Brisket Question

[DannyW]

I smoked my 2nd brisket this weekend. I trimmed off all the fat except for the fat cap. It was thin, maybe 1/4", so I left most of it as it was. I rubbed the whole brisket with a good mix of pepper and coarse sea salt and tossed it on the smoker at 7:00 PM, fat cap facing up.

Smoked it for about 7 hours (2:00 AM) until the temperature in the point reached 174 degrees. I proceeded to wrap it and put it in a 200 degree oven. Then I went to bed.

Got up at 6:30 the next morning and checked the brisket. The temperature was in the low 190's. I increased the oven temp to 210 and after a couple hours it hit my target of 200 degrees. I did not check the flat for some reason, but it usually is 4-5 degrees hotter than the point. So far it is a nearly 100% copy of my first brisket.

I let it rest for 3 hours and sliced.

The first thing I noticed is that the fat cap didn't render as well as with my first brisket. But it sliced nicely, and both the point and flat was tender and juicy. The favor of the meat was spot on.

The problem was every time you got a bit of the fat cup in your bite, and it's nearly impossible to trim off all the fat, it had a bitter flavor. Nearly a spit-it-out taste.

The brisket has been sitting my freezer for 6 months. Could that have turned the fat to taste bad? Or where did I do wrong?

TIA

 

[NCHillbilly]

I smoked my 2nd brisket this weekend. I trimmed off all the fat except for the fat cap. It was thin, maybe 1/4", so I left most of it as it was. I rubbed the whole brisket with a good mix of pepper and coarse sea salt and tossed it on the smoker at 7:00 PM, fat cap facing up.

Smoked it for about 7 hours (2:00 AM) until the temperature in the point reached 174 degrees. I proceeded to wrap it and put it in a 200 degree oven. Then I went to bed.

Got up at 6:30 the next morning and checked the brisket. The temperature was in the low 190's. I increased the oven temp to 210 and after a couple hours it hit my target of 200 degrees. I did not check the flat for some reason, but it usually is 4-5 degrees hotter than the point. So far it is a nearly 100% copy of my first brisket.

I let it rest for 3 hours and sliced.

The first thing I noticed is that the fat cap didn't render as well as with my first brisket. But it sliced nicely, and both the point and flat was tender and juicy. The favor of the meat was spot on.

The problem was every time you got a bit of the fat cup in your bite, and it's nearly impossible to trim off all the fat, it had a bitter flavor. Nearly a spit-it-out taste.

The brisket has been sitting my freezer for 6 months. Could that have turned the fat to taste bad? Or where did I do wrong?

TIA

IMO, 200 is a little low finished temp for a brisket, may not have got all rendered out. Freezerburn could be a possibility, too.

 

[WOODIE13]

Could just be the cow and what it was fed too.

Agree with NCH about the low temp, could possibly cook it a little longer too.

 

[fflintlock]

I'm no brisket expert by any means, I've done a few though. I never really go by temp, except to know when to start probe testing it. It needs to probe like hot butter. Then I know the fat has rendered down. Just my opinion though.

 

[dwhee87]

Too low temp to render, agree. If you trim the fat to 1/4 in or less, I can't think of any other reason the fat would've stayed chewy. Properly rendered fat should be gelatinous, at best. I'll finish mine in the oven, wrapped in foil, but will set the temp to 275, and cook until internal temp os 201-202. Then wrap in a towel and let it soak in a cooler for a couple hrs.

 

[NCHillbilly]

I'm no brisket expert by any means, I've done a few though. I never really go by temp, except to know when to start probe testing it. It needs to probe like hot butter. Then I know the fat has rendered down. Just my opinion though.

Yep. Perzackly.

 

[NCHillbilly]

Too low temp to render, agree. If you trim the fat to 1/4 in or less, I can't think of any other reason the fat would've stayed chewy. Properly rendered fat should be gelatinous, at best. I'll finish mine in the oven, wrapped in foil, but will set the temp to 275, and cook until internal temp os 201-202. Then wrap in a towel and let it soak in a cooler for a couple hrs.

Yep, the resting is important.

 

[elfiii]

Yep, the resting is important.

