Hello all, thanks for all the great advise so far. I have did three cooks (butt, brisket, chicken) and all have been awesome. My first brisket was a 5.5 flat that I used 3-4 oz's of hickory. My next will be two 5 lber's, so how much wood? Twice the amount to get the same results? From what I've read I should expect about the same time frame from 1 5.5 lber to two 5 lber's, right? thanks for the input, Shane

diep57: clad to see all is going great!i would keep the wood amount the same. i use about 4-5 ozs. on a full packer( around 12 lbs.). remember, little smoke is better than to much! have at her!!!!! paul

diep57.

Use the same amount of wood the first time. At most you might have to add a little more wood, but there is no rule of thumb for increasing the wood as you add meat. The smoke should still be just right.

Russ

I've got a question. I tried my first brisket today. 6lbs. injected w/ garlic, rosemary injection sauce, smoked with about 3 ozs of hickory for 6 hours to 160 inside temp. Then wrapped in foil and placed in the oven for an hour till it reached 170 inside. Looked wonderful, smelled so good my mouth was watering but it was T O U G H ,TUFF too! WHY???? It was a USDA choice cut. In my old home made smoker I used to smoke them in a foil pan under the meat to retain the juices, Should I do this with my Smokin Tex 1400 too? Please advise. Thanks and Merry Christmas to all. Dj

Dj
I'm new to brisket cooking too. Our best brisket was cooked to 180 deg. I believe, then wrapped in foil. We allowed it to cook while wrapped for about four more hours. Then unwrapped and cooked to dry the exterior. It came out very tender, but the initial cook was about 10 hours. It was a much larger brisket, though.
Your garlic and rosemary combination sounds delicious!
We've cooked a few briskets of the same approximate size and they all had different results. That brisket meat is really tricky. It can vary greatly.
Keep your notes. They really do come in handy.
If you get a tough brisket after you're through with the smoker, try foiling it and cooking it in a slow oven inside a pan for several hours. It does make it more tender. We had one that was like shoe leather, and we cooked it in the oven that way. It turned out very tender and still juicy.
It can be saved!
Peggy

dj
try this next time.
at 165-170 internal temp take out of the pit and wrap in foil and return it to the pit.
drop your heat down to the low 200 degrees and let it go till it reaches 190 internal then unwrap it and back in just to dry the exterior off.
while 165 is great for most cuts of beef i have found that low slow time to 190 for brisket works best for me
hope this helps
jack

DJ,

Some good answers for you. Like Jack said (Merry Christmas Jack) you need to take it to a higher temp.

Warning "Smokin'" post ahead (you know when Smokin gets to typing too much)

Temps on ALL receipes are guidelines. I know I take a lot of ribbing for saying

quote:

It's done when it's done

but there is really a good reason for that. The meat will tell you it's done. You can use temp as a guide, but only a guide. What I do, especially on brisket is the poke test. I take my instant read thermometer and poke it into the meat. What I'm trying to feel is how much give the meat has. If I have to push hard, it's not done. Try this a couple of times and teach yourself and you'll see. sometimes I pull them at 180, or 185 or 190, depends on the actual piece of meat, how it was raised.

One question, why did you put it in the oven at 160? Smoke will continue to adhere to the outside and create more smoky flavor on the outside bark/crust.