First Brisket

[Jgmantle]

Looking for advice on a kinda disappointing first Brisket on a new (six month old) 1400XL.

First a problem?
I've run 24 cooks over 93 hours on this 1400XL without a single issue. I use Smoke House pellets from Sam's Club. I started at 250° to settle it in. Dropped it to 180° for a heavier initial smoke. Put the meat on and after 15 minutes the temp started dropping. At 120° I shut if off. Took the brisket off. Removed everything, waited a while for the shut down process to complete. Waited a little while longer, then restarted at 200°. It had the nice little pile of pellets in the pit like it should. It was pretty slow to ignite and kept adding pellets. When it finally did ignite I first got the HUGE smoke plume, had the lid open so I could watch it. The smoke burned off then there was a raging fire that I could have melted lead over. It too burned down and settled in. I replaced the deflector, drip pan, and grates. It settled at the set Temp of 200° and I put the meat back on. I had zero issues for the remaining 20 hours of cook time.
So any ideas what happened to cause the drastic temp drop?

On to my cook. A 16 pound Prime Brisket. I went 7 hours at 200°, and 10 hours at 250°, IT got to 165°, so I wrapped it in double foil with tallow, then back on at 300° for an hour, then 250° for the remaining 2 hours. IT hit 204° and definitely probe tender. Rested it for two hours.
Very good Brisket flavor with a very nice bark, but the flat was quite dry. I haven't gotten to the point yet. But dry.
I suspect that I just cooked this poor guy for far too long.

I cubed the flat up and made Brisket Chili two days later, wow, great.

Comments welcome, nine, oh, none, six 49, 62 four seven if anyone would care to call.
Thanks.

 

[Jim6820]

I suspect that I just cooked this poor guy for far too long.

I suspect you are correct. Looks like you had about 20 hours of cook time on your 16# brisket. That’s almost twice what my brisket experience says. I also do 2-4 hours at 180F, then bump up to 250F for the remainder of the cook. As you did, I also wrap (in pink butcher paper) at the stall; about 155-160F. A 16# brisket takes me 12-14 hours using that routine. My rule of thumb for brisket cooks is 50 minutes per pound, using my temps. For a 16# brisket, that would be just over 13 hours.

Don’t know when you started probing for tenderness, but I usually start when the internal temperature reaches about 190F. While 203F is kind of a generally accepted finish IT, I frequently find my briskets probe tender at about 198F. When it is probe tender, I pull it and rest 2+ hours before cutting.

Here are a couple of thoughts on your dry result. First, you went to 204F and that may have been well beyond the probe-tender stage. That’s why I start probing at 190F. I have had a few briskets probe tender at 195F, though it is more likely in the 198F-203F range.

Second, how were you measuring internal temperature; periodic probes with a handheld thermometer or an inserted probe that remained throughout the cook? And, where were you measuring internal temperature? I ask because I’ve found that it makes a difference. A probe that remains in the meat throughout the cook will give you a more accurate measurement IME. Where you measure also makes a difference. I usually insert at least two probes in a brisket; one in the flat and one in the point. The flat measurement is the one I pay the most attention to as it will dry out well before the point.

When probing for tenderness, I probe the flat. When it is “probe tender,” I will pull the brisket. If the point is a bit under temperature, being thicker it will come up a bit more during the rest. Getting the flat probe tender is my objective and the increased marbling of the point will usually take care of itself, offseting the lower internal temperature.

Those are my thoughts on the brisket. I have no clue about the anomaly in the grill operation.

 

[Pacman]

You had a lot of variables going on with temperature spikes and drops, restarting, etc. so that probably threw off everything on this cook so it's kind of hard to diagnose. Everything on your graph looks pretty normal based upon what you said for the most part. A couple of observations/ramblings:

• I've never seen a 16 pound brisket take so long. Granted I tend to keep things super simple in my cooks and don't mess with the set temperature much. I average about a pound an hour +/-, but this is never a hard rule. You had a bumpy start to your cook so I think we can blame that on a lot of things.
  
