Brisket at altitude - need advice

[das85]

On skiing vacation with a bunch of family, my brother-in-law picked up an awesome looking prime packer at Costco and it's my job to cook it in next few days on the Grilla. 12.5 pounds in package before I trim.

Challenges: we are 9000 feet above sea level, and everyone (incl me) will be skiing for much of the day we have this for dinner.

My tentative plan:
9pm night before: apply rub
10pm night before: put on smoker at 235
8:30am day of: wrap in foil with some liquid (assuming IT in 150-170 range)
3pm: remove from smoker and move to either cooler or 150deg oven to rest
7pm: slice and serve

My biggest worry: will 6.5 hours wrapped be too long? And esp at this altitude do I risk drying it out?

And/or will 10.5 hours unwrapped risk drying out at this altitude at 235 deg?

Given the altitude and fear of drying out, would folks agree best to leave packer whole although normally I'd probably separate point/flat?

And without being able to monitor/spritz all day, would people agree won't work well to start in morning and have ready by 7pm?

And although I don't normally like to dry brine brisket in advance, do the benefits increase at high altitude?

I do have some flex in each step of the timing, eg I could arrange to remove from smoker an hour or two earlier.

All ideas and comments very welcome! I cook for this group a lot but unusually nervous about this one.

[Clark]

My first question is re fire safety. If you are at 9000' skiing, you must be at either a cabin or a ski lodge. Both would probably be primarily wood construction and I would not go off skiing with a lit fire of any kind being unattended. Yes, I know, it's a pellet grill but things happen. Plus most mountain areas have laws about that.

My second concern is the 6 1/2 hours wrapped AND still on the smoker. That seems too long, and the meat could turn crumbly when overdone.

No matter how you do it, I would suggest that someone take the day off from skiing and stay with the smoker.

[jfmorris]

I'm sure Clark is spot on with the fact there may be ordinances or laws against leaving that smoker unattended, pellet or otherwise.

Personally, I would consider starting it earlier the evening before, and run it hotter (250 to 275) so that it finishes before you leave for the ski slope, and then just leave it wrapped in a warm oven or faux cambro all day.

I've put a brisket that I pulled at 205F straight off the smoker into faux cambro and held it for 6-7 hours, and it was still about 160 degrees after that many hours. Depending on how good a cooler you have, and how many towels you pack the empty space with, you might be able to hold safely all day as well.

[barelfly]

As jfmorris says - crank that cooker up to 275 and put it on a bit earlier the night before bed. Get that thing cooked before you go skiing. No need to spritz and worry about it during the day.

A cooler should hold a good double wrapped in foil, with double beach towels for a good long time.

Have fun!

[jfmorris]

Good point - if he planned to come back at 3pm to move to the oven anyway, he can check the temp in cambro, and move from cambro to oven if it has dropped at that point.

[lostclusters]

I tried baking a cake near Yosemite and got a lesson in high altitude cook/baking. Needless to say it was only done along the edges at nearly twice the baking time.

https://themeatsmokingguy.com/how-to...high-altitude/

[MBMorgan]

Remember that you are roasting meat ... not baking a cake. If you were using a moist/wet method, e.g., braising or boiling, to cook the meat, you'd definitely need to increase cooking time substantially at high altitude due to the lower boiling point of water. In your pellet smoker however, you are roasting in a dry environment so your cook time should be fairly close to what it would have been at sea level. In fact, the greatest problem you may face is the meat drying out more quickly at high altitude due to the fact that evaporation is faster than at low altitude ... so wrapping may be a good idea to keep things moist.

BTW, the advice you've been given to use a higher temperature (like 275ºF) is very good advice ... not because of your altitude but because it'll just speed things up without sacrificing quality. The higher temp/shorter cook time will help fight dryness, too.

Here's a link to some potentially helpful info about high altitude cooking from the USDA: https://www.fsis.usda.gov/food-safet...tude-cooking#5

[tstalafuse]

I live at 9100ft, and you do have to modify your cook. However, as others have said your best bet is to cook it where you know how to cook it, and then wrap in towels, put in a faux cambro, and transport it to the ski resort.

If you still want to cook it at the resort... First, you won't get the brisket to the 200 degree range for probe tender unless you cook every ounce of moisture out of the meat (water boils around 196-197 at this altitude). Your probe tender is going to be somewhere around 190ish. It is fine to start at 235 or 275 to get your bark set, but you will want to lower your cook temp to the 210-215 range once you do wrap so that it has the time to break down the connective tissues. Lowering your cook temp will also increase your cook time by a couple of hours. For what it is worth, I have had very little success with a full on hot and fast for the entire cook at altitude. YMMV.

