Amerique first brisket

What was the temperature when you took it out?

That is something I didn't check? do you think it was too long in the foil? If it wasnt in foil wouldnt it dry out also? I used the technique from cooks country on you tube. smoke 220 for 21/2 hrs foil and cook for 6 hrs at 300

Need more info.

What smoker and have you confirmed the cooking temp?
Was it choice or select?
Was it a packer or a flat?
What weight?
Like Andy, what temp or how did you know when to pull it?

3 to 6 hours makes it think is was likely a flat or a small packer.

Amerique,
packer 8pounds,
I already posted what I did

Thanks, but you didn't post everything you did, that's why we're asking.

What smoker?

How did you know when to pull it, by temp or time?

what temp did you pull it at (and if so have you verified that temp probe is accurate)

What grade was it (select will usually be drier because of less fat)

When you wrapped it in foil, did you add any liquid?

My guess since I don't have all the info is it was select and you overcooked it.

8lbs is pretty small for a packer. And cooking for 9 hours, I'd say you probably overcooked it as well. The more you cook, you'll learn that time is just a guideline, you'll usually want to go by temperature first and then when it gets close to your final temp, probe it to see if it's done.

Take a skewer and run it top to bottom through the flat, when it slides through like butter, your brisket is done.

At that point, you'll want to take it out, foil it and let it rest for at least a half hour.

You may want to check out Brisket 101 at the top of this forum. Has lots of good info.

Hey Russ, the link to Brisket 101 is broken since the website re-design.

quote:

Originally posted by AndyJ:
Hey Russ, the link to Brisket 101 is broken since the website re-design.

which link (there are 100's pointing to it).

Current location for all the 101's

I'm going to update them this spring, make them all PDF's and I can upload them to the Photobucket:


101 Series

quote:

Originally posted by jbi
do you think it was too long in the foil?

Yeah!, 6 hrs at 300* seems to be a little overkill for that size brisket, but hey throw some broth on it, with juices from foil???, and have pulled beef sandwiches.

Won't learn if you don't cook briskets.

jbi00799, I go by the rule of thumb that if it's tough and dry it's undercooked and if it's tender/mushy and dry it's over cooked.

Now as to why, I think that foiling it for 6 hours at 300 killed it. At a comp I'll cook an 8 pound flat about 1.5 inches thick for 8 hours around 200 degrees and then it goes in foil for roughly another 2 hours at 250. Mine cooks for about the same amount of time but at a much lower temp and with less time in foil.

People keep asking what temp you pulled it and this is key. Next time pull it around 200 degrees and let it rest for 3+ hours. It should be quite a bit better. Now, you will more than likely still need to dial it in but you should be much closer to where you want it to be.