  
• Getting back to the simple things, I have tried starting at 180 for maximum smoke (allegedly), but I found it really didn't make much difference over 225 for the whole cook, at least until wrapping around 165. Sometimes I just keep it at 225 for the whole cook and other times I may bump to 250 - 275 if I want to finish the cook after I'm already wrapped. At any rate, I'm a firm believer that if everything is more or less working, just leave things alone, don't open and peek, etc. After fighting/babying stick burners some time ago, it is a true luxury not to have to mess with these things hourly to maintain a set temperature.
  
  
• I suspect that you were probably probe tender well before 204 given your total cook time, but it's hard to say with the rough start that you had. Dryness is a sign of being overcooked, but you can also blame the meat.
  
  
• I would probably clean out your fire pot and re-prime it before your next cook. While there, check your ignitor to ensure it's not recessed at all which would explain a weird startup. Also check your air vent(s) for blockage. It sounds like your fan is working so that's probably not an issue. I'd go out on a limb and think that your feed rate is also fine as the temperatures you said you were selecting are pretty much what your graph says. Of course, there's a setting for temperature offset as well so without a 3rd party comparison, we're basically just blindly trusting Recteq. Dropping from anything to low/180 creates a potential for a flame out as the grill is trying to overcompensate for the 60 - 75 degree temperature setting drop. Your grill basically starved itself trying to drop from 250 to 180. It would have probably balanced out eventually, but not before spiking to probably 275 - 300+. I believe on settling in on my cooking temperature for about 30 minutes before loading the grill and not changing anything (other than the predictable drop when I open the lid to load the grill).
  
  
• Pellets, just like the meat itself, are the two unpredictable variables. Moisture content, pellet length, pellet density, etc. can all impact temperature swings. Pellet choice is subjective and everyone has an opinion. I stick with Lumberjack and Bear Mountain for the most part these days, but I know others have had great success with many different brands.
  
  
• Prime is a grade of a cow, not of a cut so it's not 100% reliable as to the quality of the piece of meat you're cooking.

The good news is that you found a home for your finished product versus tossing it, but more importantly, the cooking year is just getting started and you can shake this cook off and move on to the next.

 

[RPopeilFan]

The only thing I can think to add is that bridging could have created a dead spot in the auger that cleared itself in your shutdown. The pid doesn't know if there were pellets, it just expects there to be pellets. At a low target temp an air gap could be drastic since the feed rate is so slow. I never cook prime brisket or wagyu so I'll keep my meat grade opinions to myself.

 

[RattleR]

Looking for advice on a kinda disappointing first Brisket on a new (six month old) 1400XL.

First a problem?
I've run 24 cooks over 93 hours on this 1400XL without a single issue. I use Smoke House pellets from Sam's Club. I started at 250° to settle it in. Dropped it to 180° for a heavier initial smoke. Put the meat on and after 15 minutes the temp started dropping. At 120° I shut if off. Took the brisket off. Removed everything, waited a while for the shut down process to complete. Waited a little while longer, then restarted at 200°. It had the nice little pile of pellets in the pit like it should. It was pretty slow to ignite

All of the responses have been excellent. I will only add, I have used the pellets you used on many cooks. No issues. I find the ones I get to be small which may be good or bad but never a problem in my 700.

Before starting the cook, how long had the pellets been in the hopper? Might not make a difference unless rain or very high humidity may have played into the event.

I suspect, and I am not a professional, that part of the dryness can be attributed to the start and stop plus out time from the heat. If the flat was peanut butter probe tender, one would expect it to be ok. Again, thinking the out time due to the issues.

The question that would bother me is, what happened to interrupt the cook? I am sure that the event investigation may have been rushed, I can get that, based on wanting/needing to get the protein back on the smoker and cooking.

 

[101mph]

Your brisket results sound a lot like mine (I've only done one). Next time I do one I will do as Jim6820 suggested and probe the flat and pull the brisket when that reaches 200-205. My brisket was dry and not really tender so I definitely over cooked it.

As far as your smoker issue check out this post Here I made a while back. I didn't get the temp drop, but for sure had start up issues and a minor "pop". I made some adjustments to the igniter. Good luck.

