What happened?

Bourbon · June 13, 2005, 03:00:15 AM

Hello, y'all. Been reading this forum for a while, and in doing so, had to have a BS. Had been smoking w/ a generic charcoal grill; worked, but what a PITA.

So far I've done a pork shoulder and now a brisket. Pork turned out pretty good, but the brisket......

Not sure what I did wrong, but I figured y'all could figure it out. Bought a 12lb beef brisket from Wal-Mart, 'bout $1.28/lb. Had a good fat cap, I thought. It wouldn't fit as it was, so I cut it in half so a I had a smaller, flatter piece and a larger, rounder piece. Rubbed it down w/spices and mustard approx 12 hrs. Took it out of the fridge @ 9:00 PM. Preheated BS @ 10:00. Put beef in smoker @ 11:15 PM. Buncha bacon on top rack, smaller piece next, then larger piece. Smoked w/ hickory for 4 hours, changed water at 3:00 AM. Cooked at about 205-210 until internal temp read 185, about 2:00 PM or 15 hours later, vent 1/8 open. At that point was waiting for my brother-in-law to show up w/ the apple juice so I could FTC it. He was running late, so I turned off the BS until he got there with the meat still in there for about 1 hour (meat fell to about 175). Then FTC'd them for about 3.5 hours.

So, it tasted good, but wasn't very tender. Couldn't pull it w/a fork, anyways. Seemed like there was still a lot of fat holding it all together and was tough to get through. Seems like the fat should've broken down and "liquified" after 15 hours. A lot of fat definately came out of the meat, as they shrunk considerably and the drip bowl was full of fat.

So, was it just a bad piece of meat? Sould I have rotated the pieces at all? I've cooked the same 'Wal-Mart' brisket in a crock pot wrapped in aluminun foil and it came out great. Any ideas would be appreciated.

I love the BS, it's so easy to use. When I figure out how to post pics on here, I'll post some of the "hut" I made for it so I can leave it out all night w/out worrying about rain. Worked well, I think.

Anyways, first-time poster here, but I love reading them as I've learned a bunch and I'm sure I'll be hanging around here for a while. My wife wants me to be able to "Make ribs better than Chili's"; shouldn't be too hard.[;)]

Chez Bubba · June 13, 2005, 04:19:06 AM

<blockquote id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote">Originally posted by Bourbon
 My wife wants me to be able to "Make ribs better than Chili's";[;)]
<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote">Dude, if that's the quota she's set, you're gettin' off real easy![;)]

http://www.chezbubba.com
Ya think next time I check into a hotel & they ask "Smoking or Non?" they would mind?

SMOKEHOUSE ROB · June 13, 2005, 04:32:54 AM

my guess is , you didnt cook long enough, 12 lbs at 205 for 15 hours is too short, once you hit your meat temp pull the probe stick it in another spot you will see the meat temp drop then wait for your meat to hit your target temp, dont be surprised if it will take another few hours,

JJC · June 13, 2005, 05:06:12 AM

Welcome, Aaron. I think Rob is right on the temp/time issue. That much brisket at that temp should take closer to 18-20 hr.

John
Newton MA

Habanero Smoker · June 13, 2005, 01:43:24 PM

I agree with Rob, you may have not positioned the probe correctly. If you have placed the probe in the thickest part of the meat, just push the probe in and out to see if the temperature drops. If so reposition the probe to the spot it records the lowest temperature and continue to cook. Though I would avoid sticking the probe in other areas of the meat, unless you did not place it in the thickest part to begin with. Poking the meat in other areas will cause you to loose juices.

If your brisket came out tough, you can slice it thin across the grain. This will make it more tender to eat.

psdubl07 · June 13, 2005, 04:52:14 PM

Aaron, in addition to the advice you've already received, there are a number of things that could have contributed to a tough brisket.
I have better luck with Choice grade briskets from a butcher than I do with ones from the supermarket which are usually Select grade. Also, I prefer to finish mine off in foil rather than FTCing it. What I mean by that is, after the smoke portion is done, or at least for the last couple hours of the cook, pull out the brisket, splash of apple juice/cider vinegar, (I use a spray bottle), then wrap it in foil and back in the smoker until an internal temp of at least 187-190. At this point you will not need to add the TC portion of FTC. Just take it out of the smoker and leave it in the foil for 10 minutes or so before opening. Slice the flat portion thin (ACROSS THE GRAIN!). The point can be pulled, but I sometimes slice it as well.

I strongly suggest you read the following article as it contains a ton of useful info on briskets. Choosing one, prepping it, smoking etc... There is also a link in it which shows you the correct way to position a probe thermometer in the flat portion.
http://www.virtualweberbullet.com/brisketselect.html

As previously mentioned, it's also a good idea to remove the probe and check the internal temp in a 2nd spot as well.

