Foiling Brisket Question.....

corey24 · July 2014

So, I cooked spares and brisket for the 4th. I had about a 5-6 lb CAB brisket and I put it on around 8:30 am. I planned to foil around 160-165 internal to insure it would be done by supper and hoped for a couple hour FTC as well. So when the brisket reached 160 I pulled and wrapped and put just a little bit of beef broth in the foil (not much). Waited until internal temp reached almost 200 and unwrapped on egg and probed for doneness. The most undone area was around 192 and it didn't quite probe like butter so I wrapped again and left maverick probe in. Temp started to free fall. Dropped down to around 175 and just didn't want to rise again. Also it didn't probe like butter anywhere at this point. Ended up having to really crank temp to get it back up to temp. I will say that I didn't think it would be a very good brisket but it turned out pretty good. This exact thing has now happened to me on the last 2 briskets! I typically don't foil but have the last couple times because of time and also small briskets to ensure moisture. What's going on? Should I probe thru foil and not unwrap? Why am I losing so much temp? I know the foil/liquid is steaming in a sense but this seems out of control. Have any of you guys experienced this? Help.......

NPHuskerFL · July 2014

@corey24‌ Welcome to the wonderful world of brisket. I will say I don't typically crutch (foil) to push through the stall. It is not unusual to hit 2 stalls. When you were probing for doneness and the temp dropped I'd say you hit unrendered collagen or boil off of liquid (superheated if you will) that gave you a false reading. Probe for doneness by IT & like buttuh. I rather start early and finish early with a long FTC on a brisky vs trying to rush it.

mahenryak · July 2014

Okay. I haven't experienced this with a brisket before, but I did experience a free fall in temps with one of two pork butts the last cook I had and it did not involve foil. Basically, I was using two food probes and one pit probe and when one of the two 10 lb butts reached 195 and I elected to check it the other began a free fall after I closed the dome. I didn't know what to do so I did nothing. What I observed was that it hung there for quite a while at around 175 like it was in a second stall of some kind, but then accelerated and caught up with the other butt by about 198. I really do not have enough cooks under my belt to add any opinions as to why this might of happened. Until it caught up I was suspecting that maybe one of my probes was out of whack, but since it did catch up, I think maybe there was something else going on (maybe evaporation on the surface and some sort of drawing out of heat from the core?). I don't know.

corey24 · July 2014

I had a maverick in the brisket and when I probed I probed in several spots all between 192-200 when I first probed. Then the temp dropped 25-30 degree's. As I said, this has happened two straight briskets. Didn't know if this was normal for brisket or I was doing something wrong.

Nature Boy · July 2014

That is quite a free fall in temp. I usually don't get that if I wrap back up quickly and keep the cooker temp up. But it does happen, and I do often get less severe temp drops. When it happens, it never really gets back up over 190, but still gets cooked tender. I don't fret too much.

You said it though, it was actually pretty good! Once the meat reaches 200, there is a lot of cooking going on. Apparently your temp drop did not affect your final product. Cuz, really, the brisket is still cooking pretty good when your meat is at 175. A lot of the fast cookers on the competition circuit pull their briskets at 205 plus…and still not tender. The final cooking happens during the 3-4 hour rest.

Bottom line, the temp drop didn't hurt you. And yes, you can probe through the foil, just be real careful not to tear a piece off and push it into the meat (which I have seen happen). Now, if you can just figure out EXACTLY what happened, you shall be enlightened!

Happy brisketeering.

Chris

mahenryak · July 2014

Edit: Maybe @NPHuskerFL is on to something. I hadn't read his post before posting mine.

NPHuskerFL · July 2014

@mahenryak‌ using my Stoker on Stoker log watched a brisky & likewise a Boston Butt temp rise and fall, stay in the first stall like 4-5.5 hrs and the 2nd stall over 2 hrs. I remedied this by not looking at the stoker log while I'm cooking.

) But, looking at the log after the cook it looks crazy. ;-)

NPHuskerFL · July 2014

@corey24‌ pretty normal. Egg on my friend. Egg on

mahenryak · July 2014

NPHuskerFL said:

@mahenryak‌ using my Stoker on Stoker log watched a brisky & likewise a Boston Butt temp rise and fall, stay in the first stall like 4-5.5 hrs and the 2nd stall over 2 hrs. I remedied this by not looking at the stoker log while I'm cooking. ) But, looking at the log after the cook it looks crazy. ;-)

Sounds like good advice.
=D>

corey24 · July 2014

It's tough because you foil, you think you are within a half hour of being done at 195 and then you lose all this temp and this process goes on for hours.....

Guess I have trouble comprehending how when you put a thermometer in the inside of a piece of meat and it reads 195 how does the inside of that meat drop like that. It isn't the outside of the meat, it's the inside. Doesn't make sense to me......

Ladeback69 · July 2014

I usually don't foil my brisket unless I am doing ftc. I just take it all the way through tell it's done. I haven't had this happen before, but I haven't cooked a lot of briskets yet.

NPHuskerFL · July 2014

@corey24‌ Don't over think it. It just does

Joe Dirt's Dad:

http://youtu.be/1E6IfdUJn6s

Foiling Brisket Question.....

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