 

[RPopeilFan]

I'll make a suggestion. Separate the flat from the point, weigh both of them. Write it down (pre trim, and trimmed) and do your cook again. Don't let the flat go over 195 even if not probe tender, rest 30 mins in a dry cooler. Don't slice thicker than a #2 pencil. See if it's better. Cook the point to probe tender, there's so much fat that temp doesn't really matter. Repeat at least 3 times to remove meat variability. I think you'll be happy at the end.

 

[Kid]

Way too complicated

 

[Motodad1776]

Way too complicated

Then I recommend a chuck roast over a brisket......not complicated at all, and IMHO every bit as good.

 

[Jgmantle]

You had a lot of variables going on with temperature spikes and drops, restarting, etc. so that probably threw off everything on this cook so it's kind of hard to diagnose. Everything on your graph looks pretty normal based upon what you said for the most part. A couple of observations/ramblings:

• I've never seen a 16 pound brisket take so long. Granted I tend to keep things super simple in my cooks and don't mess with the set temperature much. I average about a pound an hour +/-, but this is never a hard rule. You had a bumpy start to your cook so I think we can blame that on a lot of things.
  
  
• Getting back to the simple things, I have tried starting at 180 for maximum smoke (allegedly), but I found it really didn't make much difference over 225 for the whole cook, at least until wrapping around 165. Sometimes I just keep it at 225 for the whole cook and other times I may bump to 250 - 275 if I want to finish the cook after I'm already wrapped. At any rate, I'm a firm believer that if everything is more or less working, just leave things alone, don't open and peek, etc. After fighting/babying stick burners some time ago, it is a true luxury not to have to mess with these things hourly to maintain a set temperature.
  
  
• I suspect that you were probably probe tender well before 204 given your total cook time, but it's hard to say with the rough start that you had. Dryness is a sign of being overcooked, but you can also blame the meat.
  
  
• I would probably clean out your fire pot and re-prime it before your next cook. While there, check your ignitor to ensure it's not recessed at all which would explain a weird startup. Also check your air vent(s) for blockage. It sounds like your fan is working so that's probably not an issue. I'd go out on a limb and think that your feed rate is also fine as the temperatures you said you were selecting are pretty much what your graph says. Of course, there's a setting for temperature offset as well so without a 3rd party comparison, we're basically just blindly trusting Recteq. Dropping from anything to low/180 creates a potential for a flame out as the grill is trying to overcompensate for the 60 - 75 degree temperature setting drop. Your grill basically starved itself trying to drop from 250 to 180. It would have probably balanced out eventually, but not before spiking to probably 275 - 300+. I believe on settling in on my cooking temperature for about 30 minutes before loading the grill and not changing anything (other than the predictable drop when I open the lid to load the grill).
  
  
• Pellets, just like the meat itself, are the two unpredictable variables. Moisture content, pellet length, pellet density, etc. can all impact temperature swings. Pellet choice is subjective and everyone has an opinion. I stick with Lumberjack and Bear Mountain for the most part these days, but I know others have had great success with many different brands.
  
  
• Prime is a grade of a cow, not of a cut so it's not 100% reliable as to the quality of the piece of meat you're cooking.

The good news is that you found a home for your finished product versus tossing it, but more importantly, the cooking year is just getting started and you can shake this cook off and move on to the next.

Thanks, that's all solid tips and advice.

 

[DD owner]

Looking for advice on a kinda disappointing first Brisket on a new (six month old) 1400XL.

First a problem?
I've run 24 cooks over 93 hours on this 1400XL without a single issue. I use Smoke House pellets from Sam's Club. I started at 250° to settle it in. Dropped it to 180° for a heavier initial smoke. Put the meat on and after 15 minutes the temp started dropping. At 120° I shut if off. Took the brisket off. Removed everything, waited a while for the shut down process to complete. Waited a little while longer, then restarted at 200°. It had the nice little pile of pellets in the pit like it should. It was pretty slow to ignite and kept adding pellets. When it finally did ignite I first got the HUGE smoke plume, had the lid open so I could watch it. The smoke burned off then there was a raging fire that I could have melted lead over. It too burned down and settled in. I replaced the deflector, drip pan, and grates. It settled at the set Temp of 200° and I put the meat back on. I had zero issues for the remaining 20 hours of cook time.
So any ideas what happened to cause the drastic temp drop?

