Hey all, looking for some help diagnosing a brisket that went sideways. This was my first cook on a new Traeger Woodridge Pro (with trailer). I’ve cooked briskets before on wood-burning smokers, but this one was a big miss.
What I did:
• Store-bought trimmed brisket (didn’t trim it myself), salt & pepper only
• Started cook around 10:40 PM
• Ran 225°F with Super Smoke
• Used a water pan (always used one on offsets, thought it would help here)
• Wrapped in butcher paper around 185–188°F (overslept a bit after the stall — should’ve wrapped sooner)
• Bumped pit temp to 250°F
• Pulled around 6–6:30 AM at 202°F internal
• Vented 2–3 minutes, then wrapped in foil and rested ~1–1.5 hours until it reached ~145°F, then sliced
Result:
The entire brisket — flat and point — was very tough. Not dry, just tight and chewy.
by Nilknarf23
11 Comments
We need a pre cooked photo to see if the store over trimmed the brisket.
My guess it’s due to an over trimmed choice brisket, aka no fat left
There doesn’t look like a lot of fat on top of it, and very little rendered down inside it from what i can see (i may be wrong as only this angle to work with). Was it decent quality beef?
Sounds undercooked. I dont pull off temp but rather when I get no resistance probing the meat. Some briskets just need to be cooked longer
I would suggest to triple check the probe calibration.
Also temps are guidelines along with color. Maybe you need to take to 203, 204 etc. just use a probe to check tenderness
There’s only one answer to a tough brisket – undercooked. Dry brisket is not the same as tough brisket. Fat content, trimming and fat cap have nothing to do with it. You needed to cook it longer.
Sounds slightly under cooked if it was still plenty moist.
Also, sometimes resting down to 145 too fast can do this. Maybe plan on twice as long rest next time wrapped in a couple towels to slow it down?
It looks very dry. My bet is over trimmed and not a great piece of meat to start with.
Your late wrap is NOT the problem. Wrapping is entirely optional. I do the foil boat, which is only a half wrap.
It turned our chewy because it wasn’t done cooking. You dont pull it off based on temperature. It can be a guide, sure… but you dont pull it off until you probe it and it easily slides in line a warm probe through butter.
was it probe tender? Some briskets are done at 195F and some are done at 210F.
How large was the brisket. 8 hours start to finish seems really fast.
What was the quality of the meat. Did the point have nice prominent marbling. Was there a quarter-inch of fat on top of the point when you bought it?
I would guess without know anything about the way and time it was cooked
It should of been wrapped in foil for a few hrs to make it tender on the pit
What was the internal temp when you took it off?