Brisket Kamado Woahs

[mrjoe]

Sorry No Pics but it did happen. Cooked a 12#Creekstone Packer to completion yesterday. Felt good probed good and had an IT 202. When slicing looked like the fat had rendered out but had an elastic chew almost like meat cooked ahead of fat rendering down. Basically want to know if it's the cider vinegar, the Akorn temp, or using the oven.
The process...trimmed night before to 1/4"..hit with a hill country rub salt p..epper cayennne...used light coat apple cider vinegar as my slather. Next morn onto akorn @250-260. After 3.5 hours spritzed with cider vinegar. At 5.5 hours IT was 172 and color was good so I gave quick spriz and wrapped in butcher paper. In a foil pan placed wrapped meat and into home oven at 255 for 2 hours. Rested on counter for 2.5hours then cut. Not a terrible piece of meat just had that rubbery texture instead of a cut through with a fork texture I was looking for. Is it the akorn should I consider dialng back to 215-225ish maybe it's too efficient..is it the oven maybe the foil pan cuts propper air flow without a roasting rack to let air circulate through. Is it the cider vinegar slather. Am pre cooking the meat cerviche style. Is it seasoning the night before. Is it drawing out excess moisture. Just looking for some constructive pointers; realize only brisket way to sucess is practce your technique over and over. Good news is my briskets ruined rate is coming down. Used to ruin 1/2..getting down to 1/4 or or 5..progress

[ssv3]

I did the last one on the kamado (ceramic) and came it great:

Sometimes it's the meat regardless of where you bought it from. My brisket was a Costco prime and real floppy which is what I shoot for. I've had my fair share of bad ones from Costco though.

I never use vinegar as slather. Only oil if necessary because if my brisket has been sitting at room temp for a while and is "tacky" then I just sprinkle the seasoning on.

I never season overnight. Only a little before or at the same time I start the fire and let the seasoning sweat through. Granted the brisket has come up to room temp.

Using a kamado I don't see the need to spritz as the inside atmosphere is moist already.

Using the kamado, I cook it unwrapped. I don't think wrapping hurts it though.

When it probes tender (regardless of the temps) I pull, let it vent for about 5 mins (you can go a little longer if you chose) and wrap it tight in foil. It gets wrapped in a towel after that and into a cooler. Unless it's really cold then warm up the cooler with warm water. You want to hold as much moisture in as you can during the rest for it to redistribute. IMO proper resting makes or breaks your end result.

Don't go back to 215/225 because smoking that low just extends your cooking time significantly with results that are no better than cooking at higher temps. I was about 250-275 the whole cook.

I actually spritzed a brisket on one cook with pickle juice (plenty of vinegar in there) and come to think about it was rubbery as you described even though it probed tender, the whole nine. Then again I didn't rest it properly either. Just a thought.

Another thing that comes to mind is slicing so I'll throw it out there. Make sure to slice against the grain. Cutting with the grain will produce a rubbery brisket.

Hope it helps!

[mrjoe]

Originally Posted by ssv3

I did the last one on the kamado (ceramic) and came it great:

Sometimes it's the meat regardless of where you bought it from. My brisket was a Costco prime and real floppy which is what I shoot for. I've had my fair share of bad ones from Costco though.

I never use vinegar as slather. Only oil if necessary because if my brisket has been sitting at room temp for a while and is "tacky" then I just sprinkle the seasoning on.

I never season overnight. Only a little before or at the same time I start the fire and let the seasoning sweat through. Granted the brisket has come up to room temp.

Using a kamado I don't see the need to spritz as the inside atmosphere is moist already.

Using the kamado, I cook it unwrapped. I don't think wrapping hurts it though.

When it probes tender (regardless of the temps) I pull, let it vent for about 5 mins (you can go a little longer if you chose) and wrap it tight in foil. It gets wrapped in a towel after that and into a cooler. Unless it's really cold then warm up the cooler with warm water. You want to hold as much moisture in as you can during the rest for it to redistribute. IMO proper resting makes or breaks your end result.

Don't go back to 215/225 because smoking that low just extends your cooking time significantly with results that are no better than cooking at higher temps. I was about 250-275 the whole cook.

