Author Topic: My Birthday Brisket Smoke - Long, confusing read.  (Read 3093 times)

va_rider

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My Birthday Brisket Smoke - Long, confusing read.
« on: July 07, 2017, 12:46:53 PM »
Here's the info... two packers. Grade unknown. Larger one is about 18#. Smaller is ~10#. Rubbed both with Instacure.. let sit for about 5 minutes.. then rinsed it off. Patted dry, then rubbed with Olive Oil, and coated with Diamond Kosher Salt and Coarse Black Pepper. The smaller one also got a dusting of dried ground Chipotle.




Put them both in the #2 with 3oz pecan, 3oz post oak. Smaller one on top rack, larger one two tracks down (to make it barely fit under the top rack). Larger one barely fit... had to push it in, then kind of lift it up a bit to get the door shut.

Auber set at 300 degrees t .5 , 225 degrees f 195, 140 degrees t 4.0. Meat probe was in the lower brisket, in the thickest part of the point. Started it up at about 11:30pm Friday night and went to bed.

Woke up at 7:30 Saturday morning, and the Auber was beeping DONE. ... ... Thought something had to have gone wrong. No way did it run the .5 time cycle, the 195 degree temp cycle, and 4 hours hold cycle all by 7:30AM. That would mean that 195 internal temp was hit by 3-3:30AM.... only 3-1/2 - 4 hours into the smoke....  But meat temp was showing at 160ish.. so we were out of the "danger zone" and I had no reason to suspect that the meat was comprimised in any way.

So... scratched my head for a bit.. verified meat temp with two other Thermoworks probes.... and decided that maybe the Auber meat probe was in a fat pocket... or was too close to the edge.... or something. So, box temp was down to about 130. I power cycled the auber, and just put in a single program of 225 to internal temp of 195.

Box heated back up.... meat temp went back up... passed 160... 170... I was waiting to see a stall... nope 180... 190... 194 by 10AM. What in the world is going on??? ... I opened the box... got out the Thermoworks probes again... and they went in smooth as butter. A smack of the brisket resulted in a jello-mold like vibration of epic proportions. (I have a 10sec video available of this..) so... much to my dismay... they appeared done... problem is.. this was for dinner Saturday night... with almost 30lbs of meat in the #2, I was worried that it would be done in time for dinner with a midnight start time... now, it was 10AM, and it's done. So, double wrapped both in foil, and loaded them back into the smoker at 150degrees to keep them warm while I furiously packed up the car, cooked the baked beans, made the BBQ sauce, and got the kids ready to go 2 hours to the lake...

By noon, everything else was done, cars were packed... so I pulled out the foil wrapped briskets and tossed them into my RTIC 20 cooler, one on top of the other, both wrapped in towels.


Drive down to the lake... carry everything inside... and wait until 6pm for dinner... I'm feeding 15 people... it's my birthday... and this is going to be a train-wreck. I've never had a problem with briskets before, and I can't, for the life of me, figure out what went wrong....but... it was time to eat. I start slicing....



ok...



Wow... incredible... moist from first cut to last... flavorful... best damn briskets I've ever made....

So.... I'm going to continue on with my plans... Smaller brisket got turned into this....





So... I have no idea what happened with this smoke.... No idea how the meat cooked so fast, and stayed so incredibly moist and tender and amazing. One thought is that since my box temp probe is on the highest rack, and the lower brisket's thickest part was likely right under that (but not touching it in any way) perhaps the cold meat mass made the box temp reading off... but I would think that if box temp got too high, the meat wouldn't have stayed so incredible.

Also worth noting - I didn't use any water pan of any kind for this smoke. The juice tray under the smoker overflowed by 7AM... with that much moisture loss, I thought that the meat was going to be leather....

Finally... my favorite local butcher never seems to get briskets with any kind of marking of Grade on them.... But, the marbling on these things was beautiful... and the bend on them before cooking was incredible...so.. I'm thinking definitely Choice... if not edging into Prime territory.

