Brisket question

[mainly_a_lurker]

Strange brisket behavior today...

I recently purchase a 1/2 cow from a local farmer.  I didn't think to specify anything about brisket (I was thinking steaks when I filled out the order form), but I did get one package labeled "Brisket Roast".  It weighed 5 1/2 lb, so I thawed it out and took a look.  It appeared to be about half of a brisket cut lengthwise, then rolled up as a roast.  I unrolled it and it looked like a nice cut with a decent fat cap on it - about 1/8", so I was pleasantly surprised and decided to smoke it yesterday.

Given the size, I figured it would take about 8-10 hours so I put in in the BS very early morning, smoked it for 4 hrs  then left it in the BS for another 4 hrs with a constant temp of 225 (boated with some apple juice).  The IT was surprisingly low still (under 100 deg), so I put it back in and took it up to 250 deg.

After 10 hrs the IT was about 115, so I put it back in for another couple hours, cranked the temp and closed the vent.  At the 12 hr mark it still had an IT of only about 130 deg (BS temp was about 260 at this point), but looked like it was drying out so I took it off.  FTC for just two hours to see what would happen.

I got some decent meat out of it - mainly from the fatter end, but the rest was dry as a bone.  Even the decent meat was not nearly as nice as past briskets though.  Thankfully I put a rack of ribs in along with it - they turned out great.

I figured that my thermometer was the problem and I probably over-cooked it, but I just tested the thermometer on a few other things and it seems to be working fine.

So, I really don't know what I did wrong.  Could this just be a bad/wrong cut of meat?  Anyone experience this before?  Or should I have left it in longer and waited for the IT to rise further?

Thanks!

[FLBentRider]

W E L C O M E  to the Forum mainly_a_lurker!

That is strange behavior.

How are you measuring the box temp?

The IT of under 100 after 8 hours sounds almost like a heating element problem.

Was there any foil involved?

You've got to be able to trust your thermometers, I would try to test it against another one with a reference sample.

[mainly_a_lurker]

Hi FLBR.

Box temp is based on the built-in thermometer, IT was from a standard meat thermometer.  My ribs turned out great, so the heating element should be fine.  They were on the top rack with the brisket below.

I did use foil - after 4 hrs of smoke I put the brisket in a aluminum container and covered with foil, with a bit of apple juice in it.

I'm going with a bad meat thermometer as the problem.   The meat was definitely not undercooked, so the temp reading from that must have been off.  I stuck it in some boiling water and it showed a correct temp, but perhaps its not displaying correctly above that.

I don't use a meat thermometer with most things, usually just when I do a brisket.  I think it's time to get a proper one though.  Good thing it was just a small brisket in there this time!

I bought my BS last fall, so I'm still learning as I go.  So far I've covered the basics - smoked various pieces of pork, beef and chicken.  Lots of fun so far.  This is the first time I've run into any difficulty, so I guess that's not too bad.

[FLBentRider]

We used to rarely cook by temp, now it seems that it is the norm.

Those chicken breasts that just came out of the oven - I'll admit I didn't check them since the thermoworks is still in the RV from the weekend.

I find that in checking the temps We overcook less of the time. And by overcook I mean - for example - past medium rare for a steak.