to experiment a little more. Good luck!
TERRY

Andi,

First of all, you're still in training. One brisket does not a certificate qualify. Sorry, we're got pretty strict rules about that -- plus you said brisket wasn't that hard...so we had to knock off a few grade points for that And smoking brisket with grapevine is certainly not on the certificate either

But for a first timer...I'll give you a B+
(you didn't take good enough notes to help others less fortunate than yourself, or you might have earned extra credit).

MinQue, Hasn't been much different on brisket temps in the 20+ years I've been doing them. There is no exact temp because it depends on whether it's a flat or a packer. But we've talked about 185 to 190 for slicing, or 195+ for pulling/chunking. Now there's a LOT of discussion about what temp to set your smoker at. The temp is also an issue because it depends on the size of the brisket and where you stick your probe...

The real key to brisket is to use the temp as a gauge only. You need to do the fork test to really know. Stick a fork in it, twist it, and see if that's tender enough.

Terry, the "cooler" trick is something we mention here as a way to "hold" the brisket until it's ready (and to keep it away from those who want a sneak taste.)

Can you hold food in the smoker at a low temp? Thats after you foil it.

Absolutely. The commercial CS have an automatice feature to do just that.

Just make sure you keep it above 140 (the danger zone is 40 to 140).

Smokin'

Okay, I lied...boy, that Brisket was the hardest thing I ever cooked! I worried for days on end and researched mightily! I fretted all night while it cooked and even placed a cot by Smokette! I thought it was done when it's done, but now I know by my copious notes that I must use electronics to guage that and never second guess the Finger. LOLOLOL!!!!!!!!!