I threw it in at 8:30am, wrapped it at 175° (I know it should have been wrapped at 165° but I was eating dinner) pulled it out at 2:30am once it came to 203°. Wrapped it in a towel and threw in my yeti cooler overnight. It is tough AF and really disappointing. I spritzed with ACV every hour after the initial first 4 hours. This is my first time smoking a brisket 😒
by Cryssyl
32 Comments
What temperature was the smoker set at?
I thought this was biltong at first
Threw it in at 8:30 am and pulled it out at 2:30am?? Is that correct?
Part of the issue is it looks like you cut it with the grain rather than against it
Did you really smoke it for 16 hours? Or was that a typo?
Damn, man that sucks. Sorry for your loss. Mad props to be someone who shows their less-than-perfect cooks though.
As far as figuring out what went wrong, not sure. Did you cook this at a high temp? I could be wrong, but 18 hours for an 8 pound brisket seems a little long. Maybe the ACV caused it to dry out somehow…
Don’t pull based on temperature.
Probe tender.
Yeah that thing looks like jerky man
Grind it up and make brisket chili.
What was the outside temperature? How long did it take you to spritz? Because there’s no way you smoked it from 830am to 230am next day.
Reason I’m asking is because you are letting all that heat out again, and again. Probably took forever to push over Stall.
Cut it across the grain, not with it.
Briskets real damn expensive to experiment with. Did you cook on the top shelf ? I tried cooking on my father in laws pellet and I think they get crazy hot spots and dry stuff out faster than a stick burner.
I started with pork butt and ribs until I got the hang of it. Tried a few briskets and wasn’t super happy with them… again, too expensive for me to fuck up.
Beef ribs seem to be way easier for me to “nail”
Good luck and keep practicing.
You cooked to temp, not texture. That’s your problem.
Did you let the temp come down at all before blanket/rest? These things are heat sinks and it will continue to cook/ dry out if you don’t give it some time between cooking and an insulated rest.
Two things.
Where did you probe? I pull it when the flat’s as close to perfect feeling as possible.
Second, you mention temp but not feeling. It’s variable in the temp, really it’s a range. When probing you’re doing so for feeling more so than temp. You want the probe to feel like you’re pushing it into a fresh peanut butter jar.
Leave in probe gets me to the right temp range. From there I’m probing until I’m happy with the feel.
Chop it up and make brisket quesadillas. Nachos. Or chili
You have a means ass smoke ring. You can at least smile for that.
Man I feel for ya brisket’s an expensive cut to mess up (been there). I’m no bbq champion but I’ve definitely come aboard the “probe tender” style, rather than relying on temps. When you can sink that probe in there with little resistance pull it, and rest. That’s a long smoke for a lil 8 lb brisket.
Make beef stew, shred it and make flautas, make beef and barley soup, slice thinly and make beef sandwiches.
Bigger briskets are easier.
Way to high of a temp plus way to long. I dont know about the wrapping it over night thing either. Ive never heard of that but I dont think that helped either.
What temp? Did you save the fat you trimmed and put into a separate pan to render ? Did you rest ? What temp did you pull it at ?
Hey op, here are a few ideas I can think of. Hope they help. Look forward to the next one being more enjoyable.
1) Problem – Altitude – What altitude are you at? If you are high up, then the boiling point is at a lower temperature. at sea level boiling point is 212f, so at 203f still a ways away, but if you are somewhere high up, then boiling point can be 203f and you essentially boiled the water out of it.
Solution – Pull earlier and hot hold. Pull it, give it 20-30 minutes, then you can put it in oven or warmer. I don’t mind 175 so it will be hot enough to continue rendering collagen and fat. Wrap with tallow, foil, and saran wrap so you don’t lose moisture.
2) Looks like there is still internal fat, this can be addressed with hot holding. the fat and collagen will continue to render. Keeping above 170f should help with this at a fast enough rate.
3) When you say smoker was 250f where is that measured? grate level near the meat or elsewhere? It might have been cooler or hotter where the meat was. Would be worth a check.
4) Cooking temp, you can start at 225 or 250, but I find that keeping my smoker at least 75f warmer is necessary. I have an offset. so if you are going to operate at 250, then once your internal meat temp reaches 170-175, I would increase the temp to 275f. Keeping the grill temp close to the meat temp makes it take much longer.
