Frustrated with brisket...help?

One way to tell if a brisket overcooked or undercooked is to do the tug test. Hold a warm slice of brisket at each end and try to pull it in half. If it's cooked properly, it will pull in half with just a little resistance.
An undercooked brisket will be difficult to pull in half.
An overcooked brisket will be extremely easy to pull in half, and tends to "crumble" apart instead of holding it's shape.

I smoke Brisket at 275° to 300° and have good results.
IMO: A hotter temp. gives a shorter smoking time and moist meat.

I think what has happened to you is the lower temp. gives a significantly longer smoke, and allows the meat to dry.

(I use an old small metal thermometer for my probe, I probe when it starts to look right.
Over the years I've been pretty close to the right temp.,when it looks and feels right.)

A couple of things, fat up or down, I use both and feel you should point the fat cap in direction of the hotter air to protect the meat.
fast cook 350-400 vrs slow 225 250 the faster cook you will see more shrinkage, a different texture to the meat, not so pronounce smoke ring, maybe a better flavor..
Cooking above the water pan on a Backwoods, I feel not to do this, your meat will have a poached looked to it as the meat is being steamed...
wrap or not to wrap, if you decide to wrap wait untill 165 / 170 internal
Temp to finnish, I have seen mine plateau for a short time and a long time, depends how tight the grain of the meat is..I will pull at 185 IF the probe goes in real nice, never have i gone past 195 and still able to get slices, after 195 it might crumble..
resting, I let rest up to 4 hours, wraped in blanket, never sealed as the bark will soften..
take alook at your rubs, add some turbinado or brown sugar on top of your rub to help seal it..I have wraped in foil, not wraped... cooked fast..cooked slow..fat up fat down...water tray..no water..every way posible to cook a brisket..injected..not injected..mustard bath...beef broth...a salt bath the night before...you name and I have tested it and 99% of the time it is just running of juice when it is sliced...
So take a look at how much air is running tru you cooker maybe a key there..but look at your final rubs..and seal juices in...ps, my best brisket was wet aged 4 to 6 weeks...

clikover said:

Guys: one big thing regarding Prep that I forgot to mention before and I would really like to poll you guys on...the use of a Jaccard (meat tenderizer) in the rub stage of prep. This is something I saw Chris Marks recommend...he says because it helps to drive the rub seasoning down into the meat, which I do think it looks like it does. The question I have is: do you think that using the Jaccard all over the brisket is somehow causing the juices to run out? It does cut little holes into the meat all over. I have never seen anyone else on the Bretheren mention the use of a Jaccard in all the brisket threads I've read...but I've kept using it because I saw Chris Marks use it and it seemed to make sense to me. Thoughts?

Click to expand...

I would say that step isn't needed. When you slice a brisket against the grain after it's done you are basically doing what the Jaccard is supposed to do when it's raw. But, brisket has so much connective tissue between the muscle fibers that cutting the fibers while the meat is raw is still leaving the connective tissues intact. It's the connective tissue that makes under cooked brisket that's sliced against the grain seem tough. The best way to deal with it is to just cook the brisket until they break down.

I personally think its the cut of meat your useng. It sounds like you need to start them on the smoker to acheive the color that your looking for then pan and foil the top only. If you cooking just flats you may want to add some liquid (save the pan drippings and reuse). Tr a Cert Angus or waygu and I think your going to see some good results. Im speaking from experience here I was useing IBPs and was having the same problem you are a friend told me to try angus and t turned my briskets around. If you are cooking them for the home and dot want to se a more quality brisket then do nor rest cut very soon and soak in piping hot aujus in a pan covered for 20 or so minutes that will help those briskets.......

try buying your brisket somewhere else.i buy my meat from 2 different places one place has much better brisket

I totally agree with Blitzkrieg, go with a CAB Choice brisket or better to get the best results. Blitzkrieg had a great brisket the past weekend which took first place, once again Tommy...GREAT Job taking GC.