HTH

Bourbon · June 14, 2005, 03:57:19 AM

Thanks for the advise guys. I didn't check the temp in diff. spots, just the one. Maybe it wasn't in far enough. I'll definately do that next time.

psdubl07, the foil makes sense, as that's how I cook them in the crock pot and they come out great. I'll give that a shot, too.

I havn't been able to find a butcher around here. Maybe I just havn't looked hard enough. The Sam's Club and supermarket prices make it hard to look anywhere else.

Thanks again.

psdubl07 · June 14, 2005, 05:40:08 AM

Yeah, you will definitely pay more at a butcher than you will at Wal-Mart or Sam's, but you know the saying, You get what you pay for! [;)]
Some smoke-worthy items I buy from the supermarket, but briskets, ribs, or if I'm gonna grill steaks, I go to the butcher. There's a great meat market about 20 mins from my house, and it is a little more costly, but the product is outstanding and they treat me right.

It also doesn't hurt that they have the best pepperoni I've ever had!!! [:p]

nsxbill · June 14, 2005, 03:28:03 PM

The briskets and the butts are the Bradley shocase preparations as far as I am concerned. I don't wrap either while cooking, but I never exceed 205-210° even if it takes 24° to cook. I don't reposition the thermometer for my Guru. I just don't have the probe in the meat on the bottom shelf. I rotate the shelves at 4-6 hr. intervals and rotate the shelves if using multiple shelves. I always do the bacon raining down fat from above.

Brisket and butt go to 190-195°F internal temp, then FTC minimum of 2-3 hrs prior to either slicing the case of the brisket, or shredding the pork. It is when it comes off the grill and about to close up the foil enclosure that I add more liquid, not spraying while in the BS, because it drops the temp of the cabinet when you open the door.

Getting better at it every time!

The key thing I didn't do on my first brisket, because I didn't know any better, was that I now only apply smoke for max of 4hrs...the rest of the time it is just cooking like an oven for the remainder of the time with no smoke added.

Bill

There is room on earth for all God's creatures....on my plate next to the mashed potatoes.

Habanero Smoker · June 14, 2005, 04:27:16 PM

Bill,
I do mine similar to yours, but I don't (and never use) bacon. One of my many quirks[:)]

As a side note; I had the Maverick ET-73 prior to purchasing the Guru. I purchase an extra temperature probe for the ET-73, and converted it to monitor two types of meat, instead of one meat, and the cabinet temperature. The extra probe cost me $12.00. Now with the Guru, I can monitor up to three types of meat temperatures and the cabinet temperature. Sure comes in handy when you are doing more then one cut of meat, meat located in different areas of the smoker, or the same cut that may be large in size.

nsxbill · June 14, 2005, 07:44:31 PM

Habenaro,

Remember, I got the fancy one. I can monitor two Bradley Smokers at once...one probe and one clip for cabinet temp. Auxillary plug can measure two other pieces of meat in the one smoker, or shelf and meat in the other smoker. Love that Procom4 capability. Most times I only do one shelf with large pieces of meat, or hang so all of the meat at the same level. Next brisket or butt, I am going to hang in ham netting from one of Smokehouse Rob's racks and forget the shelving. I hate cleaning the darn shelves!

Bill

There is room on earth for all God's creatures....on my plate next to the mashed potatoes.

Phone Guy · June 14, 2005, 08:01:12 PM

<blockquote id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote">Originally posted by nsxbill
 Habenaro,

Remember, I got the fancy one. I can monitor two Bradley Smokers at once...one probe and one clip for cabinet temp. Auxillary plug can measure two other pieces of meat in the one smoker, or shelf and meat in the other smoker. Love that Procom4 capability.
Bill<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote">

I have not looked to hard at the Procom4. Are you saying is has more than two temp readings? Does it come with more than two probes?

nsxbill · June 14, 2005, 10:06:07 PM

Yes, and can monitor from 200 yards away from the smoker. It has a pointed probe and clip on the shelf type probe in one input. It has the same thing for the aux. plug. I have two SS BS smokers. If I have two similar loads, I can set the Procom to control 1 of the smokers and watch the temps on meat and cabinet on two of them working at once. Initially, I have to adjust the slider on the second smoker so in reflects same temp as the #1 smoker. Then I can just watch them both from the pool, or where ever.

The Raptor that can be used with both the Guru and the Procom4 turns the heat up and down on both cabinets to maintain temps. The number #1 cabinet will be spot-on. The second one will be close enough for me.

Bill

There is room on earth for all God's creatures....on my plate next to the mashed potatoes.

Habanero Smoker · June 14, 2005, 10:35:09 PM

<blockquote id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote">Originally posted by nsxbill
 Habenaro,

Remember, I got the fancy one. I can monitor two Bradley Smokers at once...one probe and one clip for cabinet temp. Auxillary plug can measure two other pieces of meat in the one smoker, or shelf and meat in the other smoker. Bill

There is room on earth for all God's creatures....on my plate next to the mashed potatoes.
<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote">
Yeah! The ProComm 4 is definately on my list. Maybe next Spring.