My First Brisket (UPDATE, COOK HAS STARTED)

[Newtra]

Plan on doing my first ever brisket tomorrow on my Ironwood 885. Just have a couple questions.

1 - Dry rub, when should I apply it? I've read just before cooking, but have also read overnight. Some say the prolonged salt exposure will dry it out.

2 - I plan to start around 225 with super smoke until the interior gets to 165ish. I will then remove, and wrap in foil. Bump the temp to 250ish and remove at about 203-205. I don't have any butcher paper on hand, so is foil ok? Will that screw up my bark?

3 - When I wrap in foil, should I add some liquid? I saw guys doing a little beef broth. Is this necessary? Any other liquids instead?

4 - I saw vids that recommended spritz with Apple juice every hour before the wrap. Should I be doing that?

5 - Some recommend when it hits 203-205 to remove and let rest in a cooler. But some say that could dry it out. What should I be doing when I remove it from the Traeger, rest in cooler, or room temp? Still in the foil, or let it rest unwrapped?

So sorry for all the questions. I'm very new to this and don't want to screw up this $60 piece of meat lol. Thanks so much guys! I really appreciate the help and input!

<John>

 

[MidwestSmoker]

A million ways to do brisket! You need to experiment and decide what you like best. I will give you my suggestions and then let others chime in.

Plan on doing my first ever brisket tomorrow on my Ironwood 885. Just have a couple questions.

1 - Dry rub, when should I apply it? I've read just before cooking, but have also read overnight. Some say the prolonged salt exposure will dry it out.

A brisket cook is very long and so there is plenty of time for the salt soak in. No need to wait.. I apply my rub just before it goes in the Traeger.

2 - I plan to start around 225 with super smoke until the interior gets to 165ish. I will then remove, and wrap in foil. Bump the temp to 250ish and remove at about 203-205. I don't have any butcher paper on hand, so is foil ok? Will that screw up my bark?

Foil is perfectly fine for your first one. You can try with butcher paper next time and see if you prefer that. By the way, Reynolds now makes butcher paper and so your grocery store may carry it. Also, Lowe's has butcher paper:

https://www.lowes.com/pd/Oklahoma-Joe-s-Butcher-Paper/1001459640

3 - When I wrap in foil, should I add some liquid? I saw guys doing a little beef broth. Is this necessary? Any other liquids instead?

It is optional. I add a little beef tallow when I wrap. Where do I get the beef tallow you may ask? I put all the brisket trimmings in a foil pan and cook it with the brisket until all the fat is rendered into tallow.

4 - I saw vids that recommended spritz with Apple juice every hour before the wrap. Should I be doing that?

Only if you think some parts of the brisket are drying out too much. This is true for the non-fat cap areas. If you spritz, try to avoid the fat cap as you want all the fat to render and not cool down.

5 - Some recommend when it hits 203-205 to remove and let rest in a cooler. But some say that could dry it out. What should I be doing when I remove it from the Traeger, rest in cooler, or room temp? Still in the foil, or let it rest unwrapped?

Resting is absolutely necessary. I usually pull it a little shy of 203 as the carry over heat will take it there. I use butcher paper for wrapping, but when I pull it out of the Traeger I wrap it in foil over the butcher paper and into the cooler it goes.

 

[Newtra]

A million ways to do brisket! You need to experiment and decide what you like best. I will give you my suggestions and then let others chime in.

A brisket cook is very long and so there is plenty of time for the salt soak in. No need to wait.. I apply my rub just before it goes in the Traeger.


Foil is perfectly fine for your first one. You can try with butcher paper next time and see if you prefer that. By the way, Reynolds now makes butcher paper and so your grocery store may carry it. Also, Lowe's has butcher paper:

https://www.lowes.com/pd/Oklahoma-Joe-s-Butcher-Paper/1001459640

It is optional. I add a little beef tallow when I wrap. Where do I get the beef tallow you may ask? I put all the brisket trimmings in a foil pan and cook it with the brisket until all the fat is rendered into tallow.


Only if you think some parts of the brisket are drying out too much. This is true for the non-fat cap areas. If you spritz, try to avoid the fat cap as you want all the fat to render and not cool down.


Resting is absolutely necessary. I usually pull it a little shy of 203 as the carry over heat will take it there. I use butcher paper for wrapping, but when I pull it out of the Traeger I wrap it in foil over the butcher paper and into the cooler it goes.

Great info, MUCH APPRECIATED

 

[YYCRed]

I do mine similar to what @MidwestSmoker said, but I put my rub on about 30 minutes before it goes on the smoker. I like to have the seasonings sit on the meat long enough for it to get wet looking (I don't use a binder, so this makes me feel better about whether it has stuck to the meat). Depending on your taste preference, you have the option with the Ironwood to use SuperSmoke to add more smoke flavor.

Don't get too hung up on the end temperature. A brisket is "done" when your instant-read thermometer goes into the meat with almost no resistance - like a worm knife going into room temperature butter. I start testing a little below 200F and I have had some finish at 200, and some not done until 205. Each brisket is different.

