So I rubbed the brisket saturday night, wrapped in foil and refrigerated.

Then I woke up at 4 Sunday morning and pulled it out f the fridge to let it warm up. (Old Men wake up at 4 anyway)

Then I woke up at 5:30 and started a fire in the offset smoker.

Brisket on at 6 am, temp 220-250 for 3 hours.

At 9 I switched it to the pellet grill so I could leave it unattended and we could go to church. Temp 275 for 2 hours.

Then warmed the offset back up to 250, wrapped in butcher paper, and put it back on the offset.

Removed the brisket at internal temp of 200.


The thick side of the brisket was perfect. Best I have ever done. Great flavor, great smoke, very juicy.

The thin side was crunchified.


How do I get one without the other?

Has anyone ever split a brisket and cooked it as 2 separate cuts, and pulled the thinner piece earlier?

You can split the point and the flat, and cook them separate. Lot's of people do it. I don't prefer that method though.

No real way of answering this without knowing your cooking setups. I would guess that your flat was too close to the heat source or a hot spot, and got dried out. You might have trimmed too much fat off of the flat. Was this a choice or select brisket, or a prime? If it was a lower grade, it could have just not had as much fat to begin with and dried out.

This is also why I always cook to feel, not temperature. I stop paying attention to temperature after my brisket hits about 165 and has the color bark I want. I then wrap it in peach paper and leave it alone. When the the brisket has a good jiggle and bend, I start testing until a probe slides in with almost zero resistance, it is done. Sometimes that is around 195-198, and other times it is more in the 202-205 range. A lot can change in those 10 degrees there at the end.

But, you still have some tasty brisket. Worst case scenario is that you just chop & sauce the dried-out flat, and have some awesome brisket sandwiches.

Temperature could be a factor. Next time, consider sticking to one temperature range.

Trim. How much fat did you remove?

Watch video linked below for some tips on how to make brisket even better.

I'm terrible at brisket on anything other than an offset.

I'll echo the above. My guess in order of likely cause:

1. Temperature swings
2. Fat content of flat
3. The 2hrs @ 275* on the pellet (see #1)

Any time I have wild temp swings or spikes (even if brief), my flat always turns out to be overcooked.

How much time did you allow it to rest before slicing/serving? You hit a good internal temperature but if it wasn't given enough time to rest and have the juices redistribute that could have been a factor. For brisket I try to let rest for 2 hours before serving.

Sounds like a pain in the ass to go back and forth like that.

Next time you know you're leaving just start it on the pellet smoker and leave it there.

Isn't the whole purpose of a pellet smoker to set and it forget it?

Uneven cook means too hot of cook temp in my experience.

What I found is that the point and flat eventually catch up with each other. Below is a snapshot of one of my cooks showing that. I have put a therm in the midpoint of the 2 and start probing around 198F or so. The point is more forgiving so you can pull a bit early so you don't overlook the flat. When I do, which has happened, I'll make burnt ends or chopped brisket with it.

SunrayAg said:

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Then I woke up at 4 Sunday morning and pulled it out f the fridge to let it warm up. (Old Men wake up at 4 anyway)

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Dont bother with this step. Internal temp of a big piece of meat like that isnt going to change much sitting on the counter for that amount of time and it does nothing for you. Going straight from the fridge to the pit helps show more of a smoke ring anyways (if youre into those).

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At 9 I switched it to the pellet grill ......

Then warmed the offset back up to 250, wrapped in butcher paper, and put it back on the offset

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You have the patience of a saint, thats all I'll say here.

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The thick side of the brisket was perfect. Best I have ever done. Great flavor, great smoke, very juicy.

The thin side was crunchified. How do I get one without the other?

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1) trim your brisket pretty aggressively and you'd be surprised how the point and flat should be about the same thickness and cook similarly to each other. Watch this video from Chuds bbq to see proper technique. Before you complain, use those trimmings to grind into burgers, make sausage, or anything else. You arent throwing it away and wasting. How to trim a brisket

2) Watch your temps more closely. Probe both the flat and the point during the cook and keep a closer eye on both. If one side is farther along during the cook, rotate that side away from the firebox and let the otherside take more of the direct heat.