On to my cook. A 16 pound Prime Brisket. I went 7 hours at 200°, and 10 hours at 250°, IT got to 165°, so I wrapped it in double foil with tallow, then back on at 300° for an hour, then 250° for the remaining 2 hours. IT hit 204° and definitely probe tender. Rested it for two hours.
Very good Brisket flavor with a very nice bark, but the flat was quite dry. I haven't gotten to the point yet. But dry.
I suspect that I just cooked this poor guy for far too long.

I cubed the flat up and made Brisket Chili two days later, wow, great.

Comments welcome, nine, oh, none, six 49, 62 four seven if anyone would care to call.
Thanks.

View attachment 23565

Greg Jones did a "tutorial" on brisket April 29 2021. I have it saved and reread it each time I do a brisket. I don't know how to share it but it's on this forum and well worth the read if you look it up.

 

[Jim6820]

Here’s a link to @Greg Jones’s “Brisket 101.”

Beef Thread 'Brisket 101-A Tutorial'

Apr 29, 2021

I have a friend that is moving past just grilling into smoking briskets, and he is having a challenge with how his are turning out. He has eaten my brisket, but he doesn’t live close enough for us to get together and chat about technique.

He texted me last week and asked if I would send him some pointers. I told him I was cooking a brisket this week, and I would document my process, and this is what I sent him. I’ve attached that PDF of how I’m doing it now with hope that some may find it useful.

Now there are many ways to cook a brisket, so I’m not saying this is “The Way”, just the way...

• Greg Jones
• brisket
• Replies: 41
• Forum: Recipes

• 

 

[Greg Jones]

Here’s a link to @Greg Jones’s “Brisket 101.”

Beef Thread 'Brisket 101-A Tutorial'

Apr 29, 2021

I have a friend that is moving past just grilling into smoking briskets, and he is having a challenge with how his are turning out. He has eaten my brisket, but he doesn’t live close enough for us to get together and chat about technique.

He texted me last week and asked if I would send him some pointers. I told him I was cooking a brisket this week, and I would document my process, and this is what I sent him. I’ve attached that PDF of how I’m doing it now with hope that some may find it useful.

Now there are many ways to cook a brisket, so I’m not saying this is “The Way”, just the way...

• Greg Jones
• brisket
• Replies: 41
• Forum: Recipes

• 

Thanks Jim, and @DD owner. I’ve tweaked a few things since I first created that, which I did for a friend, but I still believe you can make a pretty good brisket on a pellet grill with the 101 process, then tweak it to make it your own.

 

[AlphaPapa]

Another source of lessons learned that I read over every time I do a brisket is from @Pacman. Here is a link. I especially found number 4 helpful in getting the right quantity of seasoning. I used to be all over the place sometimes putting too much and sometimes putting too little. This quantity has worked well for my taste.

Based on personal preference I do a few things differently, of course. I do use 180 degrees at the start for about two hours to get extra smoke. And I use a little less onion powder. But, since it is usually months between briskets for me and I am at the age where I can hide my own Easter eggs, reading over this list really helps remind me of the do’s and dont’s of brisket smoking.

 

[Jim6820]

Another source of lessons learned that I read over every time I do a brisket is from @Pacman. Here is a link.

Yes, that is also an excellent primer for brisket cooking! Glad you mentioned it, @AlphaPapa.

 

[Pacman]

Haha, I guess most of my stuff is committed to memory now, but thanks for the link @AlphaPapa ! My biggest suggestion and personal realization on all of these long cooks is to not overbrain anything. There are really only a couple of points that matter. The initial trimming (although I saw an interesting video a while back of one of the BBQ "bigshots" not trimming at all), wrapping in pink butcher paper when the bark is set at around 165 (although again, many people are very successful without wrapping at all), paying attention when internal temps start getting around 195 to probe for tenderness, and allowing sufficient time to rest before slicing.

Truth be told, I wish I had seen @Greg Jones's post before I started cooking briskets on a pellet smoker, but I think it must have been right before I pulled the trigger on my purchase and joining this forum.

I stand by my last statement in the link @AlphaPapa provided:

"After all, this is supposed to be an enjoyable experience."