I actually spritzed a brisket on one cook with pickle juice (plenty of vinegar in there) and come to think about it was rubbery as you described even though it probed tender, the whole nine. Then again I didn't rest it properly either. Just a thought.

Another thing that comes to mind is slicing so I'll throw it out there. Make sure to slice against the grain. Cutting with the grain will produce a rubbery brisket.

Hope it helps!

Thanks for feedback. Probably rule out meat, was a solid cut. Think I will try the season 1 hour before with no vinegar. I suspect if it's not the vinegar, maybe seasoning too early draws out the moisture. Truthfully probably could go without wrapping, as you say. Find Kamado environment very moist almost hard to build a bark. I'm good on the cutting, made that mistake first two smokes til a friend pointed it out, then I hit up U tube for cutting pointees. I'm iffy on the foil, but I might experiment, with naked cook til tender, then wrap tight double layer butcher paper.

[GreenDrake]

My guess its the overnight with both vinegar and salt that impacted the finished product. Moisture raped it.

[mrjoe]

Originally Posted by GreenDrake

My guess its the overnight with both vinegar and salt that impacted the finished product. Moisture raped it.

Nice profile pic! Yeah I agree it did seem to have an unusual amount of juice in the pan before cooking. Just going to keep it basic. No slather of light cooking oil slather, bout 45 to hour before. Will see if that works.

[mrjoe]

Just throw it out there usually spritz with cider vinegar or 1/2 Worcestershire 1/2 water about 3 hours in and 4.5 hours in. Does this affect meat texture, should I even bother on a Kamado.

[Shagdog]

You undercooked it. Plain and simple. Don't stop cooking that brisket until your probe slides in and out of the thickest part of the flat with little/no resistance. None of the other stuff matters. You can spritz it, you can wrap it, you can cook a walmart select or a Snake river farms waygu, you can cook it at 200 or 400 or anywhere in between, but if you don't cook it long enough its going to be shoe leather.

[JS-TX]

I almost always season overnight and get pretty good to awesome results. I don't think it probed tender in the right places. Thickest part of the flat in a couple places will let you know when it's ready.

[tjv]

2.5 hours on the counter should be in a cooler to "hold" meat temp. no mention of a cooler.

8 hours (5.5 and 2) on a 12 pound brisket is kinda quick. the deflector plate on the akorn is a bit small, so good chance your brisket was getting a small amount of direct heat during the cook.

I rub up brisket an hour or so before putting on the egg. might try Worcestershire next time as a wetting agent.

no mention but it's fat cap down with butts and brisket in kamado style grills, cause the fire is underneath.

t

[mrjoe]

Originally Posted by Shagdog

You undercooked it. Plain and simple. Don't stop cooking that brisket until your probe slides in and out of the thickest part of the flat with little/no resistance. None of the other stuff matters. You can spritz it, you can wrap it, you can cook a walmart select or a Snake river farms waygu, you can cook it at 200 or 400 or anywhere in between, but if you don't cook it long enough its going to be shoe leather.

That's a real possibility b/c it wasn't crumbly, guess the elasticity probably more than likely is undercooked..I made an assumption 200+ IT it had to be ready, probably should have felt it out probed to double check

[mrjoe]

Originally Posted by tjv

2.5 hours on the counter should be in a cooler to "hold" meat temp. no mention of a cooler.

8 hours (5.5 and 2) on a 12 pound brisket is kinda quick. the deflector plate on the akorn is a bit small, so good chance your brisket was getting a small amount of direct heat during the cook.

I rub up brisket an hour or so before putting on the egg. might try Worcestershire next time as a wetting agent.

no mention but it's fat cap down with butts and brisket in kamado style grills, cause the fire is underneath.

t

Thanks 7.5 is too fast, was cooking fat side up, I know it should be down. Thought it would have a better bark...Even so would think 9.5 hrs. minimum, gotta probe better and rely less on IT. cooler might have tenderized but not sure it would have made up for cooking short 2 hrs.

[mrjoe]

Originally Posted by JS-TX

I almost always season overnight and get pretty good to awesome results. I don't think it probed tender in the right places. Thickest part of the flat in a couple places will let you know when it's ready.

Thanks yeah I think probing around more will help.