Bull How to get that amazing bark on a brisket

[NewbRecTeqJunkie]

Attempting my second brisket.

Still after watching the Recteq video on brisket, I cannot even figure out how to get that amazing "bark" it shows to have...

What is the key to a great bark? And the recipe says 8-10 hours at 235.
I am hitting 165 inner temp at around 4 hours. These Recteq's are tooo damn good! I was planning this brisket for dinner, might be a late lunch.

After I reach 165-180 I will take it out, double wrap it with paper and foil, add the extra ah ju and put it back in until it hits 200 or around there... Fingers crossed!

 

[Mike]

@NewbRecTeqJunkie I'm probably not the right guy to give advice on this as I'm certainly no pit master, but I have done a number of briskets on my RecTeq RT-700 myself and have had great results.

I set the RecTeq Bull to 225 and once to temp I put the brisket in until it reaches an internal temp of 170 degrees. After which I take the brisket off to wrap it in brown butcher paper and put it back on the Bull until an internal temp of 205 is reached.

I then remove it from grill and wrap it in towels and place in a cooler for at least 30 minutes.

Then it's time to slice and gorge on it.

 

[NewbRecTeqJunkie]

Well, thank you for the input. Here is what it looks right now, at a temp of 159 degrees. Bark is MEH... Went liberal on seasoning, not heavy. About ready to wrap it and set it back in for a another round....

 

[ccmjr77]

I am no expert, but I usually go pretty heavy and layer the rub. Fine rub first followed by something more coarse. I rarely wrap, especially with foil. If I wrap I use butcher paper. I think foil traps too much steam and I think steam softens bark. I want a nice bark that is not mushy. I have not been disappointed so far. I have not yet smoked the best brisket I have ever tasted, but I have not had to throw anything away yet...
Mine have always had a pretty good bark by the time they stall.

 

[Waterboy]

I suggest you not wrap by temp but rather when you get the bark you are looking for. I agree with @ccmjr77 that heavier seasoning will help build better bark.

 

[Mike]

As for seasoning, I will rub my brisket down with mustard then heavily coat it with Meat Church Holy Cow.

Great now I'm hungry... I'm going to lunch now!

 

[NewbRecTeqJunkie]

Roger that! All input greatly appreciated. Off to see the brisket and get to work... thanks!

 

[jamorgan3777]

Also bark will be inhibited by the foil. That is why folks use butcher paper. It "breathes" enough to keep a bark but not so much as to dry out the meat. I am new to Recteq briskets as I just got my RT-700 on Monday, however I have done many on my Primo XL and in my Weber smokey mountain usually with very good results.

The issue I have with both of those methods is the more direct (underneath) heat source. I am hoping that the Recteq will provide better even low heat (assuming rather as the fan should do this). There are a couple of really good YT videos, one from Jeremy Yoder at MadScientistBBQ. He does them on a stick burner but directly compares Nekked (i.e. no wrap), Pink butcher paper wrap and foil wrap with some interesting results.

 

[NewbRecTeqJunkie]

Being my third attempt, the 8 hour cook time is b.s. I have hit the 165 - 180 temp in around 4 - 4.5 hours. Which kills my whole plan. Now I need to eat dinner at like 4! OMBJ! (kidding/sarcasm)... I like throwing in jalepeno poppers towards the end as a treat.. Theses darn smokers are to efficient dammit! (I added the "tape" around the main door to keep the smoke in and also added it to the hopper area.) Not sure if that plays anyhow on the whole cook...

 

[ndfan6464]

It was mentioned before. Your watching temp, which is good but you also want to get your bark to a good solid state before you wrap it. By solid I mean not still mushy, not a mix of mushy but firm. I usually never wrap but if I do I get it to be a meteor before I wrap. Because when I wrap I add some beef tallow or some other liquid fat. That liquid will help soften the bark a bit while adding some good flavor.

As for the rub. If you go to heavy on it your lessening the amount of smoke being absorbed. Think of rub being a blanket. The heavier the blank the less outside air you feel. Same thing with a rub.

Also, are you flipping your brisket? In the picture it looks like grill marks

 

[NewbRecTeqJunkie]

It was mentioned before. Your watching temp, which is good but you also want to get your bark to a good solid state before you wrap it. By solid I mean not still mushy, not a mix of mushy but firm. I usually never wrap but if I do I get it to be a meteor before I wrap. Because when I wrap I add some beef tallow or some other liquid fat. That liquid will help soften the bark a bit while adding some good flavor.