Yep. I take mine to 205, put it in a super large ziploc, wrap that in towels and into the cooler it goes for a couple of hours. That cool down might be the most important part.

 

[specialk]

I like to get it to 205 at least, then in a cooler for 2 hours if possible.....6 mos is more than id let one set in a freezer....

 

[Paymaster]

Lots of good info.

 

[DannyW]

IMO, 200 is a little low finished temp for a brisket, may not have got all rendered out. Freezerburn could be a possibility, too.

Thinking it through, I believe you are right. This was a cook based on a time to be completed, therefore low temp for longer time, and never got the smoker/oven temperature over maybe 220-230 for any length of time.

Should have smoked at a higher temp for at least a couple hours to render the fat cap. Guess I got a little lazy, the family get together was at noon which is a bad finish time for a large cut of meat.

Lesson learned.

 

[NCHillbilly]

Thinking it through, I believe you are right. This was a cook based on a time to be completed, therefore low temp for longer time, and never got the smoker/oven temperature over maybe 220-230 for any length of time.

Should have smoked at a higher temp for at least a couple hours to render the fat cap. Guess I got a little lazy, the family get together was at noon which is a bad finish time for a large cut of meat.

Lesson learned.

I usually run the smoker at 250-275 for brisket. It works for me.

 

[NE GA Pappy]

I usually run the smoker at 250-275 for brisket. It works for me.

some run it even higher... 300 or 325. Myron Mixon says he does

 

[NCHillbilly]

some run it even higher... 300 or 325. Myron Mixon says he does

Yep. And won world championships with it. I never really understood the cooking a brisket at 200 degrees for 48 hours thing, like it's somehow magically going to be better the longer you cook it. I've tried it both ways and found the opposite to be true.

 

[Hoss]

I start out low, 225 or less range. Pellet grill puts out more smoke at that temperature. After about an hour, I run it up to 250 to 275. Lower temp seems to help with getting a better Smokey flavor and smoke ring, but long term low temp doesn’t seem to add much.

 

[NE GA Pappy]

I start out low, 225 or less range. Pellet grill puts out more smoke at that temperature. After about an hour, I run it up to 250 to 275. Lower temp seems to help with getting a better Smokey flavor and smoke ring, but long term low temp doesn’t seem to add much.

do you use a smoke cage to hold more pellets in the chamber and add to the smoke?

 

[DannyW]

I usually run the smoker at 250-275 for brisket. It works for me.

I agree. My problem was it needed to be ready for a noon time lunch. Allowing a 2-3 hour resting, this meant it needed to come off the heat around 9:00 am or so.

Don't want this to turn into a low-n-slow vs hot-n-fast debate. It's more a time management issue. Like I said before, noon is a bad time to have a large cut of meat ready to eat.

Unless you are okay staying up all night babysitting a brisket on a stick-burner.

I was going low and slow not because I thought it was the best choice, I was cooking at low temps in order to time the brisket to my meal. And apparently failed.

Open question...what approach would you have taken to have a brisket ready to eat at noon using a stick burner smoker?

 

[Tight Lines]

If I was trying to be done at noon, I would put the brisket on the night before and depending on how big it was, put it on at 9-11 PMish at 275*.

I also do fat cap down. It insulates the meat a bit from drying out...the whole fat cap up so the rendering runs into the meat is an old wives tale. It doesn't happen.

I would run it up to 203, probably not wrap it, take it off at 6 AM and then put it in the oven at 225* until an hour before, then shut the oven off...

Bitter fat I would guess is either an old brisket, what the cow ate, or it just got bitter from the smoke absorption and didn't render fully.

On overnight cooks I almost never wrap, and honestly I can't tell that much difference in wrapped vs. non-wrapped.

I do a lot of briskets for a local gun shop for lunch...those always go on between 9-11 and off around 6...

 

[Tight Lines]

Also if you wrapped at 174*, and were smoking at a lower temperature, my guess is you hadn't rendered enough or much of the fat...I don't wrap when I do until 185* or so.

 

[Tight Lines]

Last I try, but don't always, start with a fresh brisket. Fat can get more rancid over time...once in a while freeze one, but try to cook it soon...