If you made it this far... thanks for sticking with me...I'd love to hear any theories/input you may have.
« Last Edit: July 07, 2017, 12:54:28 PM by va_rider »
Aaron in Virginia
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old sarge

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Re: My Birthday Brisket Smoke - Long, confusing read.
« Reply #1 on: July 07, 2017, 02:56:40 PM »
Don't you just love it when everything goes wrong yet turns out so right?    It is a sign that you need a larger smoker😁
David from Arizona
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va_rider

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Re: My Birthday Brisket Smoke - Long, confusing read.
« Reply #2 on: July 07, 2017, 03:11:30 PM »
Don't you just love it when everything goes wrong yet turns out so right?    It is a sign that you need a larger smoker😁

Ha! I really can't complain I guess David. I've caught myself looking at the larger SI models a few times... but the #2 fits perfectly on the side porch next to my kitchen, and I rarely have much more than 15-20# of anything on it.... I really can't complain about my little #2 since I got the Auber for it.
Aaron in Virginia
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JustChillin

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Re: My Birthday Brisket Smoke - Long, confusing read.
« Reply #3 on: July 08, 2017, 07:25:45 AM »
Aaron, I am also perfectly happy with my SI2 and Auber. It fits perfectly in the corner of my screen porch and it allows me plenty of cooking area to cook for just 2 people as well as for 15-20 hungry tailgaters.
David from Roswell,GA. My tools currently include the SI #2 with an Auber, Grill Dome, Solaire 27", Holland Grill (Companion) & Weber (Smokey Joe). The Companion & SJ are primarily used for tailgating.

ibbones

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Re: My Birthday Brisket Smoke - Long, confusing read.
« Reply #4 on: July 08, 2017, 01:10:17 PM »
Aaron, I have had a brisket done in about 9 hours.  I also thought I had it probed wrong or too close to the side.  I did like you and re-probed, turned the smoker back on and watched it get back up to temp.  Not too sure what happened as most take all night and half the next day.
Yours looks great.
Michael "BONES" T. 
Victoria, Texas
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va_rider

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Re: My Birthday Brisket Smoke - Long, confusing read.
« Reply #5 on: July 09, 2017, 02:00:16 PM »
I actually brought Leftovers home from the lake, and made more burnt ends... Absolutely delicious.
Aaron in Virginia
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Pork Belly

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Re: My Birthday Brisket Smoke - Long, confusing read.
« Reply #6 on: July 09, 2017, 06:58:12 PM »
I do not speak Auber so I do not know what a lot of your post is talking about.

I do know that 300 is way hotter than necessary for brisket.

I do think you got lucky with the results especially with the size difference of 8 pounds. That is a big difference although you did get similar results.

Brian - Michigan-NRA Life Member
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va_rider

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Re: My Birthday Brisket Smoke - Long, confusing read.
« Reply #7 on: July 10, 2017, 03:57:33 PM »
I do not speak Auber so I do not know what a lot of your post is talking about.

I do know that 300 is way hotter than necessary for brisket.

I do think you got lucky with the results especially with the size difference of 8 pounds. That is a big difference although you did get similar results.

300 was for a half hour... basically just ensuring that the element stays on for a half hour solid to get things heated up. No way the box temp even breaks 220 in that half hour... let alone anywhere near 300.

After that, it was 225 degree until bottom brisket hit an internal temp of 195.

Third program was 140, for 4 hours, just to keep it warm.... I always program that in, just in case I fall asleep on the couch or something when it's close to finishing up.


8lbs is a significant size difference, but the larger brisket was probably 8-10" closer to the heat source in order for them both to fit in the #2.... Also, since the plan was to use the entire smaller brisket for burnt ends, I wasn't too awful worried about it.... Though it did come out amazingly juicy.
Aaron in Virginia
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BedouinBob

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Re: My Birthday Brisket Smoke - Long, confusing read.
« Reply #8 on: July 10, 2017, 04:44:28 PM »
Aaron, the only conclusion I can come to is that you need to mess up more often.  8) Looks like it turned out great!
Bob - Colorado Springs
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