Brisket Help

Wrap in foil, put a little liquid in it and turn it up to 300*-350*

Why at 170*?????

The 170* was probably his smoke setting,for a few hrs,before he kicked it up to cook temp.

Nice to know folks are reading the forums and the FIND feature-before they finish the cook.

The 165* was close to getting thru the plateau,and then the internal temp would have risen much faster.

As Freddy posted,in an emergency,you can get it to temp in just a few minutes.

A comp cook has to turn SOMETHING in ,on time,or be disqualified.

A vendor/caterer may also face that situation.

Not the planned approach,but can produce some product in emergencies.

We find that choice packers ,a couple lbs heavier than that,take around 70 mins/lb.

Hope this helps a little.

Maybe I am reading it wrong? It sounded to me like it was at 170* for 9 hours.

I agree 9 hours @ 170 is just a method of getting more smoke. You'll see a lot of reference to two stage smoking.

X amount of time, lower temp then x amount of time higher temp.

Idea is to add more smoke penetration get more of a Smoke Ring.

I think you guys recommended 5-6 hours at the low temp. I took it a little further as it seemed to be cooking so fast in the begining and I was worrying about it finishing too quick.

Anyway, here's the conclusion:

I foiled it and added a little broth. The brisket finished at 10:15PM. I took it to 200* because the Thermapen was not sliding through easily until then. I wasn't hungry anymore so I put it in the fidge and sliced it up this morning. Reheated for lunch today and had some guests too. Overall very good. Even the drier pieces popped back to life with a little juice from the pan I foiled in. Next time less low temp, and I hope to try it warm instead of reheating.

Sounds like you are on the right track.

Keep good notes,on each of these brisket cooks.

That is where we develop the experience,to turn out consistent product.

Keeping a log was one of the great things I learned from you guys before my cooker even arrived!

SJ

The other thing to do is use the features of the IQ4 to help you. It's mentioned in a number of posts, but keep an eye out for it.

Basically you set the smoker temp and duration for what you want for smoke, say 180 @ 6 hours.

then when it hits the time, set the "hold" temp to your normal cooking temp.

That way, you start it the night before and it will finish during the day.

Oh yeah I'm familiar with the cook and hold settings and used them on my two cooks thus far.

I had a long and hard debate with myself on starting it the night before or starting it early the next morning. I was worried if it finished on the early side, I'd be challenged to keep in warm in the cooler until dinner time.

I made the wrong choice, but learned from it.

If your meat finishes too early, wrap in double foil and then in thick towels and put inside a cooler that has had some hot water in it. (Drain water) I have held meat 7 hours and it was still too hot to handle without gloves.

2-3 hr rest would only help,IMO.