5) Add a water pan if there isn’t one currently. If you are in a dry atmosphere this can help a little.
6) I noticed you wrapped in butchers paper, you can, wrap once you are happy with bark. You can also try a foil boat method. then wrap for the hot hold.
7) Sometimes its just a tough piece of meat and there isn’t anything you can do about it.
How many probes do you use? I once accidentally landed my probe right in the fat and it threw my temp to shit. I always use two now just to be safe.
I’m so far from being an expert it’s insane..but I can tell you what I did before I spent money on brisket. I just smoked cheap stuff. Hot dogs, sausages , brats, cabbage, corn ..just to practice holding a temp . Did that for months. Played with the charcoal, the pellets. Hot and fast lot and slow. Slow and hot. Fast and slow. Didn’t matter. I made sure the most expensive thing I bought when I learned to smoke was the beer I was drinking. I learned that everyone has a different opinion on brisket…or meat in general. Some are very helpful. Some aren’t. Read to your knowledge level, then advance. Forget and re learn. Smoking, grilling, cooking, at the end of the day should be something you do for fun. You’ll learn it, and it will taste good.
Also put that on some nachos, in chili, in a burrito, slather it with hot sauce. It will be tasty
Way too long of a cook for 8lb. No need to spray every hour. No need to wrap at 165.
Wrap when bark is set if you want.
Next time try foil boat method. Look up Chuds BBQ and Mad Scientists BBQ videos.
It’s ready when its probe tender.
First off you’re slicing it wrong. You need to slice against the grain not with it.
Also do it indirect heat.
Way way over cooked.
Probably was done somewhere between the 8th to 10th hour.
I average 1.15hrs per pound. Some go faster some go longer. I will start at 225f for a few hours then bump it up to 250f until it hits the stall and then bump it up again to 275f to push through the stall to the finish.
These days i tend to pull the roast off the smoker at around 185f and then i coat it in tallow and wrap it tightly in tin foil and then do a long hot hold / rest.
I just did one today. Was 10lbs post trim. Put it on around 1130am , temp set at 225f. When the roast reached an internal temp of around 165f i bumped up the heat to 250f and let it ride until the internal temp of the roast hit 185f, which happened around 10pm. It’s now resting in a warmer set to 150f and will stay there until 1130am’ish tomorrow.
I care more about taste than tenderness. I think tenderness is overrated. It’s not that I don’t like it tender, but I have had lots of tender brisket that doesn’t taste great. I have also made some brisket that is not tender that taste great.
I don’t have pellet smoker experience but I’d do have 18 years experience on stick burners and charcoal smokers. Here’s my 2 cents worth
#1 – Don’t be in a hurry. Thats the only real way to mess up your brisket.
#2 – keep temp around 250. I used to do 225 but that takes a long time. I have done 275 but it’s risky.
#3 – I don’t spritz but I do have a water pan in the smokers.
#4 – you’ll find that your friends and family like your brisket better than you do. It’s probably better than any BBQ at 99% of restaurants
# 5 – Keep practicing. Only change one thing at a time.
Nice smoke ring!
Cooked waayyy too long for that size. You cooked a small brisket for the length of time you would do a large brisket. Should’ve cooked it at like 225-250 for like 8 hours it would’ve been great
Personally I love the size of that brisket when I can find it, much less hassle.
Opening the door and spritzing every hour may also be a problem. You regularly fluctuate your temps while also cooling down the meat with a spritz. This will add a lot of unnecessary time to your cook and won’t allow the fat to properly render. Trust the process. I run my smoker around 250-300, after 2-3 hours, check it for bark development. Lightly spritz around the burnt parts, this usually happens on the edges/towards the heat source. I’ll check the bottom to make sure it’s not overcooking on one side, if it is I’ll have a plan to flip it sometime. Look for pooling on the top. Throughout the whole cook, if there’s juice pooling on the top, lift it from the side to dump it. Just keep going until you get the bark you’re looking for. Then wrap in foil/butcher paper. Cook it until it feels soft as fuck with a probe. With enough cooks you’ll learn to judge tenderness by feel. If you’re going by temp, the hotter you’re cooking, the higher your brisket temp will be when you pull it. I let mine rest in a cooler with a bunch of towels until my wife is done waiting. Also, the better the trim the easier/more consistent your cooks will be. Get a really sharp boning knife and watch a few YouTube videos on trimming. Don’t drink too much too early!