Halfway through sous vide q pastrami, got some questions

[Mosca]

I soaked 2 4lb corned beef briskets for 24 hours, then bagged and sous vide'd them at 150* for 36 hours. I then did the ice water thing last night, and today I'm going to smoke them.

Now, I have two roasts that look like milk-fed veal, and although I can't really tell through the bags, they don't feel all that tender. Is this about where things are supposed to be at this point in the process?

Also: this is going to take about 90 minutes to hit 165*? If I were to guess I'd say 4 hours. But otoh, it's already cooked and I'm just reheating it and setting bark, so there's that.

[Michael Brinton]

They will feel hard from the fridge, and the outside color is normal. For the next step I would not really worry about the internal temp. Smoke until you get the bark you want on the outside, all the spices transformed to black. It's cooked as it can be so your just worried about the outside. I would go higher than 225 also. When you slice the inside will be bright. Sounds exactly like the couple I did your on the right track.

[Mosca]

Thanks!