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Marathon Brisket - Is My Thinking Wrong?

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    #16
    I have had a brisket in the wsm take 24 hours before. I was losing my mind, but it cam out pretty good. I have just started to deal with the fact that I never know how long it will take. Makes meal planning a little tough - I always have a backup plan.

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    • Razor
      Razor commented
      Editing a comment
      Right now I’m extremely uncomfortable inviting anyone over for brisket. I have no idea when it’ll be done. Missing it by a few hours is one thing, missing it by a day.... 🙄 😆

    • klflowers
      klflowers commented
      Editing a comment
      Razor, I ha got pretty good at serving it the next day. I put it in the oven at 170 with a bit of chicken or beef broth or some of the purge if I wrap and heat it really slowly. Not as good as right out of the cambro hold, but still pretty good.

    #17
    Razor But you HAVE to invite people over. You can't eat a packer by yourself! So here's the deal. Answer my questions so we can try to figger out what is happening. Then, always start early because you want to put the meat into a faux cambro for an hour or two. That actually improves the meat (except the bark). If you have a good cooler it can stay there for 4 hours and remain above 150F. So get to the train station long before the train.

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    • klflowers
      klflowers commented
      Editing a comment
      Who can't eat a packer by themselves??? Speak for yourself, man!!!!!

    #18
    If it's cold outside (and even if not), why not simply cook at 275F? If it works for Aaron Franklin, it can't be a bad option and it should finish faster? I don't see a reason to fetishize 225F

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      #19
      Originally posted by Meathead View Post
      Razor texastweeter The water pan does not put a lot of moisture in the air. There is a LOT of airflow moving through there. Combustion uses a LOT of air. So the small amount of water vapor makes little or no difference to the humidity. What water vapor does do is condense on the meat. The meat is much cooler than the air, even as it climbs in temp, so moisture condenses on the meat and that cools it and slows the cooking. Read this https://amazingribs.com/more-techniq...t-put-them-and

      That moisture is also involved in the stall. It is cause by evaporative cooling. So the temp doesn't do up until the surface dries out.

      If the temp is holding at 225, they you are getting enough airflow. The amount of air is what is needed for the combustion to level off at 225. So that should not be a factor.

      Another factor: The metal exterior is very cold and that absorbs heat from the air inside. BUT if you have a thermostat, then the air should get to temp. Where is the oven probe located? Next to the meat or close to the sides or in the dome?

      Other questions: " Longer than expected". Based on warm weather cooks or just expectations?
      Are you wrapping?
      I should have taken a picture of probe placement but I did not.

      For cooks like this I place the probe a few inches away from the meat. I try to keep it over top of the water pan. I always though placing to close to the side wall would give me a false reading. I was afraid the probe would read hotter than what the rest of the cooker was. Likewise having the probe too close to the ‘cool’ meat would cause the WSM to run hotter.

      With that said, I have an 18” WSM, not a lot of options when a brisket is in there. You think using the side port on modern WSM’s is a better option? The port is between the top and bottom rack and exposed to heat coming up the sides. See attached pic.

      Regarding my estimated time, most of my briskets were cooked in colder weather, but the cooker temp has always remained steady. I’ve gone through more charcoal on some cooks, but that is expected. The few briskets I’ve done in the warmer months (and butts for that matter) seem to come out closer to the planned time.

      It’s the colder weather that seems to be causing issues, but I don’t see how or why if the internal temp is 225.

      I did wrap this time because it just wouldn’t get to temp. Even then I have to be honest, it didn’t seem to make a big difference. I ended up pulling the meat before it got to 203 (probe tender) and faux cambrio’d it.


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        #20
        Hmmmmm. A puzzlement. I see a probe that looks like the tip is in the shadow of the waterpan, so that's good. It's below the meat, but that's not a bad place to be. And you're right, there is a cold air bubble around the meat. Not large though. My next suspect would be the accuracy of the thermometer. The probe tip looks clean (sometimes carbon or grease can give a false reading). Do a boiling water test and see how it does.

        If the thermometer is accurate, then I'm stumped. 275 air surrounding the meat is 275 summer or winter. But ya know, sometimes you just get an ornery piece of meat...

        Comment


        • Razor
          Razor commented
          Editing a comment
          I try to keep the probes clean. Always wipe them down after a cook. I’ll leave the probe there for my next cook. I’m going to use the fan again. I know the WSM does a great job of holding temps, but that fan just adds a layer of comfort overnight. We’ll see what happens and report back later. 👍🏻

        #21
        My deeply scientific analysis: Your briskets came from a cranky old bull.

        Comment


        • Razor
          Razor commented
          Editing a comment
          My buddy and I have been buying them from a local butcher. I recently bought a Prime from Sam’s Club. Interested to see if there’s a difference. 🤓

        #22
        Not really a part of this whole discussion but I did want to add Razor that I threw away the water pans in both my WSMs after comments by Harry Soo on the subject. I've never regretted that move. I prefer to control temperatures via fan control and get the benefits of the dripping grease on the open fire like in a PBC (oh the fog !!). In fact with fan control I've yet to have a significant stall on a packer or a pork butt either. I generally cook at 275*, winter, summer or fall and wrap in butcher paper.

        Comment


        • Razor
          Razor commented
          Editing a comment
          What did Harry say?

        • Troutman
          Troutman commented
          Editing a comment
          Don't us it, makes a great ashtray !!

        #23
        My issue with some vertical smokers is the solid deflector plate and/or water pan that allows air and gases to go up the sides of the smoker. They then go out the vent without ever having any reason to flow over the meat since the meat is not situated in the "air flow channel," so to speak.

        The same thing can happen on an offset whereby the intake from the firebox is under the cooking grate.

        We had a user on the main site that had a situation whereby in an Offset Smoker full of briskets, none of the briskets had a smoke ring, except one. Dr. Blonder correctly "guessed" that it was the brisket right next to the exhaust. The gases were merely creeping their way underneath the cooking grate and then had to come up in order to exit through the exhaust, thus contacting that one brisket.

        Comment


        • Ahumadora
          Ahumadora commented
          Editing a comment
          Air will always take path of least resistance. Obviously had them stacked to close together. On the 1000 gallon and bigger pits I am starting to put deflector shields throughout to force the smoke past the meat Meat will cook/build bark faster where there isa high velocity hot air passing by.

        • Troutman
          Troutman commented
          Editing a comment
          That’s right, gotta go wit the flow baby

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