Brisket on my Recteq - I’m making jerky...

[Beancooker]

Central AZ. Very dry, everyday. No real humidity. 3700 feet in elevation. Recteq 590. On a small back patio. Decently sheltered from wind.

So I have been smoking brisket on a little tiny Traeger for years. I have it dialed in, and it would always come out great. I would set it to 250 (I think that was the setting) and let it go. It was an old Traeger so it wasn’t a temp control, but a timer for feeding pellets. At that setting, it had about 100 degree swing. At that setting it would run down to 225-250, and up to 325 or so.

Both briskets have been brought to 50-55 degrees resting on the kitchen counter, prior to going on the smoker.
The last two briskets I have set to 225 and let it go. The first brisket stalled and I ramped up the temp because we wanted to eat before 10 pm. The temp went up to 275 for an hour or so, then up to 325 for an hour or so. Pulled it at 197 IT. It came out okay, but not great.
The second brisket went on at 225 and did fine. When it stalled I wrapped it in foil. Sat back and waited. This kept clicking along smoothly, I was busy doing something in the garage. Pulled it at 204 IT. Way too long.

The second brisket was awful. My wife is a saint, as she ate it and said it was really tasty. She was lying. It’s was really bad. After a day in the fridge, in Tupperware, it was jerky. Dry and unfit for human consumption. The dog likes a little mixed in with his food, so he has brisket for the next year.

What do you all think I am doing wrong? Too low? Too high altitude and dry to run 225? I am hesitant to run another brisket as they aren’t cheap and I keep screwing them up.
Should I try another one at 300 or 325?

Any advice would be appreciated.

 

[Dweverett]

I don't have an experience cooking at the higher elevation so can't help there but here's the link to a thread on the topic that might help.

https://www.bbq-brethren.com/forum/showthread.php?t=288671&highlight=Altitude

I just did a brisket on my 680 this week where I ran a low temp the whole time that came out fantastic. As I posted in the thread below, not sure if it was luck or technique.

https://www.bbq-brethren.com/forum/showthread.php?t=288782

Couple thoughts on what you're experiencing. I've had briskets that just never got tender. The one I did the other day was very floppy when I bought it and I've read here that's an important thing to look for.

Overall though, at my altitude both those briskets would probably have been undercooked. If a brisket is dry and tough its undercooked. If it's dry and crumbly it's over. The higher temperature it cooks at, the higher temperature it will finish. Wrapping in foil has the same impact -- makes it cook faster which gives it less time to hang out in the range where things break down and get tender, which means it has to go longer (and higher) to finish.

Which is why people recommend going by feel rather than temp -- I'm not sure how your briskets were probing which is a better indication of being done.

Going back to altitude, from reading the other threads it does sound like it's harder to get a good result than at sea level.

Good luck and as good as brisket can be, don't give up!

 

[sudsandswine]

Agree, at my altitude those were probably undercooked as well: I also wonder if you got some radiant heat off the diffuser when you bumped it up to 275 and then 300+. I try to keep my Mak at 250* or below if I’m cooking on the grate closest to the diffuser. Took a couple times were the bottom of my brisket was a little crispy before I realized what was happening. The crispy bottom was independent of the entire slice being “like jerky”.