Need help with cooking temps (smoking brisket)

I cooked a couple of really good packer-cut briskets, about 10-12 lbs.
each, on my NBBD last weekend. I won't go into the details,
preparation, etc. but let me say that I cooked them in the smoker at
about 225-250 degrees until the thickest part had an internal temp of
190. Then I wrapped them in heavy foil and finished them in the oven at
300 until they had an internal temp of 205.

The meat sat overnight rubbed with Fiesta Brisket Rub. It warmed to
room temp before going into the smoker.

After letting them sit for a few hours (NEVER cut into a freshly cooked
brisket!!!!), I sliced off some samples and it just melted in my mouth.
Nice stuff. Used pecan, by the way.

Thing is, some of the meat was kinda dry, as I noticed the next few
days when I re-heated it. I'm wondering what temps some of you guys use
at these various stages in the process. One problem I might have had
was that a couple of times, right after adding to the firebox, I had
spikes of up to 300-325 for about 10-15 minutes.

The meat sat overnight rubbed with Fiesta Brisket Rub. It warmed to
room temp before going into the smoker.

I've read that if you cook it during the first stage at less than 250,
it can come out a little dry or tough because that's not enough heat to
break down the collagen. Please don't suggest that I soak it in
something overnight, or baste it every 7.3539 minutes, or use a "water
pan," etc. I know how to do brisket, I'm just trying to fine-tune my
method.

Thanks,
R.S.

Overall, it was really good, but I'd like to get it down to
melt-in-your-mouth perfection.

.

Relevant Pages

  • Re: Smokin good
    ... load and it being cold, there could easily be user-induced cold spots. ... The smoker is insulated and I have enough self-control to not open the door very much at all, but I think my problems this time were mostly because of the size/temperature of the meat and not having pre-heated the smoker. ... But I slice the brisket and pork butts fairly thin and even a tougher piece of meat is more tender. ...
    (rec.food.cooking)
  • Re: A tale of Brisket X 5
    ... Step one is a trip tot he store. ... The first brisket was ground. ... then prepare the meat by cutting ... One the last day I get the meat ready for the smoker. ...
    (alt.food.barbecue)
  • Re: What I did yesterday:
    ... While the brisket was in the smoker, ... You didn't say how long or if you let the meat rest ... $20 worth of meat is not worth it. ...
    (alt.food.barbecue)
  • Re: Brisket questions again... finally found a packer!
    ... Outdoors Smokey Mountain gas smoker, ... The way I've done them in the past was to have the smoker temp ... When the meat temp got to around 160 or so, appeared to be a bit of a ... you're puttin too much effort into cookin a brisket. ...
    (alt.food.barbecue)
  • Re: What I did yesterday:
    ... While the brisket was in the smoker, ... You didn't say how long or if you let the meat rest ... cheap thick wall styro coolers ...
    (alt.food.barbecue)