Overnight Brisket Frustrations

[FishTalesNC]

I’ve only done one brisket, and that was a choice one over a year ago (pre-AR days for me) using the snake method on my 22”. So about a month ago I bought a Prime from Costco, wet aged it, dry brined it 48 hours, and last night hit it with BBBR and got it on the 26” with SNS XL at 10pm. My hope was to have it ready to slice when my wife and kiddo get back in town Sunday late afternoon. By 11:30pm the ambient temp had settled at 238F for a while so I took my iPad with me and crashed. Well, apparently with all notifications set to ON and the app running it still wont alert you when your temp is out of range, which was liberally set from 195-255. I woke up around 4:30am and decided to check on things and my ambient temp was at 285F. 😡 At around 12:30am something happened and temps suddenly started climbing. By 2:30 it was way over range, then back down I guess due to the rain (iGrill2 was in a ziploc) and then back up. Ugh! Annoying, guess I’ll be looking for a different thermometer. The meat probe was inserted thru the side into the flat under the point and read 185F. Looks like it stalled at 185, cooled itself 10 degrees, and had climbed back up. I decided to go see what it looked like, and the bark was set so I just took it off and wrapped it with 1/4 cup of beef broth and Worcestershire. It’s in the oven now at 225F. To keep the bad mojo going, I apparently didn’t put the probe in an ideal spot either at first. Using my Thermapen I got readings in the point around 180 and in the flat at 160 so I reinserted the iGrill2 probe in the flat at a 160 spot when wrapping.

Right now I'm hoping this thing isn’t going to need to go in the hold nearly as soon as I thought when I woke up. It smells great and the bark looked good. I’m probably looking at a 4 hour hold and hoping they get home sooner rather than later. Who knows, maybe it’ll be edible.

Really frustrated the Weber app didn’t alert me. Really frustrated with the SNS, not sure why my temps took off on me like that, it’s typically very predictable. Really frustrated I missed that badly with the meat probe at first considering I had read getting it into the flat under the point was the way to go. Oh, and I still suck at trimming briskets so there’s that. Ha!

Hope someone else can learn from everything I’m doing wrong... time to get a few more winks and catch some football later.

[Huskee]

Don't sweat it, you'll be just fine.

[FishTalesNC]

Huskee if it tastes half as good as it smells right now I’ll be very happy!

Im at an IT of 175F at 6am. I plan to start checking for probe tenderness at 195F and then hold in the oven at 170F. How long can it stay there? I don’t think they’ll be home until 3pm-5pm. Do I have to slice at a certain temp? If it can’t stay at that hold until they arrive, any suggestions for reheating? Thx!

[Huskee]

Huskee if it tastes half as good as it smells right now I’ll be very happy!

Im at an IT of 175F at 6am. I plan to start checking for probe tenderness at 195F and then hold in the oven at 170F. How long can it stay there? I don’t think they’ll be home until 3pm-5pm. Do I have to slice at a certain temp? If it can’t stay at that hold until they arrive, any suggestions for reheating? Thx!

In my experience a hold of ~2hrs is best, up to 4hrs. When I've held over 4hrs they tend to get crumbly, but YMMV. I've held a brisket at 170 for about 12hrs before, for a total of 24hrs on heat (12 hr cook, 12 hr hold) but it was very crumbly and I don't recommend that. As far as slicing, I slice anywhere from 140 to 180 and don't worry much, but I think Jerod prefers the lower end of that spectrum. I like to slice hotter myself since the slices cool off rapidly and I want my guests to get hot slices.

Regarding your experience with climbing temps with the SnS, it'll do that. It's not really a SIFI setup, btut darn close. With your alarms not alerting you, that's clearly the culprit. But again, nothing about your cook alarms me, I think you'll be just fine. I've cooked plenty of briskets that hit 280-300, a few were intentional, and they are just as tasty as the others.

[texastweeter]

I like to slice at around 140° myself. It will help prevent it from being crumbly if you over cooked. If i have to hold a long time, I put in oven warming drawer at 140°. After about 4 hours, i drain the drippings, and re wrap for any further hold in the warmung drawer.

[Frozen Smoke]

Temp swings are no problem sounds like you will be fine as Huskee says. Sounds like maybe the IGrill being in a ziplock may have interfered with your WIFI? I don't use electronics and I don't try to go to bed when I have brisket or anything else on the pit. Too much tempting fate for me. No replacement for human interaction. Let us know how it turns out but I'm guessing your in for a delicious brisky!!

[Mr. Bones]

No replacement for human interaction.

^^^^^This^^^^^

[FishTalesNC]

Yup, The Truth...

[Troutman]

That’s the true truth. My FireBoard down and my Smoke needing probes, I’m just cooking with my Thermopen. Guess what, it’s just fine. Trust the process.

[HouseHomey]

I can pretty much guarantee you that I would eat that. I'm with Frozen Smoke on the human thing.

[Mr. Bones]

That would make at least three of us, amigos!
Frozen Smoke HouseHomey

[RonB]

Here's a suggestion. If it's done 4+ hours before serving, put it in a cambro - not the oven. Let the temp drop and if it gets close to 140*, put it in the oven set to 170*. My thought is that by allowing it to cool a bit, it is less likely to get crumbly during a long hold.

[FishTalesNC]

Thanks for all the input and shared experiences guys, huge help. The flat just hit 198F and is probe tender, so it’s in the hold. I’m going to go ahead and take it out and slice some in about 3 hours - right before kickoff! 😁 They’ll be home around 4pm and won’t care. I cut that little tag end off to try it, and OMG... so tender and juicy! I really love the bark, I was afraid it might be too spicy but it mellowed. Really tasty. 👍🏻 I’ll post one more update when it’s sliced.

[jgreen]

Sure looks good! I agree with the others, the temp swings will not have done any damage.

[Jerod Broussard]

If your kettle is not well sealed things can take off on ya. I put a gasket on both my kettles.

[FishTalesNC]

DOH! Of course... I’d read about it, and never bothered with it because I’d never experienced big swings in temp. Good call.

[HouseHomey]

FishTalesNC I use 6 large binder clips, seams to do the trick. But a seal would likely be better.

[FishTalesNC]

Very happy... falls apart, juicy, smokey, great flavor. And I haven’t even touched the point yet. Thanks AR for all the info, as always!

[EdF]

Looks great. Enjoy!

[obiQsmoker]

Oh man - looks great.

[Troutman]

Not bad at all young man !!!

[CaptainMike]

That looks like quite a misteak.

[HouseHomey]

I told you I'd eat that!

[ecowper]

I’d eat that for sure .... i’ve had to hold a brisket that long, didn’t kill it

[Polarbear777]

My 22” never needed a gasket. The lid was tight. The 26” needed a gasket and after that no problems.