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way too long!

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    way too long!

    I cooked a beef brisket yesterday on a Masterbuilt electric smoker. Put it on at 6am and it wasn't done until 2am!!! 20 hours seems excessive. The guy I borrowed it from said it takes him 12-13 hours and he buys his whole briskets from Costco as well. It was 16lbs. I did not separate the flat from the point. I followed the Texas Brisket recipe from this site. I wrapped it around 168 deg. It seemed to hold the heat well. I took care to minimize opening the door but honestly it came back up to temp quickly anyway. Toward the end I compared the meat probe that comes with the unit with a Thermapen and it was spot on.
    So.... what the hell???? Twenty hours??? Really????
    It tastes great most importantly.
    Of note I smoked a pork shoulder last weekend on the same smoker and it took 16 hours.
    Also, I previously had a pit barrel and things seemed to take longer.

    Thanks for any advice.
    Dave

    #2
    Congrats on what I take to be a great brisky, despite th delay!

    My Son/DIL have a Masterbuilt electric, an have put out some tasty food with it, but I have never fooled around with it, cookin, like... so help me out some, here:

    In yer estimation / experience, what is th max chamber temp it can achieve/maintain, at yer current ambient temps?

    Was anything markedly different, today?
    How much breeze/wind, etc., might have been goin on there, to leach precious BTU's as ya cooked along, etc.?

    Comment


    • specialshake
      specialshake commented
      Editing a comment
      I think the max temp is 275. high/low here has been 90's/70. not breezy. Didn't seem to struggle to maintain the temperature.

    #3
    My suspicion is the majority of your cook wasn't at the temp you thought it was. I can see a brisket here & there taking 3 or4 hours longer than normal, but 20hrs I agree is excessive to just be chalked up to "one of those things". Sounds like a 190 degree cook to me.

    Comment


    • specialshake
      specialshake commented
      Editing a comment
      I think you are probably right. I was too lazy to double check with the thermometer you recommended on your site. As it neared completion it really slowed. Had to increase it to 250 for the last hour/1.5 hrs.

    #4
    I had that same electric smoker and everything took a long time to cook, compared to the cookers I have now. I suspect the temperature gauge was wrong, but I never checked it because 1) I didn't know any better and 2) didn't have an independent thermometer I could compare it to anyway.

    Comment


      #5
      I suggest that if that starts to happen again that you bump the temp up to around 275*. The brisket can take that temp.

      Comment


        #6
        I have / still have / used to use a way less efficient electric smoker, witnessed here:

        Click image for larger version

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        It took me on some 20-30+ hour butt, an brisket rides... product was great, but omg, how long do I haveta wait???

        This is why I asked... was mystified by th stall, etc., with no way to power through...
        Jus wait it out ....

        Great Learnin experience, though...

        Comment


        • Huskee
          Huskee commented
          Editing a comment
          ...but it says Gourmet on it!

        #7
        I have never cooked on an electric smoker, but 20 hour brisket and 6 hour Boston Butt seems excessively long on any cooker. Not preheating the cooker could account for an hour variation, but as others have suggested you probably weren’t cooking at the temp you thought you were.

        Comment


          #8
          Your smoker temp (oven/air) temp was probably low, maybe around 200F.

          Check the placement if the thermostst probe or use a separate probe in the chamber to see if there is an offset from set point to actual. A lot can depend on where the probes are placed and whether they are too close to the meat or a sidewalk to give an accurate air temp.

          I did a 20 lb Costco packer once without wrapping and it took 16 hours with the smoker running at 225.

          Wrapped around 175, which is about 12 hours, takes about 14-15 total, plus a few hours in the cambro.

          Yours shoikd still be good, even if it’s not perfect. If it’s really too dry you can always shred it, add some rendered beef fat, mix it up and call it pulled beef.

          Comment

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