Dry brisket again, what am I doing wrong?
 

Picked up a 6lb flat from Costco, seasoned with Montreal Steak Seasoning and put it on the UDS at 1:30 pm fat side down with a few hickory chunks in with the charcoal.

I held pretty close to 250° all day and foiled at 170 (about 6hrs into the cook). After just a short time in the foil the internal temp read 194° so I pulled the foil and put her back on the fire to toughen the bark just a little.

Once removed from the foil my internal temp dropped to 170ish again so I left it on without the foil until I reached 194° and it probed fairly easy (should it be as easy to probe as a pork butt?) She seemed to hold in at 170ish for a long time before finally climbing up to temp. Total cook time 10-1/2 hrs or so.

Looks good, nice smoke ring, good flavor, but dry as hell again. I see pron here of nice juicy looking briskets but both times I've tried I get a beautiful looking piece of dry meat, what am I doing wrong?

That looks beautiful. Your rub certainly did penetrate.

As for being dry, you did say it was brisket right? Welcome to the club.

the only flats ive seen at Costco are the ones in the stryo trays with all the fat trimmed off..if those are what you are cooking it could be why they are so dry..judging by the pics that looks like what you bought..ask the guy at the meat counter to get you ones of the ones that are untrimmed in the cryovac still..they got em,

I agree with Billm. If the ones you're buying are already trimmed you could be a victim of not enough fat and no matter what you do odds are you're going to get a dry brisket. I know how you feel though. I hate that for you. But keep trying and next time get one with more fat that way you decide how much fat is on the one you cook.

What both ^ of them said. Most flats are just trimmed too close. I prefer to cook whole ones, but when I do just a flat, I buy a whole brisket separate the flat, freeze the point. I wish I had a fat up picture but I do minimal trimming on the fat as you can see by looking at the end view.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v3.../DSC08313a.jpg

The only other thing i'd have to ask is how long did you let it rest before slicing? Resting time is important as well especially with brisket, too short and it will be dry. Just my thought.

Last one I got at Costco was a whole packer, flat and point. It was dry but not as much as this one.

Yesterday all they had were what I believed to be untrimmed flats in cryo vacuum packs.

I did no trimming of the fat, just rinsed, patted dry and applied the rub. Left fat cap down to protect from heat.

Ahhhh, I only let it rest 10-15 minutes. Would it make such a drastic difference? I mean its DRY!

Rest it for a good hour. Did you inject prior to cooking or add in any liquid into the foil? Next time inject a bit of beef broth and add about a cup of it when you foil.

10+ hours also seems like a long time for just a flat, especially on a UDS. UDS users????

As others have said, ask for the untrimmed flats at costco. At my store, they don't have them out front, you specifically have to ask for them. They are also cryovac'd so they will last longer.
I'd also go with at least a one hour rest, if not two. The hardest part about briskets is knowing when to pull it, especially when you have to factor in that it is going to continue cooking a bit during the rest. There is a small gap between undercooked and overcooked, and it takes practice. I'm still learning also.

10 hours on a drum seems like an awful long time for a 6 lb flat. The other thing that jumps out is you said the temp on the meat dropped back to 170 when you put it back on the drum to firm it up. That seems odd. My bet is maybe there was some sort of mishap with reading the temp...It has happened to me...and when you left it on for the extended time it dried it out. It was a great looking piece of meat....maybe you have to sacrifice firm bark for tender and juicy....sometimes its hard to get both on a drum.

Resting is very important as far as I'm concerned - did a couple briskets at a friends bachelor party 2 weeks ago and with all the fun and games going on I forgot I pulled the briskets (after foiling) off to rest and 3 hrs. later we pulled them out the cooler and they were unbelievable!! moist - tender - etc.etc. ( of course we were well lubricated )

That's a REALLY long time on a UDS considering I did one this past weekend that was 3.5lb flat and it was done in around 4 hours, and that picking it up from the store that morning, bringing it home, seasoning it and putting it on the UDS at 240 degrees. I'd check your therms to make sure they're reading right too. The only other way it would have been that dry is if you overcooked it on top of not letting it rest.

Here's the link from where I posted in another forum:
http://smokingmeatforums.com/forums/...ad.php?t=80056

Another thing, how many briskets have you done? I have done 2 and I figure I am doing good if it is edible, even tasty. It took me a while to get to where I could do ribs and butts with a high level of comfort, and even at that, I get off cooks at times. I figure a dry brisket here or there is a part of the learning process.

Should you do the whole cook fat side down?...I usually cook them fat side up and have had good results....However last time I tried one I also did it for the entire cook fat side down and the flat was dry....

Firecrackerjack
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