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Brisket

M

McEvoy AZ

Knows what a fatty is.
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I have been working hard on improving my brisket and one thing seems to still give me trouble, holding brisket. My first attempts I think I would cook to a correct doneness but did not vent before putting into a cooler resulting in a brisket that was too done. Now I am venting the brisket, but maybe I am allowing it to cool to much, still resulting in dry brisket. Any tips on holding brisket would be very helpful.
 
Inject your brisket with phosphates (ie: FAB B, Butchers etc.) to hold on to moisture and vent it for 10 minutes before putting it into you cooler or cambro.
 
How are you cooking your brisket? That might help us figure out what may be going wrong with your cook. Holding should not result in your brisket drying out. Something else is amiss.
 
I have cooked both hot and fast at 350 degrees and lowers at 260 degrees. Both cases I cook to around 203 degrees before pulling. I start checking for being done about 195 degrees. I cook till the probe easily slides in across the grain. I do wrap at about 160 degrees with about 1/4 cup of beef broth. I also use an injection that has phosphates. Just seems to be something I am missing. I really thought it might be the quality of meat but I cook choise cab briskets.
 
I like to vent mine so that it stops the cooking process, but is still difficult to handle when I remove it from my Cambro. The time of this will vary based on several different variables--size/thickness of brisket, ambient temperature, temp of Cambro before putting it in, etc.
 
I let my last one cool to 190 degrees and it seemed to cool way to fast. With in one hour it cooled to around 160 degrees.
 
musicmanryann said:
I like to vent mine so that it stops the cooking process, but is still difficult to handle when I remove it from my Cambro. The time of this will vary based on several different variables--size/thickness of brisket, ambient temperature, temp of Cambro before putting it in, etc.
Click to expand...


Ryan, Please tell us more! :clap: I think Technique, rubs, injections, cutting technique would be a good start!:p
 
When you put it in the cooler, is it wrapped or just sitting in there? Wrap in foil before it goes in the cooler. You shouldn't need to vent.
 
Sawdustguy said:
Inject your brisket with phosphates (ie: FAB B, Butchers etc.) to hold on to moisture and vent it for 10 minutes before putting it into you cooler or cambro.
Click to expand...

This^. I've cooked a lot of CAB briskets, some of them good, some of them not so much. It's all about the marbling, CAB doesn't necessarily equate to good briskets IMO.
 
I wrapped when at 160 degrees, then vent when I take off the smoker before putting in the cooler. I believe I am only letting it vent for about ten minutes. Are you suggesting I re wrap after it comes off the smoker.
 
Try experimenting around with when you wrap. Consider a steak taken to 160 degrees. It's well done and the moisture has already been pushed out. Try wrapping earlier. I like to wrap at around 140-145.. still medium and juicy.
Also.. when you vent.. vent it until the internal temp equalizes and just begins to drop. That should be enough to stop the cooking process. Then unwrap and let it rest 15-20 minutes before you slice.. this should lessen the amount of juice you lose when you slice.
 
I am going to try wrapping at 140. After you vent until the temp just starts to drop, do you:

1) wrap in a towel and place in your cooler
2) wrap in a towel and place on the counter or table
3) just place in the cooler only wrapped in the tin foil
 
I hold them in a smaller cooler (28 qt). I don't vent but....I've probably already poked 8-10 holes in the foil from checking them before they go in. My $.02
 
I vent brisket 20 minutes and butts 30 minutes. If air temps are normal. If its colder (50's) I would go less.
 
I use a cambro..so no reason to use a towel.. I just drop the wrapped brisket in a pan ans slide it in.
 
CBQ said:
When you put it in the cooler, is it wrapped or just sitting in there? Wrap in foil before it goes in the cooler. You shouldn't need to vent.
Click to expand...

If he pulls it at 203 degrees, does not vent it and it goes straight into the Cambro or cooler he will have mush when we goes to put it in the turn-in box. The brisket will continue to cook without venting and raise another 10 to 15 degrees. We have accidentally done this with one of our briskets in the past. Thank goodness we had a second brisket and didn't forget to vent it so we could turn in something other than mush.
 
McEvoy AZ said:
I am going to try wrapping at 140. After you vent until the temp just starts to drop, do you:

1) wrap in a towel and place in your cooler
2) wrap in a towel and place on the counter or table
3) just place in the cooler only wrapped in the tin foil
Click to expand...

We wrap it back up in the foil and put it in a Cambro. If using a cooler we would wrap it up with foil and wrap a towel around it and place it in a warm cooler.
 
I would say try and hold it for as little as possible. When do hold, be sure to allow your meat to rest long enough to stop the cooking process before you hold it. You may have to play around with what that temp/time that is based upon your meats/equipment/outdoor temps etc. Personally, I have not found that much good comes out of holding meats for extended periods of time. Optimally I like to have them finish so that I hold them for as little as possible but thats me.

Also starting out with the best product you can will only increase your chances of a better end product. Get the "best" brisket your budget allows.

Sawdustguy said:
The brisket will continue to cook without venting and raise another 10 to 15 degrees.
Click to expand...

I have actually heard it can be as much as 10-15% for a Cambro, although that seems like a lot to me.
 
McEvoy AZ said:
I wrapped when at 160 degrees, then vent when I take off the smoker before putting in the cooler. I believe I am only letting it vent for about ten minutes. Are you suggesting I re wrap after it comes off the smoker.
Click to expand...

Yes.

As others have said, wrap a little earlier if you can.

When you remove the brisket from the smoker, open the foil and let the temp drop for about 10 minutes so you don't overcook it. After that, re-wrap. You can probably use the same foil unless you got a tear in it.

Then wrap that in a towel or put in a cooler or both. No need to vent the cooler if you did the temp down. The re-wrapping will prevent you losing moisture from the meat and allows for longer hold times. (You lose most heat from evaporation.)
 
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