Brisket cherry popped. pR()n

So as was documented in a different thread, I had some issues with my first brisket. Started off by finding 3 inches of water in my charcoal bin. Then, despite waiting four hours to ensure the temperature was steady before going to sleep, I still woke up at 5:30am to a quickly cooling Egg. Thankfully, it was still above 160 and coals were still glowing. Cranked it back up, at one point it got up over 300, and then let it settle back down to 250. When internal hit around 190-ish, I separated the point and foiled the flat with the juices from the drip pan. Let it cook a bit longer and then put it in the cooler. Point went back on for another 90 minutes.

Net result? Burnt ends are AMAZING. First time having them, but they are delicious. Brisket itself was dry, not moist at all. However, the bark was perfect, smoke ring was nice, and there was a ton of flavor in it. So that's all positive. I think I blame the dryness on the crazy temper variations, as well as the fact that I think I over trimmed the fat off the brisket. I didn't leave much on and I think that would have helped alot. Wish I'd had some beef broth to add before foiling, but none in the house.

So an interesting first try. Definitely a learning experience. Much trickier than smoking Butts!

Pics:

landarc said:

Well, it looks good and if you got good flavor, then you are a good ways along. I would not have trimmed it that much, I am one for trimming the 'hard' or 'yellow' fat off and leaving the white fat on. I would also suggest that dry brisket can occur when the meat if overcooked, not sure of that is the case here. And, you can always add beer to the foil packet, it works well. And the point is very very good, did you not mix any sauce onto the chopped up point meat?

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Yeah, I think the trimming was a problem. Also, I cooked it point side up, which it seems was another mistake.

Didn't think about adding beer. Next time!

As to the burnt ends, I didn't add any sauce to 'em because we're planning on using them in a BBQ gumbo recipe tomorrow. But they were quite tasty right off the cutting board!

Thanks for the beer tip. Will keep that in mind but definitely plan to start keeping stock handy as well. Still building out my cache of staples.