Side note: make sure you use a third-party temperature probe. Don't trust the temps the Traeger is telling you. They can be off by up to 30 degrees.

As far as resting goes, this is a MUST. If you wrap it in a towel or blanket (that you don't need to use for other purposes later) and put it in a cooler, you can leave it for several hours, but at least one is mandatory. I have left a brisket in my cooler for 5 hours and it was still hot.

Good luck and happy cooking!

 

[RustyJake]

A couple things I have started doing at the end of the cook. Re-wrapping my briskets to get them out of the liquid that has formed in the paper, or in your case the foil. I will add a bit of tallow to the top surface on the re-wrap. This seems to help stop my briskets from getting that braised beef consistency and retains some more of the bark
The other step is to let the brisket come down to about 180°-190°F before placing it in the cooler to rest.
Like @midwestsaid, 100's of ways to do a brisket. Some good advice given above by @MidwestSmoker and @YYCRed. There is information overload online if you care to venture down the Google or YouTube search for brisket how-to's.
Best advice is to keep it simple in the beginning and then try experimenting if you find it needed improvement.
Good luck, take pictures and make sure you post your progress and results

 

[patstock11]

my biggest piece of advice would be when u bring it to 205....and pull it...dont immediately put it in the cooler....let it come down at room temp to 160-150....then put it in a cooler, u want to halt the cooking process and if u put it in the cooler immediately it might continue to cook and "dry out"......at a minimum of 2 hours in the cooler...good luck

 

[RayClem]

When you salt meat (always use coarse salt rather than table salt), the large crystals will draw moisture out of the meat to the surface. If you wait long enough, that moisture will dissolve the salt crystals and the moisture will migrate back into the meat taking the salt and other seasonings along with it.

Thus, you either want to season meat well in advance and let it rest in a refrigerator or you want to salt it shortly before cooking. What you do not want to do is apply salt a few hours before the cook such that the moisture is drawn out of the meat only to evaporate shortly after it hits the grill. If you can season the meat 12-24 hours ahead of time, that is fine. Otherwise, just wait until right before the cook. With long cooks, the seasoning will get drawn into the meat either way.

 

[Newtra]

Got up at 3:15am, brisket was on at exactly 4am. Have 2 probes from my Thermopro in, and the Traeger probe. Traeger probe is already 8 degrees higher then the TP probes. Temp set at 215 super smoke.. Here goes nothing

 

[Newtra]

 

[Slimpicker]

4 - I saw vids that recommended spritz with Apple juice every hour before the wrap. Should I be doing that?

I don't spritz, first bcuz you are always opening the lid, I keep the lid shut on my long cook as much as I possibly can.
2nd, you can wash OFF you rub if you do it too early and too much.
I have NEVER spritzed a brisket

Resting is absolutely necessary. I usually pull it a little shy of 203 as the carry over heat will take it there. I use butcher paper for wrapping, but when I pull it out of the Traeger I wrap it in foil over the butcher paper and into the cooler it goes.

A brisket can and should rest foiled in a cooler for as long as you want. I have now gone past the 4 hour mark and it was still putting out steam as I cut it open. Juices flowed so there was zero drying out.

 

[Newtra]

Just about 6 hours into the smoke, IT seems to be around 137. Plan to pull it at about 170 to wrap.

 

[RustyJake]

Just about 6 hours into the smoke, IT seems to be around 137. Plan to pull it at about 170 to wrap.

I use the temperature to wrap as a relative guide. I look for color on the bark and how well it has set up on the brisket. Also look for how well the surface fat has rendered. My wraps have been around the 180-190 mark.
Some wrap their briskets earlier, lots of different thoughts on that as well. In my opinion your 170 is a great reference point for checking and deciding when to wrap

 

[Newtra]

I use the temperature to wrap as a relative guide. I look for color on the bark and how well it has set up on the brisket. Also look for how well the surface fat has rendered. My wraps have been around the 180-190 mark.
Some wrap their briskets earlier, lots of different thoughts on that as well. In my opinion your 170 is a great reference point for checking and deciding when to wrap

Appreciate that info!

 

[RayClem]

Wrapping the meat is one way of reducing the overall cook time by helping to overcome the stall. The stall occurs when the heat produced by the fire is consumed by the phase change of water evaporating from the surface of the meat. There is little excess heat to increase the internal temperature of the cook.

If you have sufficient time, you can just wait out the stall. Eventually, the moisture will evaporate and the temperature will begin to rise once again.

The third method is to boost the cooking temperature. That increases the amount of heat energy so there will be enough to evaporate the moisture and increase the internal temperature.

When you wrap the meat, you are preventing the loss of moisture due to evaporation. The moisture is trapped within the package and cannot escape. Thus, the meat will steam inside the package. That does speed up the cook time, but will also soften the bark. Thus, you need to decide what is most important to you, cook time or bark.

 

[Newtra]

Pulled at 168 and wrapped. Was able to get butcher paper instead of foil. Increased the Traeger temp to 275. Plan to go to about 203, let cool to 160-170 then rest in cooler for 1-2 hours. Please feel free to correct any of my plan.