First Brisket Concerns

Max, if your comment about trimming the fat on both sides of the point means you trimmed the fat layer between the point and flat then that's the deckle. Thanks. That would reduce the mass and the moisture which likely contributed to the shorter cook time.

Nu2, yeah my cost number was based on Sam's selling prime for $3.58/lb on a 13 pounder, but $60+ is easy to hit too. As for temps, that's my latest thing to play with...……...doing stuff I typically had done at 225 now going at 275. Shorter cook time is to be expected, other outcomes are the curiosity.
 
Max, if your comment about trimming the fat on both sides of the point means you trimmed the fat layer between the point and flat then that's the deckle. Thanks. That would reduce the mass and the moisture which likely contributed to the shorter cook time.

Nu2, yeah my cost number was based on Sam's selling prime for $3.58/lb on a 13 pounder, but $60+ is easy to hit too. As for temps, that's my latest thing to play with...……...doing stuff I typically had done at 225 now going at 275. Shorter cook time is to be expected, other outcomes are the curiosity.
Yes like you I like to play and experiment....That's how I got what I consider to be pretty decent to good at ribs...a lot of trial and error. Much harder to do with the more expensive cuts. I had read a ton and watched numerous videos on briskets and thought I attacked it with a well thought out plan and executed it and watched it destroy itself...LOL

By any chance Bob do you inject your briskets? I didnt but have watched many that do and swear by it.
I can say that if mine had turned out like @max348 did I would have been happy and had a base line one where to begin to adjust.
 
I have not played with injecting...……...thought about it, but haven't gone there yet.
 
I have not played with injecting...……...thought about it, but haven't gone there yet.
I agree with you that when you change a bunch of things at once and you get a better result you dont know what was the one thing that fixed the problem or a mixture of all of them.

I have to find a proven method that at least gets me an edible result...lol then I can have a baseline to move from there.
I am really liking the pan idea though. its got me thinking!!
 
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Max your brisket looks just fine! I think prime does cook quicker than CAB. That has been my experience anyway. I dont wrap, cover or do anything other than keep an eye out for that 203.
Fat side DOWN!
That should get some discussion going.
 
Hey NU, was your brisket over cooked? Seems something could been made out of that HOM
besides the trash. Hat off and taps in the background....
 
Hey NU, was your brisket over cooked? Seems something could been made out of that HOM
besides the trash. Hat off and taps in the background....
Im sure I could have done something with it but after 18 plus hours I was so mad I wasn't thinking straight. My wife literally did not come near me for a couple of days that's how mad I was!
Over cooked was an understatement. I put it in at 250 deg at 5 am waited untill it hit the stall at 160...right about 2pm...wrapped in pink paper and pulled it when it read 203 by that time it was after midnight, I let it rest till morning at which time it was ready to be mounted to my car at a new tire!!??

SO the only thing I can think of is that my wireless temp probe went wonky and I wasn't reading a real temp somewhere. I dont know but I do know I was livid and well I just walked away from it.
 
@max348 ...Man that looks absolutely delicious!!..Uncle Bob has given great Info, and I'm glad you got your probes and temps figured out.. 201-203° always seems to be a good spot for me also... And I like it the juicy way that you do also... Looks like you did alot better job than you had thought. Remember the RecTec is also a convection type heat and that factors in. I think you've got it down now!!
 
Thanks Buckeye smoker, it turned out better than I was expecting. This forum has been a great wealth of information - its pretty cool meeting other like minded people & being able to share helpful information!

NU2SMOKE - man, I feel your anger. Been there, done that. I probably would have reacted the same way (I may have even ended up “practicing” my marksmanship skills on it). That’s precisely why I just invested in the Rec Tec. A couple of weeks ago I had a really bad smoke on my old Chargriller (smoked chicken quarters). It took me FOREVER to get the temp up, and then a rain storm moved in and ruined everything. I ended up finishing my rubbery undercooked shit-chicken in the oven ?. And it was awful. Anyway, after 10 plus years of fairly reliable service, up on Craigslist she went. Two weeks later I took delivery of my new stampede. Lol, not to say that I won’t ruin something again in the near future, I was just really pissed with the horrible result of my efforts.
 
Wow @max348 I ordered my Bull very shortly after my brisket disaster for exactly the same reason. Dont get me wrong...my 40" MES is still with me and she will be used but Ever since I got the Bull...i have had a few cooks on it ...some things I had never done before and all have turned out great...My confidence in it is skyrocketing every cook!
Another brisket is definitely on the agenda in the near future. I will keep every posted and either enjoy a great meal or have another tire for the wifes car o_O
 
Mike is doing a brisket this weekend IIRC so maybe he can chime in and give us some enlightenment as well.

I have no problem with the common belief in the ideal of 203 degrees, there's probably all manner of supporting history for that. Having said that, I now am more interested in "probe tender" as my guiding marker for proper/satisfactory doneness. That may be a reflection of some slight inaccuracy in my temp measuring equipment, or it may be something in the vagaries of each piece of meat (though I think that briskets in particular have it out for me), but I'm happier with the end result if I pull when tender to the probe. That's typically (though not always) somewhere between 195 to 200. There is the idea of carry over cooking, and the meats in question do go into the cooler for a rest of a couple or more hours. I envy those who seemingly have mastered the art and can replicate pleasant outcomes repeatedly...………..that ain't me.
 
Look, briskets specifically because of their mass act funky quite regularly. Other cuts do as well but its much more pronounce on that big slab of meat. Dont stress about 1, if you do a second or third and its jacked then ok its something your not catching or doing but one funky one is just that, one funky one. Briskets are like fingerprints, no two are the same, many can and do act like many other but its not same same. If you confident you have good probes, I would still recommend a great instant read (thermoworks if my fav). Just watch it like a new born taking regular reads all around, 1)getting the feel of how the meat feels to your probe at different temps and 2) verifying your leave in probes are doing their job. Really is no special trick to it. You can trim, not trim, dry brine, wet brine, wrap or not. It all comes down to personal preference and know what temp and probe feel you like. The latter two come with practice.
 
Preach @ifican! Couldnt have said it better myself and spot on. I think the problem is, is that there is to much influence out there on "how it has" to be cooked. I think Aaron Franklin said it the best. If you arent cooking to have fun then why do it? Just cook how you like and dont worry about how other say is the proper way.

Have fun an experiment with it. Theres ALWAYS away to make a "bad" cook taste good. Just dont give up
 
Yeah well...your was probably still edible....I threw mine in the trash!!

Nooooo! You coulda done so much with it. Soup, stew roast beef hash. Heck slice it and make jerky if nothing else. :D
 

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