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.
77402
Probed like butter ready for the knife
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After slicing.
77404

[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!:thumb:

[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! :thumb:

[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:biggrin1:

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:twitch: 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]

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:biggrin1:

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:icon_smile_tongue:

[wct]

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:icon_smile_tongue:

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.

[BobM]

It looks great! :thumb:

[FireChief]

I think it looks great ! Like any other brisket, as always, it's done when it's done....

[charrederhead]

:hungry::hungry::hungry: Gimme!

[popeye]

you used a pan :shock:

[wct]

you used a pan :shock:

Well, umm, hmmmmmm, was that a pan?:icon_shy

[rcbaughn]

you used a pan :shock:

Maybe to catch every last drop of the juices? No idea, just a thought since he said that the au jus saved the drier pieces of meat from tasting dry.

[LoneStarMojo]

If you look at BigMistas HnF brisket cooks on his Weber Ranch Kettle you'll see that he uses a foil pan, if I'm not mistaken. That's why I use them as well on my HnF cooks on my Whalen King Kettle. Works great!

[wct]

Maybe to catch every last drop of the juices? No idea, just a thought since he said that the au jus saved the drier pieces of meat from tasting dry.

That is the reason why. Since I wrapped it in butcher paper, I used a pan to capture every drop of that fine liquid we all know as Au-jus.:grin:

[code3rrt]

Well I must say, the end result looks wonderful, I'd call it a home run all the way!

KC