I bought a brisket from Walmart because it was 60$, 15 lbs before trim. After trim it was 12~ish. I put my pellet smoker at 225 and then applied my rub while my smoker was doing its thing. Put it on fat cap down at 10am, it hit the 165 temp stall at 5 hours in so I wrapped it up in butcher paper and used some of the fat that rendered down in a separate tray to drizzle on the brisket. Left it in there and my probes said 201 and 205 at 8PM. Took it off and let it rest for 3 hours wrapped up in a towel. Opened it up and i barely had to press down and it was oozing with juice, had a nice smoke ring, all that. Only that it wasn’t as pink as I’ve seen in videos, the meat was tender as hell but it was extra salty. We are talking about pucker your lips salty. Maybe I should have used less rub, put the temp at 200 or let it rest longer. I have no idea, thoughts anyone? Please help 😅
by Checkforcrack
33 Comments
Too much rub and the smoke didn’t have time to penetrate the meat.
If you’re using a pellet grill a smoke tube works wonders
If you want a smoke ring don’t use paper. It looks like the meat got steamed in the paper in terms of color and texture.
Why fat cap down? Also I have seen steaks that have been frozen twice get that color. Maybe that’s why it was on sale.
Must have added too much salt in the rub. The only difference i do in technique is to wrap it after it breaks through the stall, around +170, this give the bark a better texture and is less likely to fall off in the wrap.
Your drippings contained a ton of salt that you just added back to the meat
Letting it smoke through the stall instead of right at the stall will give you a smokier flavor. It takes longer but I find I have better results doing it this way. Also I find putting it in the smoker straight from the frig gives a better smoke ring. The mad scientist bbq YouTuber did an experiment. He found wet and cold beef get more of a smoke ring. As far as the salt, you just have to adjust your seasoning for next time. Good luck and happy smoking!
What was your rub? I usually dry-brine at least 24 hours, sometimes 2-3 days, with a heavy sprinkling of kosher salt. I never measure when dry brining. Then when I smoke the brisket, I use mustard for a binder, but don’t think it really matters if/what you use.
My rub is COARSE ground pepper to Salt to Garlic Powder, 2:1:2, by weight. Usually I use Kosher again, sometimes I’ll swap the Kosher for Lawry’s Seasoned Salt. But its important to do it by weight, because salt grind level makes a huge difference on the amount of salt you add. All in, I wind up about 3TBS of rub per pound. and honestly, I doubt it would even hold much more than that.
If I were to skip the dry brine (I won’t), I’d make it equal parts salt to pepper to Garlic powder, by weight.
Hard to imagine over salting a big cut like brisket but this is where making your own rubs and controlling the salt content comes in handy. For brisket I do favour the classic salt, pepper and garlic, I use 2 parts pepper, one part kosher salt and half a part garlic powder. Feel free to season a day ahead and let sit in the fridge.
Form the lack of smoke ring, I’ve always heard pellet grills don’t generate as much smoke as live fire methods but I’ve never used one personally. I’m sure people will recommend you look into smoke tubes and the like.
Finally, don’t wrap at temp but wrap based on how you like the bark. 5 hours seems a little short but that depends on each cook.
A 12lb brisket hit 165 after 5 hours? 🤔
Seems fast when you say the smoker was at 225.
I’ve found the best luck with my pellet to do an overnight smoke, I’ll use oil and rub and set the pellet at 180 at around 9/10 and let it go all night. In the morning, I’ll wake up, wrap, and then put it to 225 and let it go with a probe in it until it’s done.
Seems to do ok for the most part without drying out, and it gets enough smoke in the meat to get some flavor. Now not as much as I’d like, but I’d take the convenience.
You wrapped too early. I typically don’t wrap until closer to 180, but it’s more of a look/feel thing rather than a temperature specific thing. Also when cooking a brisket on a pellet grill, I typically let it go at 200 for 6-8 hours and then start bumping up temps until I get to 275. That will push you through the stall. I also don’t wrap my peeler grill briskets until the rest, I will occasionally foil boat them though if it is extra stubborn.
