- Aug 3, 2014
- 4
- 10
Hey all. My first post so be gentle. I'm somewhat new to smoking...this is probably my third summer. I live in Chicago so my grilling season is friggin' short. I use a Weber Kettle Grill to smoke. Lump charcoal, wood chunks, water pan. I've done ribs, pork shoulders, pork and beef roasts, and they have been amazing. Good smoke rings, tenderness, and flavor. I know it's not a real smoker but it's done well for me thus far. I've wanted to do a brisket for some time. Finally did it yesterday and it was really tough. Flavor was awesome. But I was expecting super tender and did not get it. Here is what I did.
It was a 6.5 lb whole brisket. I trimmed it according to a YouTube video, removing a ton of the hard fat. I put a rub on and injected with a beef broth, Worcestershire, rub mix. Although I'm still struggling with the injecting, seemed like most of it got on my clothes! I hovered between 240 and 265 degrees mostly. I still struggle with maintaining temp on the kettle grill. When I add coals it goes so high and takes time to bring it down to where I want. Ended up smoking it for about 4 hours and another 4.5 hours on the grill with no smoke until the middle of the flat registered 190 degrees. I double wrapped in foil and put it in a cooler with blankets for an hour and a half or so. (We were getting hungry.) I cubed the point and did on my gas grill in a foil pan with some rub then sauce using a recipe I found online for getting burnt ends when you don't have the additional 2-6 hours to smoke them.
The burnt ends were like rocks. So tough we couldn't eat them. The flat was really flavorful but also extremely tough. It wasn't inedible but it certainly wasn't ideal.
Any thoughts on what I did wrong? Did the changes in temperature hurt me? It would go up to 300 when I added coals before I got it to where I wanted. It wasn't very long at that temp but it was there. Not sure if maybe we took off too much fat. Any help would be much appreciated. Love the forum. Glad I found it. Thanks.
It was a 6.5 lb whole brisket. I trimmed it according to a YouTube video, removing a ton of the hard fat. I put a rub on and injected with a beef broth, Worcestershire, rub mix. Although I'm still struggling with the injecting, seemed like most of it got on my clothes! I hovered between 240 and 265 degrees mostly. I still struggle with maintaining temp on the kettle grill. When I add coals it goes so high and takes time to bring it down to where I want. Ended up smoking it for about 4 hours and another 4.5 hours on the grill with no smoke until the middle of the flat registered 190 degrees. I double wrapped in foil and put it in a cooler with blankets for an hour and a half or so. (We were getting hungry.) I cubed the point and did on my gas grill in a foil pan with some rub then sauce using a recipe I found online for getting burnt ends when you don't have the additional 2-6 hours to smoke them.
The burnt ends were like rocks. So tough we couldn't eat them. The flat was really flavorful but also extremely tough. It wasn't inedible but it certainly wasn't ideal.
Any thoughts on what I did wrong? Did the changes in temperature hurt me? It would go up to 300 when I added coals before I got it to where I wanted. It wasn't very long at that temp but it was there. Not sure if maybe we took off too much fat. Any help would be much appreciated. Love the forum. Glad I found it. Thanks.