H&F Brisket not so fast! Pr0n

[wct]

I’m not sure what happened , but Hot and Fast wasn’t really fast on this cook. Bludawg and other fellow bretherans inspired me to try my first hot and fast brisket. I have done a lot of briskets but never one hot and fast. My usual brisket takes right around 14 hours to cook at 240 degrees but in the spirit of time these days I wanted to try and cut down my time and still get a good brisket cooked. This is what I did.
I decided to use a simple rub of 50/50 K. salt and ground black pepper. Lemmon pepper and Granulated garlic and granulated Onion. I trimmed the 17 pound full CAB packer and applied the rub. I pre-heated my Rec-Tec to 300 degrees and put the brisket on at 7:30 am. At 6:30 PM it finally probed tender and I pulled it to rest. The bark and flavor of this brisket was excellent. It actually turned out very nice. It was a little dry in some areas of the flat because we were so hungry by the time it got done, I only let it rest 45 minutes before we ate, but a quick dunk in au-jus sauce cured that.

What do you guy’s think happened? I was expecting it to be finished at around the 7 hour mark cooking at 300 but this brisket just would not give up the ghost. My temp ranged only 2-3 degrees of 300 throughout the entire cook. My et-732 proved that. I also used my thermapen to double check the internal temp.
So did I just have a stubborn brisket or was there something I did wrong? Let me have it brothers.

IT 170 and ready for Butcher Paper wrap.
brisket h&f 001.jpg
Probed like butter ready for the knife
brisket h&f 004.jpg
After slicing.
brisket h&f 007.jpg

[DownHomeQue]

looks good to me!

[DownHomeQue]

Are you probing the flat or the point? that may be the problem

[bigabyte]

Not all finish in the same amount of time, this is why some use foil because that gets you through the stall in a more predictable manner. I do not think 11 hours for a 17-pounder with no foil sounds all that unusual at around 300*.

Now, personally, I do not like to foil my briskets for bark. This is why I cook more around 275 as this also keeps the bark or brisket from getting charred on some parts. I think higher than that and you are looking at a risk of charring.

A lot of folks cook higher, usually around 350-ish, but they must foil to save that bark and the meat from charring. This combo of high heat and foil makes for a speedy cook.

Keep on trucking, and find what you like, and what tastes best to you!

[kwas68]

I just did a 12 lb'er this past weekend at about 315 degrees. It took 8.5 hours and I still pulled it a tad early. So 11 sounds in line for a 17 lb'er.

[PaPaQ]

Looks good!

[HeSmellsLikeSmoke]

Sure looks good from here.

[J-Rod]

Looks good to me!

[rexbbq]

Looks great to me!

[JandJbuidasmoker]

I'd be dancing an irish jig if mine looked that good! 12 hours sounds ok!

[AustinKnight]

Looks good for your first HnF go around brotha, I usually stick with 10-14# briskets they seem to yield a tenderer brisket then the big 17-20# ders. The 10-14#ders after trimming you lose about 2#ds so they cook even quicker, I did do a 17# CAB Prime awhile back and it took 8h at 300-350* and was tender but I also thought it was kinda dry kinda like what your saying. I'd rather cook two 10# briskets then one big brisket but I'm sure others feel the same. Try a smaller one like a 12# the same way and see if you get what your looking for, happy smoking brotha

Also I check for softness and flexibility still when I pick out a brisket.

Edit: I didn't even think about that foil pan rack system you were using, I'd say ol' dawg is on to something here That's what your issue is you need to do away with the foil pan/rack and go straight on the grill grate, try that on you next smoke and see what happens.

[landarc]

It sounds like a one off, gotta try again and see what happens. That is the problem with meat as a primary ingredient. It does look good, and it doesn't seem like anything went super awry.

[wct]

Originally Posted by AustinKnight

Looks good for your first HnF go around brotha, I usually stick with 10-14# briskets they seem to yield a tenderer brisket then the big 17-20# ders. The 10-14#ders after trimming you lose about 2#ds so they cook even quicker, I did do a 17# CAB Prime awhile back and it took 8h at 300-350* and was tender but I also thought it was kinda dry kinda like what your saying. I'd rather cook two 10# briskets then one big brisket but I'm sure others feel the same. Try a smaller one like a 12# the same way and see if you get what your looking for, happy smoking brotha

Also I check for softness and flexibility still when I pick out a brisket.

I sure would like to find a place where I can get a Choice 10-14 pounder. Cash and Carry stocks choice, but they are all 17 pounds or higher. Wal-Mart has 10-14 pound packers but they are Select. I have never tried one of them.

Thanks for all the input brothers. I am happy with the way the Brisket turned out. I was just surprised it took that long to cook. Thanks again everyone.

[Bludawg]

Don't let the Select Grade scare you off! Some of the best briskets I ever cooked where Select. I think you just got a stubborn one. I got to ask was the pit temp 300 or the grate temp 300 it makes a huge difference. I only go off the grate temp that's where the cooking is happening. It looks as though your efforts reaped a nice reward. 11 hrs for a 17 lb packer, that is about 40-45 min a lb still not bad sure beats 18 or 26 hrs at lower temps. I just noticed you started that off in a pan that could have contributed to the time increase as it will shield the meat from the heat taking longer to increase the temp. I toss it on the grate and wrap it a 4 hrs in a single layer of BP temp??? your guess is as good as mine

[wct]

Originally Posted by Bludawg

Don't let the Select Grade scare you off! Some of the best briskets I ever cooked where Select. I think you just got a stubborn one. I got to ask was the pit temp 300 or the grate temp 300 it makes a huge difference. I only go off the grate temp that's where the cooking is happening. It looks as though your efforts reaped a nice reward. 11 hrs for a 17 lb packer, that is about 40-45 min a lb still not bad sure beats 18 or 26 hrs at lower temps. I just noticed you started that off in a pan that could have contributed to the time increase as it will shield the meat from the heat taking longer to increase the temp. I toss it on the grate and wrap it a 4 hrs in a single layer of BP temp??? your guess is as good as mine

Hey bludawg, the 300 degrees was right at the grate measured with my et-732. I did use a pan, so that may have added a bit to the time as well.