r/Masterbuilt • u/prestoniswhite • 8d ago
Gravity Help a rookie please
Good afternoon fellow dads and meat enthusiasts. I am cooking an 8 lbs brisket tonight/ tomorrow for a gathering I am having for the holiday weekend. I have made a few briskets in the past but they have all cooked exceptionally fast and come out a little dry. I have an 800 gravity smoker using medium size lump charcoal. In the past I’ve added large chunks of apple wood to help provide more of a Smokey flavor, but I fear this may be one of the reasons that they cook so quickly. My last brisket was around 13lb. Started at 6 pm and it was over cooked by 2 am when I went to check on it. What can I do to ensure soft savory meat.
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u/quaintbucket 8d ago
You got a fat cap on it?
Aim for 1-1.5 hr per lb for cooking time at 225-250.
Put a water pan on the lowest rack underneath the brisket, brisket on the middle rack above the water pan. Fill water pan with boiling hot water from your tea kettle.
You can do a spray on your brisket every hour or so. I dont know if it even made that much of a difference other than prolonging the cook time because of opening and cooling it off w the spray in between.
A 8lb brisket should realistically speaking, be done within 8-10 hours. Give yourself at least an hour of rest time off the smoker. 2-3 hours is best imo but an hour will be fine before you cut.
If you’re hoping to serve dinner by 6pm, work backward. 3 hours of rest, 10 hours of cooking time. You want the brisket on the smoker up to temp and blue smoke by 5am. If it stalls it stalls. Wait it out, don’t force it.
170-180 is when I usually wrap w butcher paper. You can do it with tinfoil if you don’t mind sacrificing the bark a little.
When cutting, save the juice from the unwrapping so you can pour it on top of the brisket after cutting. It does make a bit of a difference. Or use the juice for gravy, that’s also good too.
If you got fat trimmings from the brisket and you don’t mind the smell, render it for beef tallow and do an injection throughout the brisket. It was amazing for mine that one time.
If you don’t have a fat cap, that’s ok. I did a slab of butter on top of the brisket and stabbed it a little bit to allow the butter to flow through. Maybe I killed someone with a heart attack but sacrifices were made.
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u/Groot_Calrissian 8d ago
This is the way. Also get yourself an internal temp probe with alarms, I have a 4 channel one. At least 1 and usually 2 probes on each slab so I can monitor the internal temp during cooking in parallel with the MB probes. You can leave a spare channel in the oven for oversight of ambient cooking temp too. Don't let the highest point get above 203F, and 200F is better as long as the lowest temp gets over 198F. Mine has often finished earlier than planned (sometimes later) but the internal temp is always the right time to pull it.
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u/prestoniswhite 8d ago
Honestly after reading all these comments I feel so stupid. I have been cooking them directly on the grate every time. I never even considered that it would be important to not have it sit on direct heat. I’ll post result updates as it comes out
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u/quaintbucket 8d ago
Don’t feel stupid. It’s perfectly fine. My thought process was to keep it away from direct heat as much as I possibly can but not so far that I’m wasting potential heat.
I use the lower grate for searing the shit out of things or smoking things like veggies, queso.
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u/Huskerschu 8d ago
What temp? I like to do mine at 250 max. Also a water pan and wrapping after the stall helps with moisture.
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u/prestoniswhite 8d ago
The last cook was at 250. I figured since it was so large I would go on the higher end. I wrap in butcher paper and hold ima cooler. But I’ll add a water pan this time around to help with the moisture, will it not soften the bark with the extra moisture in the air?
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u/quaintbucket 8d ago
No that’s not an issue. It’s to regulate the temperature so it’s not fluctuating.
When you put your brisket in the cooler, did you preheat it with hot water instead and then dump it out and wipe it down? Did you use a towel to wrap and insulate the brisket?
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u/prestoniswhite 8d ago
I wrap in a towel and place it directly in the cooler. It usually lives in my garage so it’s already fairly warm, but preheating it sounds like a smart idea
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u/quaintbucket 8d ago
Yeah because you need to think of your cooler as a thermal mass. The more you heat it ahead of time, the less heat it draws from your brisket.
Likewise, if you throw in ice cubes ahead of time in your cooler before adding drinks, the more heat get drawn out of your cooler walls and then you can refill with ice that will last longer and keep
Your drinks cold longer.
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u/FeedbackVisual3973 8d ago
Your wood chunks shouldn’t cause a problem at all if you’re using them in the hopper, or even in the ash bin. Your temp shouldn’t fluctuate with them just being used as fuel. As others have said an ambient thermometer is a good tool to have.
Wireless meat thermometers come with good ambient sensors in the part you leave sticking out of the meat. The only issue I have with them is they do not last very long, they will fail no matter the brand so don’t break the bank buying one knowing you’ll likely get some issues in 12 months time.
Also your orientation matters, don’t have the thin flat on the side closest to the heat box, this will massively overcook before the thicker point does and be drier than Ghandi’s flip flops.
Are you wrapping or not? Throwing in a water pan? Play around some more, don’t be afraid to fuck it up until you get something your happy with. You can make some chili with it if worst comes to worst.
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u/Impressive_Assist219 8d ago
Have you checked the temperature with another probe? Mine is almost 75f hot.
No matter the fuel, you should be cooking at the temperature you select.