I will be cooking a waygu brisket just before new year on vacation in Colorado out side of Alma which is 10,578 above my home in Florida. What Temp do I cook the brisket to and should I take longer or shorter to cook it than at sea level.
In Alma water boils at 198 so if I typically cook a brisket to 206 does that mean I would cook the one at 10,578 feet to 192?
Hi, my name is Darrell. I'm an OTR truck driver for over 25 years. During my off time I love doing backyard cooks. I have a 48" Lang Deluxe smoker, Rec-Tec pellet smoker,1 Weber Genesis 330, 1 Weber Performer (blue), 2 Weber kettles (1 black and 1 Copper), 1 26" Weber kettle, a WSM, 8 Maverick Redi Chek thermometers, a PartyQ, 2 SnS, Grill Grates, Cast Iron grates, 1 ThermoPop (orange) and 2 ThermoPens (pink and orange) and planning on adding more cooking accessories. Now I have an Anova sous vide, the Dragon blower and 2 Chef alarms from Thermoworks.
Welcome to the Pit. I wouldn't think it would matter. But I would go probe tender instead of an actual finishing temp. I would start checking at about 190 F
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Meat shouldn't ever get above your boiling point. The "usual" 203 meat temp is for a sea level temperature, where water boils at 212. (I know we all know this). At such an elevation the meat wouldn't get above 212, so we're shooting for a meat temp of 9 degrees under boiling point. An internet search shows at that elevation boiling would be closer to 193, but sounds like you know your b-point. Regardless, I'd make the linear math adjustment and shoot for 9 under your for-sure boiling point. (Also one could make the argument that you can make the adjustment for the boiling point differential in your cooking temp as well, and therefore cook closer to 200 where you'd normally cook at 225 for instance). I'd start checking in the 180s myself. Never hurts to check too early, it could hurt to check too late.
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We live in Colorado at 6300 ft where pure water boils at 200 deg. While we do (and must) adjust cooking times for wet methods and for baking, we do not adjust for grilling or smoking methods. As Jerod mentioned, you need to be concerned with the breaking down of collagen and fat ... so boil your pasta longer than at sea level but I'd suggest sticking with the same internal meat temps at pretty much all altitudes at which we humans can survive without supplemental oxygen. I'd also heed the earlier advice to double check for probe tenderness as you get close to deciding when it's time to pull.
Welcome aboard and as has already been said, have a great cook!
I agree with Huskee. If you cook the brisket to 203 F ALL of the water will be gone and it'll be a hockey puck. Aim for low to mid 190s and probe often after it hits 185 F. When the probe goes in and out with no tug it's ready.
We live in Colorado at 6300 ft where pure water boils at 200 deg. While we do (and must) adjust cooking times for wet methods and for baking, we do not adjust for grilling or smoking methods. As Jerod mentioned, you need to be concerned with the breaking down of collagen and fat ... so boil your pasta longer than at sea level but I'd suggest sticking with the same internal meat temps at pretty much all altitudes at which we humans can survive without supplemental oxygen. I'd also heed the earlier advice to double check for probe tenderness as you get close to deciding when it's time to pull.
Welcome aboard and as has already been said, have a great cook!
I agree with this when we're talking temps below the boiling point, for example steak needs to be cooked to 130 F to be medium rare, but in this case we're talking brisket and you can't cook a brisket to 203 F when water boils at 198 F without boiling all the water out of the meat.
True ... except possibly for the presence of salt, proteins, minerals, and likely other ions in the meat fluids (myoglobin?) ... all of which should work to raise its boiling point, possibly significantly. I've never really thought much about this particular question, but it's very interesting and feel that a bit of additional research and possibly a science experiment or two may be in my future. With luck, the science experiment(s) will be delicious!
As others have said, your end game is no different than at sea level. But it will take you longer to get there. When you are smoking, the heat transfer from fuel to meat is through convection. At lower pressure, the ability for the air to transfer that heat is lowered (because there is less of it). So you should plan on smoking at a higher temp and also try and raise the humidity inside the smoker to increase convection.
I would be interested in seeing some time and temp readings for this. Something I think Huskee might have missed is your type of smoker and or use of water in a water pan, if you use say a Weber Smokey Mountain and actually use water in the water pan then as long as water is in it I don't think the temps will get nearly as high as you want, only 198 just above the pan.
What I would be interested in is the stall, the reason water boils at a lower temp at high altitude is due to pressure, so in my mind you would go through the stall sooner and will probably end a little sooner.
As others have mentioned though, start probing at 180 or so and I wouldn't go much over 190, which should be fine for Wagyu.
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