On a pellet grill, I have switched to fat side down to help with the issues that you identified here.

Troy91 said:

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On a pellet grill, I have switched to fat side down to help with the issues that you identified here.

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Same,

I used to get some crunch and dried out flats on my rec tec and went fat side down. I'll render some trimmings/fat in the smoker and pour that on the meat side during the long rest. Turns out great.

Flat and point won't cook the same without trying to make them the most "same" they can be.



I don't use MC products on brisket, but this is a good video on trimming to help balance things out!

He has more videos on YT you can watch about the other steps.

IMHO 275 is very hot for a brisket. If you are leaving for church, I probably would have put it in home oven on 225. But you could also have a brisket with very skinny point, which will not tolerate overcook at all.

First, your thermometer could be off. I've seen thermometers be significantly off by up to 20deg. Your target temp is good if that's the actual temp the brisket is seeing at the cook zone. As mentioned, turn the flat side further away from the heat source if possible and also when you put the brisket on, "bunch up" the flat so the brisket is a little shorter and the flat thickens up as much as possible. It's the same principle behind wrapping s prime rib roast with twine to make it as "round" as possible during cooking.

Also, after 4-5 hours of smoker time, I wrap my briskets in butcher paper for the duration of the cook. This helps prevent the thinnest part of the flat from drying out, as well as elevating internal temp through the "stall."

Aggieangler93 said:

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IMHO 275 is very hot for a brisket. If you are leaving for church, I probably would have put it in home oven on 225. But you could also have a brisket with very skinny point, which will not tolerate overcook at all.

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True. His initial temp was good, but I think that's a little hot for a thin brisket. I try to stay at 235-250.

Then again, I've seen people cook some very good briskets at even higher indicated temps. There are a lot of variables in the smoker design, the size of the brisket, etc that make a difference.

cupofjoe04 said:

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When the the brisket has a good jiggle and bend, I start testing until a probe slides in with almost zero resistance, it is done.

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Words to live by

Trim well as others have mentioned. Put on pellet grill around 7:30 night before at 215 degrees. Check at 7:30 am and wrap or let finish as is.

Resting in a good cooler with towels to insulate will keep for hours. I generally will pull off around 10:00 am and it will keep until an early dinner.

You can cheat like I do and buy the point only. Our HEB usually sells them this way and I'm sure they'd cut it if requested.

Thanks for the tips...

As far as waking up at 4, when you are past 50 you wake up early every morning to whiz anyway, might as well do something constructive.

As far as just going full time on pellets, I have to get at least 3 hours of oak smoke. The pellets just can't develop the same flavor as the oak logs. It's the difference between smoking a brisket and cooking a brisket.

Unfortunately, I'm 3 hours from the nearest HEB.


But based on comments, I might have trimmed too aggressively. It was also a relatively small brisket.

And next time I do the switch I will definitely set the pellet grill to 235 ish.

I think I will also try starting fat side up, and flipping it when I switch after 3 hours.

And pay more attention to the look, and less to the clock.


I guess on an 8 pound brisket, I still got 6 pounds of perfection, 1 pound of tasted great but dried out, and 1 pound of crunchy charcoal. And we were pretty happy with the good part.

Again, thanks for all the tips!

Yeah i think it was too hot. I did 3 briskets in too small of a smoker last time. The one by the stack was done hours ahead of the one by the bin. And it was perfect on one side and like a rock on the other. I should have been paying closer attention but i thought I had lots of time left on it not realizing how hot it was by the stack. Totally think this is overheating related. Lessons always learned, right?

Using a pellet smoker doesn't allow you any cook time at lower temps due to neglect. With my offset, I'll run an errand or get caught up in something and my 250 target temp will be down to 200 when I get back to it. Happens a few times during the cook and I've never burnt my briskets.

I also use a water pan, spritz occasionally and wrap in foil with a small puddle of spritz under the meat. My moisture cheats.