Fat Cap Up or Down

[Roaniecowpony]

That is the question. I dont do a lot of brisket and I decided to do this one slightly different. I usually go fat cap down and spritz/baste a few times. I did this one fat cap up per something I read, supposedly about how Aaron Franklin goes with the cap up to self baste to form bark.

Last night, I had been socializing with the neighbors til about 9:30 and had more than my share of cab. But, I was determined to get the 12lb prime packer on before going to bed. I still had to trim it too. I've done just enough briskets to know what I wanted for trimming. But a sharp knife late at night after some vino proobably wasn't the best idea. Fortunately, I got through that without bloodshed. It went on the Bull at about 10:15 pm @ 225F

It's 4:30 am, I saw that it was pretty well into the stall, so I was going to wrap. When I flipped it over to see the bare meat side, it had little to no bark. It was very "wet" from the cap running down and under. Most of the rub looked to be gone as well. I half thought about just flipping it fat cap down and finishing without wrapping. But most of this will get cut, vac pak'd and frozen anyway. So, moist is my priority. I wrapped it.

Has anyone else had lack of bark from running the fat cap up?

 

[Uncle Bob]

I find that setting the cap toward the primary heat flow to act as an insulating barrier is the best approach. Franklin has designed his offset smokers to route the heat flow up to the top of the chamber body then drawn down to the stack exit at grate level opposite the fire chamber. On pellet grills cap down in most cases is likely a better choice because of where the fire is relative to the grate.

 

[Roaniecowpony]

In the past, I've been following Harry Soo's methods for the most part.

He always puts the cap down/bare meat up and puts something under the center of the brisket to arch it up in the center to prevent pooling of the juices, which inhibits bark formation. It always worked regardless of which smoker I've used. I don't know why I put the cap up this time. I should know better than to make new decisions after a few drinks.

But, this is a great looking piece of meat and I'm sure the flavor will be great as well. I'll know soon enough, it's at 191F internal now.

 

[jfrosty27]

I have a similar cook going right now. I had a 19 lb prime packer. (Before trimming). Put it on the Bull last night at about 8:15 with the temp set at 220. I wrapped at 8:00 AM CST as it was coming out of the stall with a 175 IT. I then bumped the cooker temp up to 250. I went fat cap down all night and had a nice bark when I wrapped. It’s at about 185 right now. I estimate pulling and going into the faux cambro around noon? This is my first brisket on the 700 so I’m anxious for the outcome. Exciting!

 

[Roaniecowpony]

I just took the brisket off. It took 10hrs 40mins total at 225F the whole cook. At the 6 hr mark, I wrapped/trayed it. So, 4 hrs 40 mins in the wrap/tray.

I put a smoke tube in at the start, filled with LJ Mesquite. The hopper had what I had in for the last smoke for pork butt. It was equal parts LJ Apple, LJ Cherry, RecTec Ult Blend (oak). So a real mix.

 

[Roaniecowpony]

After an hour rest, I sliced it up.

The bark was light and mostly around the edges. The fat cap dripping down had washed away most of the rub. It had a light smokiness, as you can see the smoke ring is light. Very moist, the most juicy I've made. Probably overdone a bit. I should have pulled it with the center slightly underdone and covered to rest. But the juicy, beefy flavor is great.

If anyone is trying to figure out how much yield you get from a 12 lb brisket, it came out to 5 1/2 lbs out of the smoker. I had trimmed about 2 1/2 lbs of fat and thin meat, leaving about 9 1/2 lbs to go on the smoker. There;s still some fat people may cut off the slices as well. If you said you get 45-50% yield from store to plate, you'd be close. So, you can figure brisket costs about 2 to 2.3 times the sticker price, per pound.

 

[jfrosty27]

Man that looks really good! I hope mine turns out that well. It’s off and resting in the faux cambro.

 

[Pete590]

I agree with fat cap down to protect the meat,as long as you occasionally spritz,it keeps the top from drying out. Nice looking brisket by the way!

 

[Roaniecowpony]

I took a tip from a bbq recipe book I had years ago. I forget the creator, but he was a competition bbq guy. He made a dipping sauce or au jus using beef broth as the base, added some drippings, a liberal amount of the rub, soy sauce, hot sauce, worchestershire, etc.. He would brush each slice before they sent the box to the judges. I've been making it for decades for my tritip. So, I wanted to add some more flavor and whipped up some and poured it onto the sliced brisket in the containers going into the fridge. Definitely kicks it up. Add hot sauce as you like.

