Yesterday I was smoking a 11.5lb prime brisket. it was a very windy day but averaged about 250 degrees in the cooking chamber with occasional swings to 270. I placed the brisket in the middle of the cooking chamber with the point towards the fire box and maverick temp probe in the thickest portion of meat. Approx 5 hours in I reached a temperature of 160, at which point I wrapped the brisket in butcher paper and continued smoking until temp reached 203. I took the brisket off and placed in warmed cooler . Total time in smoker 13 hours. Hold time in cooler 90 minutes.
The brisket had a beautiful smoke ring, the point meat was perfect, however the flat seemed dryer than normal. I'm not sure why and haven't experienced this before with previous smokers I have had over the years. Also did baby backs and they were perfect. Any suggestions on what I may have done wrong with the brisket or suggestions on what to do differently new time? Thanks so much.
Sounds like you had a nice base to work from. So, good job on that. My rule is to keep it under 275. Running at 235 is ideal for me. How did you get your temp at the grate? Were you reading from the door or from a Maverick with a grate clip?
When trimming a brisket, I try to minimize the thickness from the point to the flat. I don't make it equal thickness because that would remove to much of the tasty fat! I just try to level (by trimming deckle fat only) so that i'm not one inch on one end and 4 on the other. Another thought would be to find a simple injection for the flat. That might help preserve some moisture.
Your post is the reason I don't cook just flats unless I'm willing to really babysit them. They can dry out before they are ready to pull off the cooker.
It could have been the cut of brisket that was just naturally not going to make you happy. If so, nothing you can do about it. If you consistently have a dry flat, then maybe wrap (with foil) after 4 hours instead of 5. I'm a butcher paper guy, so I understand why you would steer away from that idea.
Sometimes I will wrap a brisket once it has the color I want (nice red mahogany) and then when I go for the last 30-45 minutes I will unwrap to get some of the crust back. I typically see the mahogany around 4 hours.
I look forward to what others think. Sounds like you did everything right. I question the actual temp at the grate as well as the thickness prior to cooking from one end to the other. Otherwise, kudos!
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