Brisket help - a little dry?

M

Montana Jack

Knows what a fatty is.
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Last couple flats on Shirley have great flavor and tender, but not as moist as I'd like. Injecting before cooking at 275, wrapping in butcher paper at 175, and pulling and resting at 200+. Water pan in smoker and spritzing after 3 hours. Any thoughts on how to make jucier?
 
How was it probing when you pulled it? Temps for reference I usually pull it when it probes like butter regardless of the final temp.
 
^^^ disregard temp, kinda.

Whenever I cook briskets at 275* as the median temp on my stick burner, they generally probe tender in the thickest part of the flat around 210*, sometimes more. I use my ThermoWorks thermometer as the probe, which is why I know the finish temp, but I stopped giving the temp any consideration when I pull. If I had to guess you're undercooked.
 
possibly cook it a lil Longer and/or buy better briskets.......how long did you rest it?
 
As has been said above, it's not time and temp, it's how the meat feels when probed. We don't know how lean that flat was when you got it or when you put it in the smoker, in other words how much fat there was to render off to flavor and keep the meat juicy. The flats I've seen have been pretty lean, so I'd wrap it tight in heavy duty, wide aluminum foil instead of butcher paper to trap in whatever melting fat there is, the collagen as it breaks down, and the remaining moisture in the meat. If I wanted to smoke only a flat, like maybe because my smoker space can't handle a whole packer brisket, I'd still by the packer and separate the flat from the point myself so I could control the amount of fat left on the flat by how I trimmed it.
 
With BP I wrap fat cap up. This has the flat sitting in juices. I think it helps a little. Seeing that you wrap at 175 your bark should be set enough to hold up.

Sent from my SM-G955U using Tapatalk
 
Try wrapping earlier, 160ish. Forget the spritzer. Take the thick of the flat to 208-212 range and probe for feel.

You undercooked your brisket (unless it fell apart when you were slicing).
 
Montana Jack said:
Last couple flats on Shirley have great flavor and tender, but not as moist as I'd like. Injecting before cooking at 275, wrapping in butcher paper at 175, and pulling and resting at 200+. Water pan in smoker and spritzing after 3 hours. Any thoughts on how to make jucier?
Click to expand...

at 175 it had probably already exited the stall and lost a lot of moisture.

try wrapping at 140-145 and ill bet it wont come out dry.
 
Thanks all, will try wrapping earlier and pay more attention to feel, maybe pulling at higher temp.
 
Montana Jack said:
Thanks all, will try wrapping earlier and pay more attention to feel, maybe pulling at higher temp.
Click to expand...

This is not a path to success.

There is no need to wrap at all, and wrapping earlier isn’t going to magically cure the problem. You can dry out brisket wrapped in foil or even submerged in liquid. That is why injecting isn’t helping you either. If you want to inject for flavor, go ahead, but don’t expect injecting or wrapping to keep the meat fibers juicy. You were heading in the right direction with paying more attention to feel, but pulling at a higher temp, or any temp target, is a not going to help.

Try this. Start the cook hotter, 275-300 for full packers. Get to the 175-180 range like you did, and then wrap (or not, but it may help to keep the variables to a minimum until you figure it out). Now lower the smoker temp to 225-250 ish and let the connective tissues break down without over heating and drying the meat. Forget pulling temp. You pull based on feel only. Then give it a good long rest in a cooler or holding oven. It will continue to tenderize. If anything, a longer cook/hold with a lower max internal temperature will give you a juicier product than rushing it and pulling at higher temps.
 
I cook hundreds of pounds of briskets on my Shirley all the time. They are always juicy. The main thing you need to do is just be patient and wait until that thing probes tender. probably more tender than you many think. Then let it rest.

We cook hot. we spritz. We wrap in foil. We add a baste liquid to the foil. But all that isn't necessary, its just what we do.
 
m-fine said:
LOL! Have you EVER cooked ANYTHING yourself? It seems your cooking experience is limited to watching YouTube.
Click to expand...

Lol I've posted more brisket pics than you ever have, since your brisket pic post rate is zero.
 
I disagree with both EL and M-fine. Neither one knows anything about brisket (joking).

KISS. Keep doing what you're doing but maybe wrap a bit earlier and pull closer to 210/and/or when its probing easier than you likley think. It took me awhile to get accustomed to how buttery you want it to probe, i felt like i was overcooking it. Then rest 1-hr+.

You'll get it. report back..
 
m-fine said:
Try this. Start the cook hotter, 275-300 for full packers. Get to the 175-180 range like you did, and then wrap (or not, but it may help to keep the variables to a minimum until you figure it out). Now lower the smoker temp to 225-250 ish and let the connective tissues break down without over heating and drying the meat. Forget pulling temp. You pull based on feel only. Then give it a good long rest in a cooler or holding oven. It will continue to tenderize. If anything, a longer cook/hold with a lower max internal temperature will give you a juicier product than rushing it and pulling at higher temps.
Click to expand...

pjtexas1 said:
M-fine... Stop giving away ninja's brisket secrets. :heh:

Sent from my SM-G955U using Tapatalk
Click to expand...

That is really close to the ninja method. I wonder if he's a member of the league of shadows. :spy:

el luchador said:
I will guarantee that op uses the method m-fine suggested and the brisket comes out even worse.

Imho


Here is a video that has tested it
https://youtu.be/DK2ugDR-G2I
Click to expand...

Fun experiment. Seems to make sense one was wrapped too early the other too late. The goldilocks brisket won?

M-fine laid out a very successful brisket technique. I know because it's close to what I do. One of the keys is to finish at a lower temp. This gives a large window for being perfect. It also prevents the perfectly done brisket from carrying over while holding. The guy in the video didn't vent so off a hot pit and into a cooler overcooked it and it dried out. I finish so low that the paper wrapped brisket goes straight into the hold and doesn't carryover.

The hold is the second part. These briskets finish in the 190s and then get held still wrapped for about about 4 hrs or more. This makes for a very tender and moist brisket. The added benefit is timing is easy with hours of cushion time.

Oh and I'm not scared to show my flat






 
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