In article >, frohe says...
>
>bregent wrote:
>> Thanks frohe. It turned out pretty good and our guests and we
>> finished it off pretty quick. But, I thought some parts were not as
>> tender as they could be, and the whole thing was a little dry.
>
>Well, tender has a lot to do with each individual piece of meat and
>how ya cooked it. Have you tested your cooker to find out where its
>hot spots are? You may have had part of your brisket in one of these
>and it cooked a bit more than the rest of the meat. Did ya turn the
>meat so that each side gets equal time being closest to the fire? Did
>ya cook offset and have the fat cap on the top? Or, did ya cook
>direct and have the fat cap to the bottom? These are a few indicators
>y wanna consider in yur quest for perfection.

It was cooker in a vertical smoker, similar to this one:
http://tinyurl.com/bwlcx

I did not rotate the meat, but will next time. It was cooked with the fat on
top, but as I stated in the original post, I FU'd when I trimmed a good part of
the fat away prior to cooking.

>> Is this just inevitable with a smaller cut?
>
>Nah... Once you find out and do the things I mentioned above, your
>briskets should improve. Also know it takes a long time of cookin
>briskets to get down a good technique that gives ya the type results
>you want.

Part of the problem may be my perception of tender. I haven't had a good pro
brisket to compare to in a long time. I was thinking it should pull apart like
pulled pork. Is that too tender for a brisket? Maybe I need the fork test
splained to me!

>> Would a mop help keep it moister?
>
>On the outside but not on the inside. When you pulled it off the
>cooker, did you let it rest for a hour to re-absorb some if its
>juices?

I pulled if off the cooker, wrapped in foil and blanket and place in a cooler
for an 1.5 hours.

>> When it finally passed the fork test, the internal temp was
>> around 200!
>
>200? Where'd ya do the fork test? Hopefully in the flat. At 190°F,
>it should have passed the fork test just fine.

Well, it was 170F at one check point, and the next time I went back it had shot
to 200F. I probably needed to check more frequently ? Also, what part of the
meat is the 'flat'?

>> Should I have lowered the cooker temp once the internal reached
>> 160F?
>
>I don't. When I see the internal temp has reached 160°F, I bump my
>cooker temp up to as high as 325°F to finish out the cook.

OK, thanks. I'm learnin!