Dry brining, injecting, adding a water pan to the cooker, and adding some liquid once you do wrap will all help with moisture, but once you cut into the brisket, no matter how moist it is coming off the smoker the brisket, it will almost immediately begin drying out (humidity will likely be in the single digits or low teens), so save the juices from the wrap. You should be fine leaving it wrapped in foil and towels in a cooler that is inside the cabin for 6+hrs.

Fire safety is no joke. While I live at 9100ft, we have zero snow on the ground and have already had one fire that put us on pre-evacuation. The resorts in the ski country here do have considerably amounts of snow on the ground, so the fire danger is lower, but you will want to find out from the town/county if they have a burn ban that covers pellet smokers, have a red flag high wind warning the day/night of your cook that would also prohibit outdoor cooking, and you don't want to leave it unattended while the smoker is running. In Colorado, the local officials take the bans seriously with fines for not following the rules (ignorance isn't an acceptable excuse even for visitors), not to mention if you do start a fire you get to pay the entire cost of putting it out. Large fires can run into the 10s of millions of dollars, and the one person you can't declare bankruptcy on is Uncle Sam and his siblings.

My ideal cook goes something like this for eating at 7pm with your brisket size... Season/dry brine/inject the day before, around 3am start with my temp at 225 for the first 5-6hrs or until I hit the stall and the bark is set, wrap with a small amount of liquid and move the brisket inside to the oven for the next 5-6hrs at 215 or until the IT reaches the 185-190ish range (no point in wasting the pellets if it is wrapped), and then begin probing for tender done. For meal planning when cooking a prime, I expect an hour/lb for cook time plus a couple of hours for resting. If you are lucky, the place you are staying will have a newer oven that is WIFI capable so that you could just turn it down or off once it hits the 190ish range while you are skiing...

[OneEyedJack]

I roasted a 20 lb. turkey in a Weber at Lake Tahoe (Elevation ~6,200) for Thanksgiving last year and it took hours more than at near sea level. The two issues where the cold outside temperature and the reduced oxygen concentration. The outside temperature is easy to understand as the heat conducts away from the Weber faster, but the oxygen level would not allow me to get the pit temperature higher than about 300 degrees. The charcoal just would not burn hotter no matter how much fuel I added or opened the vents.

[das85]

Thanks everyone for the thoughtful replies...I am yet again reminded why I love The Pit!

First just a quick note re fire safety and thanks Clark and tstalafuse for bringing this up. I was exaggerating when I said everyone would be skiing for the day...there will be at least a couple of people around continuously, just not people I can ask to follow instructions like "pull when probe tender". But it will never be fully unattended from a safety perspective.

Also re temp - without the altitude, I would normally go with barelfly and jfmorris and do 275 all the way. My worry, per the link from lostclusters and comments (and very helpful detailed timeline - thank you!) from tstalafuse is that altitude changes this (esp for a fully unwrapped cook).

So much food for thought...this will be an adventure. I may only post photos if the end result looks good.

[barelfly]

I do agree on the lower pull temp. I’m not at 9k, only 5200’ and I pull brisket at 195 usually. My dad is at 7200’ and he cooks at 225-250 and is the same, pulling brisket at lesser temps. So, that is great advice for you as well. But hopefully you can get it cooked prior and enjoy the day on the slopes, or at least get it pulled earlier in the ski day to enjoy the midday! Have fun!

[das85]

Did the cook a few days ago, very nervous all the way...turned out terrific! (And virtually all gobbled up immediately upon slicing, which reflected well on the food but unfortunately I neglected to take photos..)

In the end I tried to replicate tstalafuse 's schedule as closely as possible but adjusting for timing constraints including my need to sleep.

1030pm: on the smoker at 225 (with water pan below
630am: I woke up and checked, IT stalled at 145
630am - 830am: periodic mopping with water
830am: wrap in foil, with some water, back on smoker, reduce temp to 210
I then went skiing with someone at house monitoring IT and texting me from 830-1130, came back around 1145 as IT got to 187
1215pm: probe tender and low 190s in most places...pulled from smoker, opened foil for a min to vent the steam, moved to 170 degree oven (as low as the oven would go), and went back to skiing
515pm: turned oven off, did not open door
715pm: sliced and served

The toughest part of the flat seemed almost perfect - sliced nicely and passed pull test - the more tender parts were falling apart a bit as I sliced, but hey it was a pretty dull knife.. Most importantly, was all moist and very tasty. Got comments like "I always thought brisket was just dry and I didn't like it, even in pot roast, until I tried this.."

So I'm obviously thrilled with the result, and incredibly grateful to this group for all the advice and coaching! Thanks again to everyone!

[tstalafuse]

Congrats. We are all happy your cook turned out right and you are now an at altitude cook!. I know I mentioned the fire danger, so I hope that wasn't a concern. Personally, we have a 2000 acre fire going. Thankfully, it hasn't affect us, but I am happy you had a great weekend.

[HawkerXP]

Congratulations!