 

[C. Keeper]

Looks great!

 

[SmokeZilla]

Fellow Brisketeers…
Yesterday I did a brisket cook. I started with ~13lbs of prime cut brisket from Costco. I typically begin with an overnight “dry” rub (around 24 hours) following a decent trim. Wannabe Pro-tip: I cheat by using a Wagyu tallow binder as it added the “glue” to keep my home made rub nice and sticky so I have consistent, maximum, coverage with little chance of loss. You can use other binders (e.g., mustard, olive oil, last cook’s renderings, etc.) but the Wagyu seems to keep the flat much more moist and I’m dumb enough to think if it was good enough for the cow, it should be good enough for me! I also realize many use injections (especially for competition) but my limited experience is that there is a fine line between ”cooking” and “boiling the brisket. As you can see from the baggie, I removed about 4lbs of unneeded fat. My prefernce is to keep the actually cap to around 1/2”. The actual cook is done fat side/cap down. I am a firm believer after using both methods that the density of the beef does not allow rendering of the cap on my RT700 ”Bull” at 225F for ~12 hours, to melt into the meat. However, with the cap down, and with the help of gravity it seems that the cap will slightly saturate, moisten the bottom of the meat, and soften considerably in the process (using my uncalibrated finger for a poke test) and allow the top (naked-meat) side to form a nice bark right before the brisket hits the stall. I also use a spray of tallow after the 3-4 hour point before the stall to step up the beefiness and flavor profile of the brisket. My stall (and your results may differ greatly) took almost 6 hours to move the gauge 9 degrees. It started at around 155F and at 164F when the ‘breakthrough’ occured, I pull, wrap in peach paper that is sprayed with… wait for it… Wagyu tallow, to seal in the moistness for the final stage of cooking. Long story short, oops, too late, cap towards the source of heat/flame and flat towards the hotter end of your grill will give you the best chance for success, in my opinion. My cooks come out pretty well (at least that what the piranha and honey badgers at my house thought) and the probes on the flat and point ends of the brisket were within a couple of degrees during the cook. Following the cook I did a 4 hour rest and served when the brisket temperature lowered to 130 degrees. I didn’t need to add any additional fluids or gravy although “roaniecowpony” peaked my interest for the next time.

 

[Roaniecowpony]

One of my neighbors did his first brisket yesterday. He did it on his Traeger using LJ Mesquite and just salt & pepper. It came out very nice, at least the point that he brought down. It was not particularly moist for point. So, I suspect the flat was dry. He separated the point and did them separately. But he was happy with his first effort.

 

[DenStinett]

We've been separating the two Muscles and smoking them separately for all but our first one
Have yet to get a dry piece
Guess it's all about times and temps

 

[DasCC]

That is the question. I dont do a lot of brisket and I decided to do this one slightly different. I usually go fat cap down and spritz/baste a few times. I did this one fat cap up per something I read, supposedly about how Aaron Franklin goes with the cap up to self baste to form bark.

Last night, I had been socializing with the neighbors til about 9:30 and had more than my share of cab. But, I was determined to get the 12lb prime packer on before going to bed. I still had to trim it too. I've done just enough briskets to know what I wanted for trimming. But a sharp knife late at night after some vino proobably wasn't the best idea. Fortunately, I got through that without bloodshed. It went on the Bull at about 10:15 pm @ 225F

It's 4:30 am, I saw that it was pretty well into the stall, so I was going to wrap. When I flipped it over to see the bare meat side, it had little to no bark. It was very "wet" from the cap running down and under. Most of the rub looked to be gone as well. I half thought about just flipping it fat cap down and finishing without wrapping. But most of this will get cut, vac pak'd and frozen anyway. So, moist is my priority. I wrapped it.

Has anyone else had lack of bark from running the fat cap up?

Meat side up will get you prettier bark and smoke ring. I tend to prefer fat side down. The meat tends to stay more moist without needing to spritz. If I go fat side down I have to spritz to avoid drying out. I normally cook overnight while sleeping so I don’t want to deal with spritzing.

 

[Atxbbq]

Up. Fat bark is the best part of the brisket!