Any problems with doing a brisket really slow?

freakaccident · June 29, 2013, 09:49:07 PM

If I were to wrap it in foil with some apple juice in the pouch could this make it mushy for as long as it will be in the Bradley?

I can't spray it all night but I don't want it to dry out or make it mushy in foil. At 185* the water bowl won't be evaporating very fast. I guess I can close the vent as much as possible to hold in moisture and see what happens. Any opinions?

freakaccident · June 29, 2013, 09:59:45 PM

I covered the drip pan diverter thing that diverts drippings to the bowl in foil so that it acts as kind of a pan. I sprayed quite a bit of apple juice on it and it seems to steam up nicely. Hopefully since it is so close to the heating element anything that lands on it will produce moisture. Time will tell.

Doesn't look dark enough to me honestly. I'm considering kicking on the smoke generator for a couple more hours.

First pic is of foil and second is of the brisket. I know it looks smokey but I think it's the apple juice steam. Smoke generator is off. 7 hours in.

freakaccident · June 29, 2013, 11:11:00 PM

8 hours into cooking:

So I decided to cook the meat probe in the oven at 350* as suggested. I put it in for about 45 minutes. Still broken.

When I put the probe back into the meat it did not go in very easily. This brisket is not getting very tender even after 8 hours. At this point I am going to bed. I will check it again in about 7 hours. Wish me luck.

freakaccident · June 29, 2013, 11:56:43 PM

Ok so just before going to bed I noticed that the cabinet wasn't heating up again so I decided to wrap the brisket in foil and dump a bunch of apple juice in the pouch as previously suggested.

I also decided to take the meat temp probe from my Auber which I had been using for cabinet temp and put it in the brisket with the auber hooked up just to see what the actual meat temp was. Just using the Auber as a thermometer I am showing 140* IT after 11 hours. Much better than the Maverick's broken probe. This also tells me that I am going to be right on schedule. I am probably only looking at an actual 2-3 hours of smoke because the generator isn't advancing pucks automatically. I hope it turns out ok.

tl;dr. In the oven at 195* because of problems with the Bradley and probes.

Problems so far: Bradley not advancing puck automatically but the button works, bad Auber PID cabinet temp probe, bad maverick meat probe, AND a bad Bradley heating element! This brisket has been the biggest PITA ever! >:(

freakaccident · June 30, 2013, 12:32:51 AM

And once again an issue! My oven isn't even close to accurate and it fluctuates from 179-224 when it cycles. I'm trying to keep it at about 200 but it's all over the map. FML!

freakaccident · June 30, 2013, 01:16:15 AM

Ok. I have given up on the oven. I watched it go from 173* to 257* in one cycle with it set at 200*. POS oven.

So I have hooked up the Auber to the Bradley and using the meat probe I have the Auber set at 200*. I have no way of monitoring the meat temp but I do know that it was at 144* before I put it back in the Bradley and with the Auber set at 200* it will never go over that unless THAT probe breaks or the Earth melts.

In addition it is still foil wrapped and drenched in apple juice.

With all of the problems tonight I will be lucky if I hit and hold 195 for an hour before I pull it to FTC.

Why are these stupid probes so prone to failure?

freakaccident · June 30, 2013, 02:36:10 AM

So now I have 6 hours in foil with apple juice at 200* left. When I FTC should I re-wrap it in foil or just drain the pouch and wrap her up in the towel?

devo · June 30, 2013, 09:27:11 AM

Quote from: freakaccident on June 29, 2013, 09:59:45 PM
I covered the drip pan diverter thing that diverts drippings to the bowl in foil so that it acts as kind of a pan. I sprayed quite a bit of apple juice on it and it seems to steam up nicely. Hopefully since it is so close to the heating element anything that lands on it will produce moisture. Time will tell.

Doesn't look dark enough to me honestly. I'm considering kicking on the smoke generator for a couple more hours.

First pic is of foil and second is of the brisket. I know it looks smokey but I think it's the apple juice steam. Smoke generator is off. 7 hours in.

Well Sir you have just done the biggest #1 mistake...........NEVER EVER COVER YOUR DRIP PAN> >>>>>can you spell FIRE FIRE FIRE :o

GusRobin · June 30, 2013, 10:40:14 AM

Quote from: devo on June 30, 2013, 09:27:11 AM

Well Sir you have just done the biggest #1 mistake...........NEVER EVER COVER YOUR DRIP PAN> >>>>>can you spell FIRE FIRE FIRE :o

Agree - the drip pan is there to divert the grease into the pan and away from the burner. Altering its ability to do it as designed increases the chances of a fire.

If you want to catch the drippings, I put a couple of small metal bread pans on a rack below the meat. I start out with a bit of beef broth (or your favorite liquid) in the pans. Place them on the rack so there is some space between them to allow heat flow. You can use one bigger pan but then you block more of the heat.

freakaccident · July 02, 2013, 10:03:07 PM

There were no fires. I put holes in the foil to allow a little bit out.

