Smoked an 8 lbs brisket for about 6 hours. Internal temp was 175.

Merinated it for 24 hours and then used a rub on it.

Used lots of apple wood and had smoke for all 6 hous.

Tough as nails and had a flvor that would almost knock you out of your chair.

I know I can do better. What do you suggest.

Dennisdennis.ricci@rogers.com

quote:

Originally posted by Dennis Ricci:
Smoked an 8 lbs brisket for about 6 hours. Internal temp was 175.

Merinated it for 24 hours and then used a rub on it.

Used lots of apple wood and had smoke for all 6 hous.

Tough as nails and had a flvor that would almost knock you out of your chair.

I know I can do better. What do you suggest.

Dennisdennis.ricci@rogers.com

Simply, you cooked by temp and not by tenderness and you didn't cook long enough. Brisket is done when it's tender, not by temperature. With that said, I generally begin to check for tender around 185º-190º......at 175º you were still a couple hours away from being done/tender. Rule of thumb, a brisket cooked in the 245º-260º range will generally take between 1-1.5hrs per lb. So depending on your cooking temps, you had approximately 2-4 more hours of cooking to 'tender'.

OK ... Got it. I off to get another brisket and give it another go. Do you think a marinate and a rub is over kill? Do you think I had to much smoke (6 hours of continuous smoke)?

Thanks for the information. I felt sorry for my guests trying to choke the darn thing done but I guess this is the way to learn.

Dennis

quote:

Do you think a marinate and a rub is over kill? Do you think I had to much smoke (6 hours of continuous smoke)?

My opinion: Yes to both.

Nothing wrong with marinating and rubbing but you need to pick ingredients (and choose amounts) carefully.

6 hours of light smoke can be fine, but if the smoke was on the heavy side it tends to be too much and one gets a bitter effect.

OK .. thank you for the guidence. I will be doing another brisket in two weeks in the weather is not to cold to get the smoker up to temp and let this post know how it came out.

I can seee this is as much an art as a science.

Dennis

quote:

Originally posted by Dennis Ricci:
OK .. thank you for the guidence. I will be doing another brisket in two weeks in the weather is not to cold to get the smoker up to temp and let this post know how it came out.

I can seee this is as much an art as a science.

Dennis

I just did a High Heat brisket the other day with pretty solid results (a bit overdone.. but great flavor). Personally I just stick to a basic rub with beef. There is great flavor in brisket that really doesn't need anything too strong. I use a mix of salt, pepper, cumin, pure chili powder, garlic and onion powder.

I would say that you should definately watch your smoke wood quantity. I'm not sure if you use chunk or chips, but work your way up... especially if you have guests who may not have the same tolerance as you. I like a good bit of smoke, but I'll only use 3 fist chunks of oak and maybe 1 of apple.

try cooking at a temp around 275-350. cook till 195 int temp and then start checking with a probe until it goes in easily. foil, towel and rest in a cooler for an hour. you need to experiment with this until ya get it to yer liking. use very little smoke. i use pecan and only a couple of small pieces. as mentioned, the meat has a great taste so don't overwhelm it. i use just kosher salt and cracked pepper as a "rub".

OK .. thanks for all the advice. I am going to try again and here is what I am going to do.

1. Cook longer and hotter and "test to tender" staring at a time when the internal temp is about 195.

2. Cut back on the smoke.

3. Lighten up on the marinate and rub.

It can only get better ... believe me.

After a few cooks you'll feel like an old pro, and know how long, what temp to cook at, how to control your vents, and what internal temps you want on your meat plus how much charcoal to use ect. You want your spare ribs to have a nice bark, cook at 275F.,very little bark, cook at 200-225F. ect. The WSM is an amazing smoker for the money once you get the hang of it. After that the only thing to improve your barbecue is some quality spices from a place like the Spice House, and a variety of chili powders from Sweet Freedom Farms for your own rubs.
Good Luck, your going to love it.

I had a piece of it left so I put it in the oven tonight and cooked it another 3 hours at 350 degrees wrapped in heavy foil... It was fantastic .. you were dead on .. It was way undercooked. The smoke, marinate and rub all came together with the extyra cooking and it was very, very tender.

I learned a great lesson about cooking a brisket.

Thank you

Dennis

quote:

Originally posted by Larry Wolfe:

quote:

Originally posted by Dennis Ricci:
Smoked an 8 lbs brisket for about 6 hours. Internal temp was 175.

Merinated it for 24 hours and then used a rub on it.

Used lots of apple wood and had smoke for all 6 hous.

Tough as nails and had a flvor that would almost knock you out of your chair.

I know I can do better. What do you suggest.

Dennisdennis.ricci@rogers.com

Simply, you cooked by temp and not by tenderness and you didn't cook long enough. Brisket is done when it's tender, not by temperature. With that said, I generally begin to check for tender around 185º-190º......at 175º you were still a couple hours away from being done/tender. Rule of thumb, a brisket cooked in the 245º-260º range will generally take between 1-1.5hrs per lb. So depending on your cooking temps, you had approximately 2-4 more hours of cooking to 'tender'.

I had about most of it in the frig so I decided to try and finish it in the over. I wrapped it in 3 layers of heavy foil and cooked it another 3 hours at 350 degrees.

It was fantastic. Very tender and the flavor of the smoke, rub and marinate all came together.

The big problem was it was seriously undere cooked.

I learned a good lesson and thank you all for helping me. At least for briskett I know what to do.

Thanks

Dennis