I’ve been smoking in an Americue for about a year now. Maybe a total of 20-25 briskets. Until recently I’ve been unhappy with the amount of moisture in the flat, particularly at the thin end. Too dry for my taste. I’ve found a solution that’s worked on the last three. Here it is.
1. Choice packer seasoned with the Cookshack Brisket Rub. Plenty of rub.
2. Start it fat side down at 200 degrees and smoke until it reaches 160 degrees in the flat.
3. Brisket out and wrapped in butcher paper or slipped into a brown paper shopping bag. Either seems to work the same. The bags easier and they're free.
4. Back in at 250 degrees until it reaches 190 in the flat, then test, pull, foil and rest for at least 1 hour.
This has worked darn well for me, moist and tender throughout, plenty of smoke. My sort of tentative conclusions are:
1. The meat doesn’t seem to take much more smoke after 160* and starting it slow yields meat that is plenty smokey all the way though. More so than all the way at 225* which I tried first.
2. The butcher paper keeps the meat moist during the latter part of the cook when I think a lot of the drying takes place. It doesn't seem to interfer with the smoke since it was smokey enough before I wrapped it.
3. The higher temp at the end speeds up the cook which I think also reduces the drying.
Thumper
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