Cookin' my first Brisket

Heres a pointer.Cold Canadian beer goes great with brisket its true .Good luck and have fun

Rob,

I moved your post to the FE forums, since a lot of people in the other don't have one.

Fat side down, don't flip it.

Happy Thanksgiving. I have a project going in Canada, and my CA team is off, so I'll have a quiet Monday

quote:

Originally posted by SmokinOkie:

Fat side down, don't flip it.

For the first time last week I did fat side down on a brisket in my FEC and it was my best brisket to date.

Hi smokin Oakie..thank-you for your advice yesterday. I followed your Brisket 101 layout and I must say.. You da man baby!!! I set the temp@226 for the first 8.5hrs. For some reason my cooker will not set at 225 it skips to 226degrees. The internal temp of the brisket after that time was about 165degrees. I set the time again for 1.5hrs. The brisket was at 190degrees after this time.I let it stand for about 45mins..then made my first cut...it was amazing..very tender and juicy. The only down side was that the rub was a little bit too salty for my taste..but my wife said that it was perfect. I will certainly be working on bringing down the salt content in my next rub.I have one question for you today. The brisket has cooled down in the fridge overnight. How can I reheat without drying it out. Can I just do a few slices because I really do not want to reheat the whole brisket??I have one more question for FEC100 owners. My cooker seems to fluctuate during a cook. The temp reading can be quite a bit. I set my cooker for 226 degrees and when I checked on it after 15mins it was up to 238 degrees. Through out the entire cook the temp seem to bounce around..but it always seemed to settle back to 226 degrees after awhile. Could this be that as pellets are added to the burner this in turns jacks up the heat for a few minutes??If so wouldn't this affect my cook time. I had expected my cook to last a lot longer thatn the 10hrs that it did.I have yet to find an accurate internal thermometer to get a true reading of the cooker..but I am still looking.Rob

quote:

Hi smokin Oakie..thank-you for your advice yesterday. I followed your Brisket 101 layout and I must say.. You da man baby!!!

Happy to help, that's why it's there, even if it IS about 10 years old and in serious need of an update (i hate those photos)

quote:

Originally posted by Nova Scotia Rob:
I have one question for you today. The brisket has cooled down in the fridge overnight. How can I reheat without drying it out. Can I just do a few slices because I really do not want to reheat the whole brisket??

Microwave them BUT do not do it on full power. I do them on 60 or 70% as I'm trying not to cook them again. Works like a champ. Full power ruins them. If I'm doing a few, I'll add some of the stock/juices (you DID save them?)

quote:

I have one more question for FEC100 owners. My cooker seems to fluctuate during a cook. The temp reading can be quite a bit. I set my cooker for 226 degrees and when I checked on it after 15mins it was up to 238 degrees. Through out the entire cook the temp seem to bounce around..but it always seemed to settle back to 226 degrees after awhile. Could this be that as pellets are added to the burner this in turns jacks up the heat for a few minutes?? If so wouldn't this affect my cook time. I had expected my cook to last a lot longer thatn the 10hrs that it did.[quote]

you said one question, this is two

It only goes in 2 degree increments. And do not worry about temp fluctuatios. BBQ has been cooked for 100's of years and the temps have always fluctuated and I haven't heard one brisket complain. Focus on the average temp, it will work out fine. And you're correct, it will overshoot a little when it's adding pellets but it settles back down to the temp you chose quickly enough.

Ask yourself this, were you happy with the results?

For time/temp, just keep good notes. It will depend a lot of size/shape of the brisket and what multiple temps you set it at.

[quote]I have yet to find an accurate internal thermometer to get a true reading of the cooker..but I am still looking.Rob

Not sure what you mean, most of the remote probes will work fine, just test them so you know what temps the probe is reading. I test mine at every comp just to see how they're reading.

How to calibrate your temp probe for thoes of you who may not remember, boiling water in an open container is the standard for 212 degree F (100 degree C) and melting ice (not ice water) in an open container is the standard for 32 degree F (0 degree C). Both of these standards are at 1 atmosphere (sea level).