Everything worked out great in the end. I don't think I trimmed enough fat off initially. It was delicious anyway! Here are some pics of the finished product.

jjmoney · July 02, 2013, 10:30:52 PM

By necessity I have learned not to worry a whole lot about the post-smoke phase of cooking a brisket. I do everything up in the spirit of Pachanga and leave a brisket overnight with a full stack of pucks at 225° and a full pan of hot water. Then sometime during the next day I finish as long as necessary wrapped up in parchment and foil (I avoid cooking in aluminum as much as possible). I may even try a roaster pan and let it braise to finish on one of my next briskets - the flavor is all still there. The brisket is soaking juicy when it's done en Pachillote, and if you can save that juice, you have yourself a money sauce/gravy base. If you don't use a pan in the Bradley, you can dry a single brisket out a bit, and if you do use a pan, you're making smoky water unless you only use it for the oven phase, in which case you might as well just move it back into the oven. I hope I have not angered the brisket gods by my adulteration of the all-pit or crutch methods. I just can't do 2 briskets at once with my family's rate of consumption, and find that a night of smoke gives plenty of flavor and bark.

I have found that the stock Bradley often has a hard time getting to temperature with a load, and can take over 12 hours to reach 225° with a brisket, so you could probably just turn the temp to max and leave it hot smoking overnight without worrying about overheating, and then finish using an alternate heat source. You can definitely do it all the way in the Bradley, but there's no rule saying that you absolutely have to, and there are other ways to skin the cat here.

My Auber temperature element is pretty crusty on the wire end; with any electronic probe you have to watch out for getting it wet. Hopefully my encrustation will guard against the kinds of issues you ran into with your gear.

Do a few spiced briskets a la Pachanga in the Bradley and you will find that the whole cabinet starts to smell spicy and future cooks of anything take on more body of flavor than when you first smoked in it.

Pro tip: hold the Alt key and type 0176 to get a degree symbol.

Edited to add: next time you only need to cover half of the bottom with foil, double up some heavy duty foil and wrap it around the top of the back half only. It will hold firm when you insert the vent pan. And it won't hurt anything to keep a fire extinguisher in your smoke area.

freakaccident · July 02, 2013, 10:38:59 PM

Thanks for the tips. This brisket even with all of the nightmare that came with it ended up being one of my best. If I trimmed it a bit better? It was still juicy and amazing. I actually just finished a sandwich from it tonight and it was still awesome.

195° ;)

jjmoney · July 02, 2013, 10:54:05 PM

Do a hair of the dog brisket soon, and try and view the process in ways that simplify it by looking at the basics: flavoring, smoking, and baking or braising to soften the meat up into its final IT. Once you get a good smoke bark, you're not really adding much of anything noticeable to the meat by leaving it in the Bradley. Also, if you start early enough, you have enough time to leave it in a conventional oven after you shut the oven off and it will have the same faux cambro effect of the FTC method as it slowly cools down. Heck, you can even leave your oven at 170 or so for a good couple hours if you have everything all sealed in with wrap or I suspect even in a sealed roaster. I believe that the true old school method is all pit all the way, but this almost certainly leaves everything a bit drier than when you do the final cook under wraps and save the juice.

freakaccident · July 02, 2013, 11:02:49 PM

Quote from: jjmoney on July 02, 2013, 10:54:05 PM
Do a hair of the dog brisket soon, and try and view the process in ways that simplify it by looking at the basics: flavoring, smoking, and baking or braising to soften the meat up into its final IT. Once you get a good smoke bark, you're not really adding much of anything noticeable to the meat by leaving it in the Bradley. Also, if you start early enough, you have enough time to leave it in a conventional oven after you shut the oven off and it will have the same faux cambro effect of the FTC method as it slowly cools down. Heck, you can even leave your oven at 170 or so for a good couple hours if you have everything all sealed in with wrap or I suspect even in a sealed roaster. I believe that the true old school method is all pit all the way, but this almost certainly leaves everything a bit drier than when you do the final cook under wraps and save the juice.

I actually don't recall if I added this in when this all was happening but to recap; I actually tried to put it in the oven after I lost my Maverick meat probe. It didn't go well. The temp swings in the oven were enormous. Over a 50° swing when set at 200°. So my oven is a POS and not worthy of macaroni caserole.

All in all with the apple juice spraying it wasn't in the least bit dry. Even three days later it is amazing on a sandwich.

Doing it again I would try a mustard rub for a change of flavor and less breakdowns for my sanity. A little more salt in the rub would have been nice too. The bark just needed a bit more.

I was surprised that after 4 hours of FTC it was still scalding hot.

EDIT: Oh and I did try to bat my eyes at Maverick and Auber to get new probes. I was directed to the links on their websites for replacements. Worth a shot!

On another note: I have an expensive computer case made by CoolerMaster. I accidentally broke part of the case. My fault entirely. I emailed them and asked where I could buy the part explaining that I had broken it myself and that it wasn't a defect. A week later the part showed up in the mail. They sent me the entire front of the case. Customer service does still exist.

KyNola · July 03, 2013, 07:24:29 AM

I'm willing to bet that part of your oven issue was due at least in part to the foil covering the drip tray. You were trapping the heat underneath the foil and not letting it rise through the vents in the tray. As for "there was no fire", consider yourself fortunate. Bullet dodged.......this time. That being said, it's your Bradley so do whatever you choose.