At 225 let it roll for 8 hours at least for the bark to form before you wrap. Your whole cook was 10 hours, not enough time.
I think you did everything right except for the smoking piece! Either you weren’t using enough pellets to get the smoke needed, don’t have the right airflow in your smoker or something happened to the element and it’s not burning the pellets properly. It’s not where you bought the meat, you seasoned it well, wrapped it at a good temp and cooked it to the right temp after the wrap. It just looks like you cooked it with no/very little smoke.
How did it taste? Looks like pot roast so probably got braised or steamed or something in there , just my guess
Looks like you didn’t smoke it.
I can’t even imagine how much salt you had on your brisket to be overly salty. That’s a huge cut of meat and to get it too salty is an accomplishment.
As far as smoke flavor, you may have wrapped too soon, that’s my only guess. Wait until you have your bark the way you like it then wrap. Either that or your smoker just doens’t put out much smoke, which can be an issue with some pellet smokers. If thats the case, just get a smoke tube and add it to the chamber.
Too much salt in the rub, pouring the rendered fat (which already contains concentrated salt and smoke flavor from drippings) back over the brisket can amplify saltiness a lot, Walmart brisket quality, lack of smoke ring from wrapping too early.
Myself. I fire up my smoker (offset), then I pull the meat from the fridge, rinse with ice cold water, pat dry apply my dry rub. Place my old pie tin with 100% apple juice or Cherry Coke in it and walk away for an hour. I also smoke through the stall getting a deep smoke ring and smoke flavor. I don’t have a specific time for wrapping I do it by the look of the meat and the feel. If it’s harder than my pecker in the morning than I waited too long. This is something everyone who runs a smoker should have!
https://preview.redd.it/kw4kxkbg6n0g1.jpeg?width=750&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=7163d2b3c996bc8c349517cb4b4a458f2dcb24e7
Two things, coming from someone who used to compete in Texas. I’ve cooked tons of brisket. Make your own rubs, first and foremost to control your salt. Secondly put your smoker up to 275 to get a more pronounced bark. If you want really crazy bark, foil boat it but I always wrap in butcher paper with 1/2 cup of rendered fat.
You bought a “Deal”. Start there and work your way forward.
When I want to go hog wild on salt, I like to get dry brine it over night. Helps diffuse the saltiness. Otherwise, add salt separately from the rub.
I always put the brisket in the smoker when it’s cold. More smoke flavor, better smoke ring.
Personally, you wrapped it too early. I typically don’t do anything until I’m out of the stall and the bark is set. Usually around 175ish
Fat side up next time. And another tip. Try stair stepping it. I like to warm it up at 200-225 for an hour or 2 then go to 250 till it hits the stall. Once it does bump to 265-270 to push it through.
I don’t even need any details, just by looking at it, cook was too fast. Re calibrate your thermostat.
If it was tender and had a good flavor (except for the saltiness) I’d say it wasn’t a failure. Maybe the gray color was the result of too much salt, you basically brined the meat. You used kosher salt, not iodized salt, correct? I put my homemade rub on the night before as others have said, and my salt to sugar ratio is about 1:2 (I use Turbinado sugar) plus spices.
You are cutting it WRONG, too Cut against the grain, not with it.
Lower temps help with bark on a pellet grill. More pepper and less salt. I wrap in the 180s F.
I Just pulled a 16 pounder off after 18 hours then rested for 4.
One look. Too hot
Did you boil that thing?
You were way too hot.
Check the temp sensor in your smoker…. You say 225 but that cook went super quick for that much meat.
The cryovac looks loose around that roast. Make sure they’re tight against the meat. I would have skipped this particular one. The one above it looks proper.
Just a heads up, but loose cryovac like that is the first sign that meat is beginning to spoil. Bacteria in the meat is giving off gasses and will eventually make the vacuum seal bag all puffed up.