Brisket help????
 

Can someone direct me to a thread on how to prepare and cook a brisket for competition? We just cant seem to get it right. Any help will work. Thanks

I don't know Jack about comps, but this has been a huge help to me:

http://www.bbq-brethren.com/forum/sh...ad.php?t=57882

Perhaps one of the Moderators will move this to the "Competition" forum.

In the meantime, what are your scores telling you is right and what is wrong?

the last one we turned in was too done. Fell all to pieces. We cooked one the other day it was to dry. These things are hard too master!

Some information would help. what type of cooker, what grade of brisket, what kind of fuel, what kind of temperatures, what is your process for preparation... If you provide that information, the help you get will be much better.

Fell all to pieces certainly sounds like overdone, dry is a lot tougher as that could be either.

here is my cooker, packer brisket 8 to 10 lbs., hickory and charcoal, 200 to 225 degrees.

Great tutorial, too bad I learned it myself the hard way :-D

While I think the post by Bigabyte, liked by gtr, is a great pictorial and narrative on how to do a brisket. The one or two things I notice.

1. I really like a packer brisket in the 12 to 14 lb range, I think they are more forgiving and the flat is a little thicker, hence more forgiving.

2. I like to cook at 250F to 270F for briskets. But, 225F would be my minimum.

3. You did not say how you are monitoring your meat in the cooker. I like to use a thermometer on a cable so I can see internal temps of meat with door closed. It will normally take 10 hours to get to 190F.

4. Once it hits 190F, I use a metal skewer, some use ice picks or thermapen probes..and I check for whether it is done by poking, when the probe goes in easily, it is done. I prove across the grain slightly and in two or three spots in the flat.

i just ordered a digital probe thermometer. that should help out. we been just poking and hoping!

Thermapens made by Thermoworks are the best I have found. They are expensive, but to me are well worth it.

http://www.thermoworks.com/