Panic

[woofer700]

I've been Smoking, Brisket since 4:30am this morning.
Been checking internal temp via, Bradley therm/probe off and on. Brisket was at 187, and after adding
Potatoes to the mix, (top shelve)  the internal temp, dropped 7 deg. I started to panic, because I have a peppered chuck roast going on after this.
Not sure what to do. Oven temp is sitting at 215deg. Normal or no?

[Wildcat]

Patience. As long as the cabinet temperature is good the beast will be fine. It will get done in its own good time.

[beefmann]

when you  open the door temp drops like this  will happen,,, just relax and go with the  flow

[woofer700]

Brisket did not go well. I smoked for 6 hrs, and cooked until 200 deg.
Turned out tuff and dried out. Really was not good. Could taste no smoke at all, and I should have doubled the seasoning. I set temp at 230, and oven really seemed to hold around that temp very well.
My chuck roast is finishing up shortly I hope. This one should be good. Oven temp is set at 200, and it coming along nicely. Not sure what happened with the brisket. I believe I cooked it to long, should have pulled it off at 190 I think, and continued smoking for prob 8 hrs.

[TedEbear]

Sorry to hear your brisket didn't go so well.  I usually cook them with a chamber temp of 210 and maybe pull it from the smoker when the IT reaches 190-195.

What flavor smoke did you use?  Hickory or mesquite are stronger flavors.  I usually use hickory for beef but no more than 4 hours worth of smoke.  Much more than that is just wasting smoke because the meat doesn't absorb it very much.

[woofer700]

I used Apple. Also brisket was a flat. After sleeping on this, I'm thinking I need to
check internal temp of oven, compared to what the Bradley reads. Everything I've read
has told me what temps to use, and I prefer a little more smoke flavor.
for whatever reason, I thing my oven is hotter than it should be. But even if it is hotter,
my temp probe my Bradley temp probe should tell me when it's done, and that's not happening. When
I took roast off last night, Bradley probe was set to med for doneness, took it off at 158, brought in the house, and cut a 2 inch chunk off an end. Thinking I should see pink. It was not pink, but totally done. So I'm thinking something is up with my oven temps, or the Bradley probe, running through the top of the oven.

[Salmonsmoker]

Woofer, if the IT was 158F, that's well done. Med. is 135-145F.

[TedEbear]

All the Google results I found just now say that 160 is considered medium for a chuck roast and 145 would be medium rare.  I personally like it when there's no pink in the center, whether it is a well-done steak or a well-done roast. 

Safe Cooking Temperatures: Beef

APPROXIMATE BEEF COOKING TIMES (°F)

Determining the Doneness of Beef

[bundy]

My Brisket was a 8# tip, smoked with Hickory 3 hours, took about 15 to hit 185* and I pulled it and boated it in beer, put back in for an hour or so came out great. Had my temp set at 215*. I ck my tower temp with several different probes and I know they vary a lot.

[Habanero Smoker]

The way I cook brisket, they are ready around 185°F - 190°F. For slicing; when it gets close to your target temperature, you should be able to pierce the meat with little resistance with a fork. At that point it is done. Always slice against the grain, for maximum tenderness. If you want to pull the brisket, the fork should go in easily, and you should be able to twist it.

The below link will takes you to a chart that provides both the USDA recommended safe temperatures, and temperatures commonly used by chefs and many home cooks. The USDA temperatures are recommendations, that restaurants do not have to follow. The USDA temperature are set to avoid any possibility of food poisoning, but for myself, if I follow those recommendations I end up with over cooked meat.

Meat - When Is It Done? Part 2