17lb Brisket timeline on WSM?

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ThePerfectBeard

Knows what a fatty is.
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Hi All,

So, I threw on a 17lb brisket this morning around 2am... it was going at around 225-235 for the first 7-8 hours and about 240-250 after that. I'm starting to question my meat thermometer and I don't want to mess this up. When I had it in what I thought was the thickest part of the flat it was at 194 and was pretty probe tender, but now that I look at it, it seems like it was actually in the point. I moved the thermometer and it's now reading 178, but again, pretty probe tender. I just pulled it to wrap it after about 14 hours. I don't want to mess this up, does it seem like it should go for a few more hours since it was 17lbs?

Thanks. I'll respond with some pron in a bit.
 
there is no such thing as "pretty probe tender" it should slide in effortlessly. IMO usually my brisket takes about an hour a pound.....usually probe tender is after 190 in the 195-200 area.
 
Is it jiggly yet? I've never paid attention to the amount of time. I start checking for probe tender at 190°F. Once I hit probe tender, I'll see if it jiggles, then wrap with foil and put in a cooler for a couple of hours. My method probably isn't right, but it's worked pretty well for me so far.
 
twofishy4u said:
there is no such thing as "pretty probe tender" it should slide in effortlessly. IMO usually my brisket takes about an hour a pound.....usually probe tender is after 190 in the 195-200 area.
Click to expand...

I mean, the temp probe slides in pretty easily... so I guess that's probe tender. I'm guessing it was closer to the 194 than the 178 it now reads. It's not really jiggly yet though.
 
Curt.P said:
Is it jiggly yet? I've never paid attention to the amount of time. I start checking for probe tender at 190°F. Once I hit probe tender, I'll see if it jiggles, then wrap with foil and put in a cooler for a couple of hours. My method probably isn't right, but it's worked pretty well for me so far.
Click to expand...

I mean, it's choice so I'm not sure how jiggly it's going to get. The thermometer probe slides in pretty effortlessly.
 
ThePerfectBeard said:
I mean, it's choice so I'm not sure how jiggly it's going to get. The thermometer probe slides in pretty effortlessly.
Click to expand...
I was hoping for more input from the guys with experience. I'm still learning too. As odd as it sounds, I prefer choice over prime when it comes to brisket and usually get mine from Restaurant Depot. I give it a poke with my finger once it goes probe tender to check how well it jiggles.
 
Curt.P said:
I was hoping for more input from the guys with experience. I'm still learning too. As odd as it sounds, I prefer choice over prime when it comes to brisket and usually get mine from Restaurant Depot. I give it a poke with my finger once it goes probe tender to check how well it jiggles.
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It's all good. No one is really going to know if they're not here so I get it. I think if I pulled it about a half hour after the first read, it would have been perfect. It's weird because it wasn't really jiggly at that point, but definitely was when I did pull it. I was just surprised it didn't take an hour per pound when I was cooking at such a low temp. On to the next one lol
 
ThePerfectBeard said:
It's all good. No one is really going to know if they're not here so I get it. I think if I pulled it about a half hour after the first read, it would have been perfect. It's weird because it wasn't really jiggly at that point, but definitely was when I did pull it. I was just surprised it didn't take an hour per pound when I was cooking at such a low temp. On to the next one lol
Click to expand...

That's part of the fun. Each piece of meat will do what it wants to do.
 
I said I would post some pron, so here's what I got so far. Working on the burnt ends and the flat is resting. I like what I got with the bark, definitely need to work on the smoke ring and timing.


Alhx1joh.jpg

I4KQ4H3h.jpg
 
My briskets usually are at 203 degrees before tender enough to say "done".

As someone pointed out earlier in this thread, there's no such thing as "pretty probe tender". Live and learn. I screwed up my first brisket, but I now have about 40 brisket cooks and have learned to do them well. It took patience and experimenting, changing only one variable at a time.

Your bark looks nice. I hope everything turns out well.
 
ThePerfectBeard said:
Yup, should have listened to my gut. The point was fully rendered and very hard to turn into burnt ends. You cook and you learn.
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I'm not sure how they were hard to turn into burnt ends? The point is very fatty and forgiving - easy to do burnt ends once the flat is done. Don't measure temp or doneness in the point - just the flat.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
Sooner21 said:
I'm not sure how they were hard to turn into burnt ends? The point is very fatty and forgiving - easy to do burnt ends once the flat is done. Don't measure temp or doneness in the point - just the flat.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Click to expand...

Ya, the flat was what I was going for, I just went a little further back than I should have at first. This was my first time cooking with the fat cap down so it threw me off. When I was cutting the point into cubes it was already crumbling apart some so, I could tell I took it a bit too far.
 
Sometimes our cooks dont turn out as well as we would like. Keep a detailed log of your cook and be honest when you put down the info. That will help you to come to a basic understanding of what works, and what you need to change.
Brisket though, can be a whole different animal all to itself.
 
I've never really found "probe tender" to be "effortless". Probe tender is like sliding into room temp peanut butter- where truly "effortless" would be like probing water. It's a touch and feel thing. Sometimes I think we'd be better off is some German scientist would define probe tender as "when the insertion of a blunt probe with a cross section of X mm requires Y Newtons of force over..." Not seeing that's ever gonna happen. Until then, it's a matter of feel and experience.

IMO -"jiggly" could be said to be pretty subjective too.
 
how did the flat turn out? I usually figure around an hour a lb. About half way thru I take the brisket off wrap it with foil in broth and seasoning and then fat side up the rest of the way. Usually I just do flats though too. MY WSM likes to run at 240 all the time. Weird. I also only run lump in it. Getting harder and harder to find briskets around my area. Doing a beef roast right now
 
twofishy4u said:
how did the flat turn out? I usually figure around an hour a lb. About half way thru I take the brisket off wrap it with foil in broth and seasoning and then fat side up the rest of the way. Usually I just do flats though too. MY WSM likes to run at 240 all the time. Weird. I also only run lump in it. Getting harder and harder to find briskets around my area. Doing a beef roast right now
Click to expand...

It was definitely on the dry side and I could tell it was an overcooked because the slices were crumbling.
 
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