First brisket smoke w/Qview and questions.

[rab]

Smoked my first brisket ever today along with a couple pork butts. I did this on my home built wood fired smoker with cherry and apple as the woods of choice. 225-250 deg for about 14 hours got everything done. I took the brisket up to 170, foiled and then went to 190. It got to rest about 1.5 hours before we opened it up. My question is when we first sliced it, it was extremely juicy, fall apart tender and absolutely the best brisket I've ever had but after it sat for 15-20 minutes it cooled and started to dry out and get tougher (not really tough but tougher than it was earlier). Is this normal or did I do something wrong? We had the juice in a pan so I put the sliced meat in there and it was still very good but not nearly as good as when it first came out. Right now its sliced and stored in a tuperware container almost submerged in the juices. Hopefully it'll still be good tomorrow as I plan on feeding it and one of the butts to my farm crew at the shop.

 

[hogfan40]

Did you do a marinade injection with it when it was still raw? I always inject my briskets 24 hrs prior to smoking, then i will mop a few times during the smoke, now i never have wrapped my briskets in foil, i always just use a mop sauce during the smoke, but i will wrap in foil after the brisket is done and i will let it rest in the foil for up to 1.5 to 2 hrs before i will open it and even slice it. It has always come out moist, the juices dont run out of it, but it is still good. Let me ask you this, can you take the brisket and give it a tug, a good slice of brisket will have alittle pull to it before it pulls apart, if it just falls apart it may have been overcooked. Just my thoughts, hope this helps.

Thanks for the Qview, the brisket looks GOOD. I live on the other side of the state so send me some and i will try it out for you.

 

[rab]

I didn't do any injection at all. I did squirt it down numerous times with apple juice while cooking. After sitting for a while the meat takes a fair amout of tug to break a slice apart. It doesn't fall apart so I don't think I overcooked it. Maybe thats the way its supposed to be and I'm just not used to it since this was my first.

Its great to see another Arkie on here......GO HOGS GO!!!!!!!

 

[hogfan40]

GO HOGS!!! ready for football, going to be a good year. I am going to say your first brisket from the looks of it and what you say, is alomst perfect. I wish my first brisket turned out like that. Someone else on here might have a differant idea, but i have notice that my brisket even does that sometimes also. What part of arkansas are you from, my mom is from a little town kinda west of Pargould.

 

[rab]

Not sure how the hogs will be this year but I'm hoping for the best.

I'm from Brinkley (half way between LR and Memphis). I went to the UofA so I'll be a Razorback until I'm dead.

 

[beer-b-q]

Great looking first brisket RAB...

 

[caveman]

Good looking first brisket there Razorback.

 

[mballi3011]

Go hogs maybe or till they play the GATORS. Now for the brisket it looks great in the pictures. Nice and juicey and I know tastey too. Now for the drying out thing you say that you let it rest for a couple of hours so it should have kept some of the juices. I normally serve it in a pan style platter and the meat is still in the juices but drying our and getting tougher doesn't sound right to me either. You got me on this one here RAB

 

[rab]

I ended up putting it back in the juices and we reheated it today. It was better than last night after it had sat out for while. I guess overall I was pleased with how it eventually turned out. Several of the guys eating it today said it was some of the best they've ever had. 95% of the people who smoke around here don't do briskets, only butts so that probably wasn't a real fair comparison. I'd do it again sometime but pork buts and baby backs are my favorites.