Hot and Fast Brisket fail

bacchus99

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I've done a few flats low and slow and all have come out great. Decided to try a full packer hot and fast yesterday. Burnt ends were great but the flat was overcooked and dry and wanted to pull not slice. I ran the WSM at 325F and wrapped the brisket in foil with beef broth at 170F. I started probing for tenderness at 195F. At 195 it was no where close to buttah. Checked at 200...point starting to probe but flat stiff as a board. Check at 205 and point feeling good but flat still stiff....starting to get nervous but stuck to the old "go by probe not temp"....took it to 210...the edges of the flat are probing but the center still pretty stiff. Stuck to the probe princple and went to 215 and said that was a enough...flat never really probed right. Maybe just a crappy piece of meat. Oh well....chop it up and smother in sauce and make sandwhiches.

I'd like to learn from this...what did i do wrong? I know taking it to 215 is pulling temps but it never probed like buttah all over.
 
For what its worth I never understood the butter effect. I cook to Temp and rest never had a bad brisket Knock on wood
 
I've done a few flats low and slow and all have come out great. Decided to try a full packer hot and fast yesterday. Burnt ends were great but the flat was overcooked and dry and wanted to pull not slice. I ran the WSM at 325F and wrapped the brisket in foil with beef broth at 170F. I started probing for tenderness at 195F. At 195 it was no where close to buttah. Checked at 200...point starting to probe but flat stiff as a board. Check at 205 and point feeling good but flat still stiff....starting to get nervous but stuck to the old "go by probe not temp"....took it to 210...the edges of the flat are probing but the center still pretty stiff. Stuck to the probe princple and went to 215 and said that was a enough...flat never really probed right. Maybe just a crappy piece of meat. Oh well....chop it up and smother in sauce and make sandwhiches.

I'd like to learn from this...what did i do wrong? I know taking it to 215 is pulling temps but it never probed like buttah all over.

I usually always attribute this to not cooking it long enough. I have done this myself and that's all I can figure out.
 
I'm not a hnf brisket cooker but if I had any advice it would be that your meat needs to rest. Since the meat cooked so quickly it tightens up, resting allows it to relax again and during that process will become tender.
 
I rested for 2 hours. The flat was wanting to pull...it was definitely overcooked. I can't explain because the middle of the flat never probed good.
 
I believe it's a different ball game. I don't know if you're going to get probe tender while the meat is cooking until it's over cooked? One hnf source says to take the brisket off when the point is 205 and rest at room temp for 4 hours. Note, if you rest in foil it will continue to cook and turn to pulled beef. My advice is to experiment if you really want to master hnf. Personally I like to cook my low and slow but that's a personal preference. I believe hnf can be good if you use low sugar rubs and different cooking techniques.
 
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