As for the rub. If you go to heavy on it your lessening the amount of smoke being absorbed. Think of rub being a blanket. The heavier the blank the less outside air you feel. Same thing with a rub.

Also, are you flipping your brisket? In the picture it looks like grill marks

yup.. i did do the flip.. bad habit i assume.. much appreciated for the input sir.

 

[Bytor]

It all sounds good to me. You gotta love these smokers. One thing that I have been doing for all my cooks is taking directly from the fridge onto the grill, without any warming of the meat. I don't have any hard evidence on the matter, other than reading here and there and in experimentation, but it seems that putting a cold piece of meat into a 225 pit will cause condensation to occur on the outside of the meat. I have seen this as I have peeked in to check in on it from time to time.

As the meat continues to sweat, it adsorbs the smokiness inside the pit, then will eventually evaporate, begin a crust and leaving the smoke flavor with it. As the smoke goes on, this slowly will build a nice, crisp and tasty bark. If the wrap occurs too soon, then the bark will not get a chance to fully develop and will be soft. Once the bark is established, you can wrap if you want and depending on foil, or paper you can retain a fair amount of the bark texture.

 

[BretM]

I go straight up dalmatian rub with 50/50 kosher salt and course ground black pepper.

Apply a very light coat of yellow mustard or oil as a binder to get that rub to stick and I run the Bull at 220 and I run an A-MAZE-N 6" smoke tube through the first part of the cook. I wrap at the stall around 165 with butcher paper and then run until it probes tender like a stick of butter...not room temp butter though...that's overcooked and approaching pot roast, fall-apart texture.

 

[ndfan6464]

yup.. i did do the flip.. bad habit i assume.. much appreciated for the input sir.

Haha...yeah totally understand..but yup, with smoking you don't flip. You may have to move the protein around if doing a lot of it at one time. But other that that. No peaking and no flipping..haha..

Looking forward to hearing how this one goes..cheers

 

[ifican]

Bark by definition is not a universal thing. Its much like wine, sweet or saltiness. What you like is what you like, doesnt mean everyone else will. As mentioned when you wrap it will steam and soften, foil is worse than paper but you can get different outcomes but venting the foil. As a general rule i rarely wrap anything, brisket, ribs, butts, nada. That is of course unless the person i am cooking for requests it. Some want it wrapped, some want silverskin left on, to each their own. For me, i like the heavy hard beef jerky bark, that is accomplished with a good amount of brown sugar in the rub and left 100% unwrapped, The more sugar the harder the bark. Anyways have to run off to work now, play, experiment and enjoy the journey.

 

[Blues1]

More bark? Don't wrap 'til it goes in the cambro. Use butcher paper, not foil

 

[BretM]

Bark by definition is not a universal thing. Its much like wine, sweet or saltiness. What you like is what you like, doesnt mean everyone else will. As mentioned when you wrap it will steam and soften, foil is worse than paper but you can get different outcomes but venting the foil. As a general rule i rarely wrap anything, brisket, ribs, butts, nada. That is of course unless the person i am cooking for requests it. Some want it wrapped, some want silverskin left on, to each their own. For me, i like the heavy hard beef jerky bark, that is accomplished with a good amount of brown sugar in the rub and left 100% unwrapped, The more sugar the harder the bark. Anyways have to run off to work now, play, experiment and enjoy the journey.

I have never met anyone who wants the silverskin left on...maybe the membrane on ribs, but not silverskin.

To each their own though.

 

[NewbRecTeqJunkie]

Well, after the entire cook time, I took them out (cut one into two) wrapped them in the towel, placed them into a foam cooler for an hour. When we took them out they were still hot. Opened them up and they were beautiful. Cut them up and enjoyed an early (3:30pm dinner)! Bark was alright, meat was tender and juicy, smoke ring looked good. Thank ya'll for the input! Completely happy with this brisket!

 

[Blues1]

Well, after the entire cook time, I took them out (cut one into two) wrapped them in the towel, placed them into a foam cooler for an hour. When we took them out they were still hot. Opened them up and they were beautiful. Cut them up and enjoyed an early (3:30pm dinner)! Bark was alright, meat was tender and juicy, smoke ring looked good. Thank ya'll for the input! Completely happy with this brisket!

I'd be happy with that. Good job!

 

[Waterboy]

Looks really good, I’d happily sit down to a plate of that. I think a little more rub next time and your bark will improve.