Dry brisket

Could be several reasons. Are you cooking flats or packers? I usually find flats, especially small, thin ones tend to drier vs packers.

Quality of meat. Are you using Choice? Select?
More marbling/striation = juicer meat.

Pre-foil cooking...fat side up or down? Fat side up @ 250 may be extracting too much moisture.

Foiling - I was taught (when foiling) to wrap the meat very tightly with at least two layers. Air pockets in the foil will allow steam, which can draw moisture out of the meat.

Suggestion: go back to square one. Rub and inject whatever meat you've been buying. Cook it fat side down at (pick a number) between 225 - 250. When it's fork tender, FTC for an hour or two and judge the end result.

Forget smoke profile for now and two stage cooking. Let's keep it simple and get the basic tecnique down. We can boost smoke flavor down the road.

Finally, Cookshack Brisket Rub is on the high end of the salt scale. Salt can and will extract moisture. You can inject up to, say 12 hrs, ahead of smoking. I'd hold back on the rub until 4-6 hrs prior to cooking.

Hope that helps.

Thnak you for the response.

I use Choice or better meats for Rest. Depot

and I cook Fat side down. I usually inject and rub about 5 hours before cooking I have been foiling in pans maybe the Steam issue is the problem.

I will try tight foil on my practice session tommorrow.

If you're injecting AND foiling (both of which I don't do unless I'm in a contest) AND it's dry, then you're overcooking it.

Don't cook to temp, cook to tenderness. Pull it when the probe insert meets little resistence.

quote:

Originally posted by Bigdogphin:
I use Choice or better meats for Rest. Depot

When they judge the carcass, it is done between the twelfth and thirteenth rib, which may mean the brisket could be upper choice or may be just better than select...or could even be select.

It is wise to not worry about the actual grade and do more studying of the product in the cryo.

My last purchase was a CAB choice brisket at the local store,gave 3.79/lb and would be happy to buy many more of the same brisket. It looked better than the last 4 prime grade briskets that I have bought and payed a $100 a piece for, oh well, not complaining about the prime briskets...just trying to show that grading isn't quite as it would seem.

Question, have you sliced a cold piece of the flat the next day and looked at the fat content of the slice, if the fat wasn't rendered properly(which means moisture), it will show up in the slice nice and white, in a straight line.

I'm with MaxQ on not being a fan of the pan method, but some fine cooks do it.

I pull the brisket when there is no resistance to the probe which for the most part is between 199 and 203 sometimes lower sometimes high. I let the brisket vent for a couple minutes then put into the cambro for 1 to 2 hours. After that it seems when I slice into it there is very little moisture left in the meat and initial bite tells you it's tender but then it is mushy.

I am thinking the steam from the foil pan, salty rub, and not venting/resting long enough before I put it into the cambro are contributing factors....also a good point was made as to the actual grade of meat I am buying....

quote:

Originally posted by Bigdogphin:

I am thinking the steam from the foil pan, salty rub, and not venting/resting long enough before I put it into the cambro are contributing factors....also a good point was made as to the actual grade of meat I am buying....

Update... I tried the above changes and the brisket came out great....thanks for the advice