Has anyone smoked brisket on the RT-340 yet and had amazing results?

Josh M.

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  1. Trailblazer
I have owned my Rec Tec RT-340 for about 4 months now. I have attempted about 5 or 6 whole (packer) briskets and every single time they have come out with a mouth watering and tender point end but the flat ends have all either been under cooked & tough/dry or they have been overcooked & tough/dry. My last brisket cook was a 11.5 lb(trimmed) prime brisket from Sams and it was done in only 8 hours!!!. I went for a more fast and hot method and cooked it @ 275 degrees, wrapped brisket in butcher paper at 165 degrees(stall period) until temp reached about 200-203, i also probed brisket and it felt like butter so I pulled it, wrapped it in a couple of towels and into a open top bin (no cooler or foil as I did not want the brisket to retain high heat or continue to cook after coming off smoker) I then let it cool for two hours. This method resulted in the best brisket I have made so far but it still could have been a lot more tender imop. Any suggestions?
 
Fat side down just because the heat source is directly below in a RECTEC smoker
 
Fat side down just because the heat source is directly below in a RECTEC smoker
With that said, I am also a firm believer that it’s just a preference without a legit proven outcome either way you do it considering the meat is sweating juices and h2o from inside out preventing the fat from melting and rendering its way back into the muscle fibers.
 
I've cooked at least a dozen choice and prime's with nothing but outstanding results.
I can't say all of the briskets I have done so far were bad in any way, flavor was phenomenal regardless of how moist or tender the meat was but I guess I am being a little impatient and beating myself up about the results and also trying for near perfect results w/o having to go through many more brisket cooks. i guess I have found my best method as far as my meat choice, smoker temp & wrapping method go. Now just minor adjustments need to be made from this point.
 
With that said, I am also a firm believer that it’s just a preference without a legit proven outcome either way you do it considering the meat is sweating juices and h2o from inside out preventing the fat from melting and rendering its way back into the muscle fibers.

Fat rendering back into the muscle fibers is popular mythology, and in the absence of science makes sense. Reality is different. Here's an excellent article that will explain both the advantages and disadvantages of a fat cap: https://amazingribs.com/more-techni...-science/myth-melting-fat-cap-penetrates-meat

To the original poster; there are some comments in that article that might give you some guidance on selectively augmenting moisture in the flat.
 
Fat rendering back into the muscle fibers is popular mythology, and in the absence of science makes sense. Reality is different. Here's an excellent article that will explain both the advantages and disadvantages of a fat cap: https://amazingribs.com/more-techni...-science/myth-melting-fat-cap-penetrates-meat

To the original poster; there are some comments in that article that might give you some guidance on selectively augmenting moisture in the flat.

Thanks Uncle Bob
 
UB beat me to it, was taking a deep breath ready to go, lol. I have had one brisket just turn out funky. For you to have one side perfect and the other dry is an odd one. If i have to speculate i would say your temp is probably hotter than your grill is leading you to believe. Also 8 hours is on the short end of an 11 pounder and hence back to heat. I occasionally wrap in butcher paper but prefer neked. If you dont have the ability to check the real temp of your grill the next one you do do at really low 200's and plan for 12-16 hour cook. Could even start the night before if you dont want to get up extra early. Just honestly sounds like the flat is taking to much heat and drying out before the point is getting done.
 
That very well could be the case @ifican. Not a bad idea to check temp inside smoker with a probe or oven thermometer next time I fie it up and see if cooker chamber temps differ. I do only use a probe on the mid to back end of the flat every time I smoke a brisket, I don't even bother taking temp on the point. Thanks for the insight ifIcan.
 
Fat rendering back into the muscle fibers is popular mythology, and in the absence of science makes sense. Reality is different. Here's an excellent article that will explain both the advantages and disadvantages of a fat cap: https://amazingribs.com/more-techni...-science/myth-melting-fat-cap-penetrates-meat

To the original poster; there are some comments in that article that might give you some guidance on selectively augmenting moisture in the flat.

Are you saying it does not matter if the brisket is cooked fat side up or down on a RecTec?
 
Are you saying it does not matter if the brisket is cooked fat side up or down on a RecTec?
I'm suggesting that interested folks read the article, learn if they wish, or continue to believe whatever floats your boat. Life is all about the choices......……….
 
I haven't tried out a brisket on my 340 yet, but has anyone had luck in wrapping the flat for a portion of the smoke? Probably after the stall? Just wondering if that would help out with any dryness, while the point continued to cook.
 
