Slow cooks won't go over 180ish degrees internal

[Mountain Canuck]

Greetings! I've been trying slow cooks for a long time on my Green Egg. Small briskets and pork butts mostly. I run 225 grill temp, I see the 160 degree stall thing, but once things get to 180ish degrees it just doesn't go up farther. Looking for 203 or so, but it doesn't get there. I've left it for 4 to 8 hours at 180 but it doesn't go any higher. Might it be an altitude thing? I'm around 4300 feet ASL?

[captainlee]

8500 feet here. You evaporated all the moisture out of the meat. Check out this article.

https://girlscangrill.com/competition-bbq/barbecue-at-high-altitudes/

[captainlee]

Ribs do fine without a wrap.

[RickyBobby]

Thanks for sharing! Great article!

[tstalafuse]

The last two times I have put the brisket in a foil boat inside a disposable pan, which I covered with foil and bent the pan edges down to create as tight a seal with the foil as I could get almost creating a mini pressure cooker. I was able to get both briskets up to 200 without drying them out.

[Smoker_Boy]

8500 feet here. You evaporated all the moisture out of the meat. Check out this article.

https://girlscangrill.com/competitio...igh-altitudes/

Excellent article.
Thanks!

[Ace]

+1 Very informative... :-)

[Oak Smoke]

I have learned to cook hotter on my kamados in order to get good bark and moisture retention. I run brisket at 300 F as an example and love the results.

[Mountain Canuck]

Thanks for the tips! Had a local event BBQ truck here today that had great brisket sandwiches. Chatted with them for a bit. I suspected altitude was part of my issue but had no idea how to deal with it. I also had no idea there was a potential "second stall". Time for another experiment!

[surfdog]

That’s the beauty of this whole cooking game. We’re always learning. And unless one makes a complete hash of it…we can still enjoy our mistakes…learn from them…then get better.

[Richard Chrz]

Second stalls are very real, but I suspect captainlee probably has some good direction to consider.

[Mountain Canuck]

After a short road trip I found a "Beef Brisket Portion" in a supermarket for an experiment. Not a lot of choices out there. It's not very big, about 3 pounds. Any thoughts on what this is?

[Skinsfan1311]

After a short road trip I found a "Beef Brisket Portion" in a supermarket for an experiment. Not a lot of choices out there. It's not very big, about 3 pounds. Any thoughts on what this is?

Look kinda/sorta like a point. Smoke it like a regular brisket.....wrap it after it gets a nice bark.....then make burnt ends...

[Alan Brice]

Or Chili.

[J-Melt]

Looks to me like it could be the end of the brisket where there is both point and flat. I agree that you just cook it like a normal brisket

[JeffJ]

225 is a vastly over-rated cooking temp IMO. Run at 250-275 and if you have really good bark, wrap to prevent the bark from getting chewy. Also, 4 hours held at 180 should still result in very tender meat.

[Spinaker]

225 is a vastly over-rated cooking temp IMO. Run at 250-275 and if you have really good bark, wrap to prevent the bark from getting chewy. Also, 4 hours held at 180 should still result in very tender meat.

Agreed. I never cook at 225. Especially in the BGE where there is so little airflow.

275 F is the sweet spot. And it cooks so much faster than 225 F.

[Mountain Canuck]

Well, I gave it another shot... 5 hours to 150 degrees with some pecan chunks then put it in a roast pan covered with foil. Internal temp slowly dropped for about 4 hours then started to come back up. Took it off at 201 degrees about 3 hours later. This one was actually pretty decent for tender. The first one I did was about the consistency of a hockey puck; the second was more like a bicycle tire. Will try a higher temp next time. Thanks for the tips!

[Alan Brice]

No mention of yer ambient temp. Ima guess 150 was IT.
Lately I will finish in the kitchen oven and try to get IT to as close to 200 as reasonably possible.
If I am correctly thinking, most all yer smoke n bark happens early on.

[Mountain Canuck]

Ambient was 225 again. I just use that because I'm used to getting the finicky thing stabilized there. I'll kick it up a notch. Do I get to say "Bam!"?

[Santamarina]

Glad you found some success. I’m also in the 250°-275° camp. Still low enough to render nicely, but that extra temp helps push through the stall and keep your meat moist. Also finishes faster, which is always a good thing in long cooks!

[Mountain Canuck]

My next project will be a pork butt, which I had the same problems with. Also not very big... in the 3-4 pound range. Going to try on a rotisserie (new toy) with a wireless probe (also new toy) and see what happens. Prepping for a long winter.

[Purc]

Mountain Canuck I have done several pork butts on my rotisserie and roasted, sliced pork is a nice change from always doing pulled pork.

[Mountain Canuck]

What sort of internal temp do you shoot for with those?

[Purc]

Around 150 to 160 depending on how it looks and probes. As always YMMV