I nailed the ribs....The brisket? Not so much.

[damon555]

Trying to get some testing in for the fourth of july. I just started this and I'd like to serve something at least edible.

I used 2-2.5-0 for the ribs. In my opinion they were perfect. The one with no rub tasted almost as good as the one with the rub. I've been making one without rub so I have a good baseline. Lets hope I can repeat this effort this weekend.

The brisket tastes delicious but it's a little tough. Next time I cook much slower and leave in the foil longer. I'll learn to multitask. I cooked to 165 then I foiled up to 195. That will work better if I slow it down. It was in for about 3.5 hours from start to finish. It was little.....3lber. Oh yeah, and let it set wrapped up for 2 hours. I only let it set for one. I'll get it down. I'm not doing brisket on the 4th.

It tastes better than it looks!

I took some notes also......

 

[adiochiro3]

Welcome to the SMF family!!!

Brisket is very tender with the low and slow process.  Very few things leave my smoker in 3.5 hours or less!  (ABT's, smoked mushrooms, stuffed peppers yes, but everything else -- nope!  I just did a 15 lb brisket yesterday; 11.5 hours total, and it fell apart in my fingers as I pulled it (after a 2 hour rest, of course

).  Take your brisket to 165* then foil until 205*.  Rest 1 hour minimum (2+ is better) and then pull/shred.  If you would rather slice it, stop at 195*, rest and slice.  Easy to do, and your friends will declare you a rock star!  Here's the Q-view I just posted for the brisket:

After pulling...

 

[damon555]

Believe it or not the little 3lber I just did looked just like your picture.....except it couldn't be pulled....Maybe I need to do a bigger one and change up my temp a little. It had a few big chunks of fat on top.

 

[mballi3011]

Now your ribs looked awesome and I bet really tastey too. Now for your brisket it looks fine but you said it was tough??? Now what temp did you have your smoker???? You said that you pulled it a 195° that should be good for slicing but when you said tough what do you mean ??Was it tough to eat like shoe leather or was it a little hard to tug on the meat to get it too break???

 

[damon555]

It was border-line leathery.....Maybe someone who likes their beef well done would like like this.....but I like mine on the rare side.

 

[pineywoods]

If you want rare beef then a brisket isn't the cut your looking for they need the low and slow to break down all the tough fibers and connective tissue that it contains. Standing rib roasts are great rare but kind of pricey. Sirloin Tip roasts are pretty good rare. A top round roast isn't bad rare either. Chuck roasts are another that needs the low and slow to break it down.

 

[jirodriguez]

If you do ribs and brisket together, cater to the brisket first. By this I mean run your smoke chamber temp at 200-235°, and just plan on the ribs needing a little bit more time at the lower temp. If you cook brisket to fast it will be chewey/leathery - it needs plenty of time to break down the fibers and get nice and tender. I have only done full packer briskets so I can't give you a lot of advice on the small ones, but the ones I do usually average 12-14 hrs. and all of them have been awesome.

I run my smoker at 210-220 in the chamber, I wait till the brisket comes out of it's stall (usually around 170°), then into a covered foil pan with 1 bottle of Killians Irish Red Ale and take to 190°. I then refoil and put in a cooler for 2 hrs., I take the juices from pan and place them in freezer till the fat sets up on top. The juices I use to mak ajus that I serve with the brisket.... it's like liquid gold!