The Thanksgiving turkey was unbelievable so I asked my neighbor, who happens to own the largest restaurant meat supply joint in the state, to bring me home a brisket to smoke. It was huge and there was not even a weight on the package. I dry rubbed it and put it in the Bradley last night at 11:30pm. The IT was rising so fast, from 47 to 126 by 3:30am, that I was afraid to fall asleep and have the thing ruined. When I woke up at 9am, the IT was 146. It is now noon and the IT is only 155 and has been stalled for about 45 minutes now. The maverick reads a cabinet temp that fluctuates between 205 and 240. I have the Bradley set at 230. We are supposed to eat at 7 with guests. Is this thing going to be done? It looks and smells awesome (I've only had the door open 3 times since I used a different pan that holds much more water than the bowl)
Any comments will be appreciated.
Jared
It should, you have a few hours.
My pork butts are also in. Let's see who wins. ::)
That would be both of us! ;D ;D
Hah, you're on! I am just a little freaked that the temp has stalled. Is this normal? Can the Maverick hiccup like that or is the temp just going to hang there for awhile as a "normal" occurence? ???
Update, the IT actually just FELL to 154!! The cabinet temp reads 247. What gives?
MNTowman
What you are experiencing is normal. You will find briskets and butts will gain temp fairly quickly till they hit 150 to 165 and they will stall there. This is where the magic happens and you can't rush it. Basically all the fat is braking down and cooling the meat and this is what makes it tender.
Ya just gotta wait it out... ;)
Mike
Jared, Mike speaks the truth. The fat and collagen breaks down around 160. I have heard of the temp dropping back some but haven't seen it personally. I've found it atkes about 2 hours per pound to get up to an IT of 195 or so.
Whew!! Thanks for the info Mike and Arnie. I was starting get a little freaked. Should I leave the water alone with the spent pucks in it? I have added fresh water twice but have not pulled the pan and emptied the pucks.
Thanks again for all of the help, you guys are a great resource.
Jared ;D
I'd leave the water be, just keep it full. (without opening the door too much)
Next time, try a 9x13x2" foil pan from WalMart, It'll cover the bottom of the BS, and will hold a good 1/2 gallon of steaming hot water. No worries about it running out, if you are doing an overnight smoke.
Mine dropped too, from 161 to 159, and took 3 hours to start climbing again.
Once it gets to 170F or so it should start moving faster.
To elaborate on what is going on here:
The connective tissue (which is what makes it tough) is breaking down from collagen to gelatin and water. The (release of) water has a cooling effect.
It all makes sense to me. I called the neighbor to see how much the brisket weighed and he said it was 13.8 lbs. It looks like it won't be ready for dinner tonight. Rookie mistake on the timing. Squirt, I did use a cake pan that happened to fit perfectly.
Thanks everyone, you have relieved my anxiety! I think it is going to be awesome when it is finished.
Jared
Hey everyone,
Thanks for the great advice. The brisket was awesome and got rave reviews from everyone.
Next up......... Pork butt!
Pictures ..... We have to see Pictures.
Try this link to get your pictures going.
http://www.susanminor.org/forums/showpost.php?p=768&postcount=11
Quote from: MNTowman on December 01, 2009, 08:42:41 PM
Hey everyone,
Thanks for the great advice. The brisket was awesome and got rave reviews from everyone.
Next up......... Pork butt!
I'm glad the brisket worked out well. The pork butt temp will stall much like the brisket. Hawkeye has a post up where his 7.5 pound butt took 27 hours. Amazing.
As CRG said, we like pictures. Also, when you start a thread with pictures, bookmark it. That will give you a handy log of what you've done, for better or worse. It's a good reference.