Smoked My First Brisket

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wrong... you wrapped too early if you wanted a more durable bark.

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Interesting. I was thinking the foil steamed the bark and softened it. You think it was solely due to wrapping early? The bark was a hard crust to the touch when I wrapped it BUT I feel like I touched only a small portion of the crust, I can't recall feeling it all over.

I have not cooked a ton of brisket, but I have not had great luck with small ones and that looks pretty small? Ive found you want a med to large one, cooked longer obviously, and is easier to get your bark and proper texture.

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It was 15 pounds. Thats not small.

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While I also don't think its small, it was the smallest one at Sams. The others were around 20+ pounds. I bought this one for cost reasons. If I was gonna F it up, I'd rather save $30-$50.

Not bad at all for a first time. I can help with some tips if you're interested. Don't want to come across as a know-it-all or give you a hard time.

Use the heath riles beef injection. Unless u like the over powering taste of Dales.

I started using there pork injection mixed
With apple juice for smoking Boston butts and it was a huge game changer! His butter bath is awesome too!

That looks delicious bud!

First thing I notice is the amount of fat left on top...it's too much. Go for 1/4" layer. In the second pic the fat looks like it's almost an inch thick. Also in the same pic, you see how white the fat is? That's not completely rendered. But if you look at the very edges of the same fat you can see how it's yellowish? That's properly rendered.

That kind of render will almost have a sweet taste to it and be sticky. Here's what I'm talking about...



That all starts with a good trim down to 1/4" thick fat cap.



I even scalped the point in a couple of spots but that's ok. Next thing is I don't know your smoker or what temps you smoked at but you see how the bottom was crumbling off? That says the bottom was getting more heat than the top and was bordering on overcooked.

Advice here would be to use the next rack up (if available) and put an empty disposable aluminum restaurant pan under the brisket to shield the bottom better. And your bark likely came out like that because you wrapped too soon. It wasn't finished forming.

This is what you should be looking for in the bark...



As far as the tip getting overcooked, that first goes back to your trim. You want rounded edges. No sharp points. Aerodynamic trim allows the heat to travel around the brisket. You can also tear you a piece of aluminum foil off and cover just the tip to protect it if you see it getting too much heat. Or rotate the brisket.

My method goes like this...fat side up, brisket goes on a 225* smoker for the first two hours. Raise the temp to 250* for the next ~4 hours. Brisket will be nearing the stall around this point (160-170 internal temp). Bump the temp to 275-300 and run it out the back. This is when the bark will really start forming. When I pull the brisket it's anywhere from 195-200 internal but I go by feel. Fat cap will be pillowy and the whole brisket will jiggle.

I then wrap in foil and put it in a holding oven at 140* for at least 6 but usually up to 12hrs. You can put a little tallow in the wrap if you want. You don't HAVE TO hold it that long but to me, it gives the best results. You can wrap and throw it on the counter until internal comes down to 140 then serve. Apologies for the long post but in brisket, the details matter.

You're off to a great start though. Better than most for a first-timer actually.

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Interesting. I was thinking the foil steamed the bark and softened it.

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well kinda... but butcher paper does the same thing. Wrapping is just a technique used to push through the stall. the Stall is when the meat gets to 150-160 and it sit there for hours because the meat starts "sweating" and cooling itself off. Wrapping stops that sweating/cooing action whether it be done with foil or paper.

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The bark was a hard crust to the touch when I wrapped it BUT I feel like I touched only a small portion of the crust, I can't recall feeling it all over.

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yea just looking at ti it looks to me like you could have set it more... i like a darker bark.

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You think it was solely due to wrapping early?

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I do... the downvoters dont feel like rebutting me, typical for people on here.

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Try injecting Dales

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idk what dales is... you can inject seasonings but IMO it really only needed in completions. And more competition injections are full of phosphates to break down the meat fibers faster.

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letting it sit for 5 days

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the frick? you making pastrami?