Bytor-
So far, all of my brisket cooks on my rt340 were wrapped in pink butcher paper between 160-170 degrees. I have not tried a brisket naked in the RT340 yet. Recently I found out that my Rectec rt340 was cooking at about 15-25 degrees cooler than what was set on the controller. Wind and cold temps outside probably had a large affect on the actual cooking temp but either way I have turned out three very delicious and tender briskets that were all cooked at 275 degrees and they were all done in about 8hrs. If you are interested, I dont mind sending you a step by step of what I did on those three cooks, would be very interesting to see if someone gets similar results using same equipment and method but I also understand if you just wanna stick to your guns as I have not used any step by steps from any users other than Aaron Franklin and Mixon haha
 
A step by step would be very helpful. I haven't tried a brisket yet.

Sure thing.

Use whole packer (flat and point) 14-18 lbs untrimmed)

1. Remove brisket from cryo pack, pat dry with paper towels. Trim as much fat and silver skin as you can off lean side (meat side) of the brisket w/o cutting deep into the meat. Trim down fat cap (opposite side/ fat cap side) but leave between 1/4" and 1/2" of fat on the fat cap side.

2. Apply rub. Coat brisket with salt first (use a coarse salt), then apply rest of your rubs after salt. I like to know how much salt is going on my brisket. Be careful not to use salt first then apply a rub with lots of salt that is already mixed in.

3. Place seasoned brisket in a large bag or wrap in a few layers of plastic wrap and let sit in fridge for about 12 hours or up to 24 hrs. (I do this to allow salt to penetrate meat but you can skip this step as I cannot prove that it yields a more tasty or tender product in the end, it is just what I happened to do to my last 3 successful briskets.)

*If you decide to skip the fridge rest period, just trim and apply rub to brisket and let it sit on the counter until your smoker is preheated and meat is ready to cook.

4. Remove Brisket from fridge to rest at room temp and preheat Rectec pellet smoker to 275 degrees.

5. Place brisket on preheated smoker and cook @ 275 degrees fat side down for about 3-4 hours until the stall hits (about 160-170 degrees). You can wrap before or you can wrap after the stall hits but I wrapped all my briskets @ 165 degrees.

*Also, check to see if fat has turned yellow and has become more gelatinous, if so, meat has then either entered the stall period or is after the stall period.



*For the next step you need to place two pieces of butcher paper (about 5 ft long) down on a flat surface with one piece overlapping the other by about 8-12 inches.

6. At stall, remove brisket from smoker, place meat on butcher paper and spritz meat generously with your favorite beef spritz and wrap it in the double layer of butcher paper
( you can use foil but I am not a fan because foil creates more of a roasted texture and flavor to the meat i.e. steams the meat, Butcher paper still allows smoke to pass through, expels steam but locks in some fat and moisture to aid in keeping the meat moist), return brisket to smoker, insert a temp probe in the thickest part of the flat muscle and continue cooking until the internal temp reaches about 195-200 & start probing for tenderness.

*(You can either place probe in meat for the entire cook or you can use a hand held instant read probe to check temps intermittently. Best to take temp readings from thickest part of flat muscle.)

7. Continue to probe every 20-30 min to check for butter-like tenderness (like sticking a toothpick into a jar of peanut butter). Brisket may only become butter-like tender between 203-210 degrees. My briskets all hit around 205 degrees before tender enough to pull and rest.

8. Once brisket has reached desired tenderness, remove from smoker, leave wrapped in butcher paper, place in a bin or aluminum foil pan & cut the top of the paper to allow the brisket to vent all of that residual high heat trapped in paper, vent brisket for about 5-10 min. ( I do not use a cooler to rest meat anymore, feel free to if you want but I am convinced the cooler continued to cook my past briskets to the point of being over-done and tough.)

9. Once vented, cover/wrap brisket in towels for 1-2 hours until IT has cooled to about 145 degrees or to your desired temp for handling the meat.

10. Slice brisket against the grain and serve immediately. Only cut off what can be consumed right away, leave rest of brisket whole. Brisket can be reheated in the oven covered with aluminum foil.
 
Fat rendering back into the muscle fibers is popular mythology, and in the absence of science makes sense. Reality is different. Here's an excellent article that will explain both the advantages and disadvantages of a fat cap: https://amazingribs.com/more-techni...-science/myth-melting-fat-cap-penetrates-meat

To the original poster; there are some comments in that article that might give you some guidance on selectively augmenting moisture in the flat.
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That article was very informative thank you for the link
 

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