Brisket Temperature Madness

Eightythree

Have a whole 12lb brisket  cook in progress. In about hour 4, temps have been hard to control, between 250-300 at the grid measured by my BBQ Guru probe. I actually have the Guru fan out and the bottom vent closed all the way and it's still holding at 300 and not dropping but that's another issue. I have wrapped it in foil for maybe an hour or so and my temps are already reading 200+ in the flat and point.

It can't be done that fast, its impossible. What should I do?

rholt

Yikes. That's a hard one. If you have a backup thermo you may try it. If not then I guess just go by tenderness when probing.

The Cen-Tex Smoker

your thermos are wrong. why it is wrapped?that will only speed up the cook. If you are looking to slow it down, wrapping is the wrong thing to do.

Eightythree

It's been wrapped roughly and hour and a half. I wrapped it because that's the way I learned it.

The Cen-Tex Smoker

ok-wrapping speeds the cook WAY up.that's really all it does.I still don't think your thermos are reading right. 250-300 is totally normal for a brisket cook of 1-1.5 hrs per lb (unwrapped) and maybe half that if wrapped.

Eightythree

I cut a small slice off the flat, smoke ring/taste is there. I did the pull test and it pulled pretty easy. I'm just going to stick it on for another few hours and see what happens.

My Thermapen was giving me 200-205 all over the whole brisket. I did trim a lot more fat off then I normally do, maybe that is the reason why?

Foghorn

If you are at 200 - 205 and it looks and feels right, then it is done.

The time is hard to predict.  I did a 14 pound packer a while back in only 7 hours at about 250 at the grid.  I did not foil.  I'm not sure why it cooked so fast, but it sure was good.

 

TexanOfTheNorth

I agree with @Foghorn.

Another few hours may be way too much if your temps are right and you can slide a probe in and out without resistance.

You might want to go ahead and pull it for FTC. Have you considered making burnt ends out of the point? Those things are fantastic!

plumbfir01

make sure your probes are tight where they plug into the guru. Mine were reading erratic last week and i tightened the metal male end within the black plastic piece and worked for me. it was a threaded piece 

The Cen-Tex Smoker

I agree with the others. Against all conventional wisdom, sounds like it's done. If it feels right and tastes right, another few hours is just going to mess up a perfectly good brisket.

Eightythree

I went ahead and pulled at 5.5 hours @ 205. I'm just as baffled as you guys are. I will let it rest for another hour or 2 and see where we are at.

Thanks for the advice!

freddyj

How was it?

Wolfpack

check your probe temps in hot water- maybe the grid temp was actually much higher?

Wolfpack

check that- meant boiling water