20 Lb Packer - Test Run - Advice Needed

gmac

Trying a 20 lb full packer as a test run for next weekend when I have to do a few of these.
This is 14 hrs in and it probes at 185 in some spots, 205 in other, probably fattier, spots. Seems hard to read the right time to FTC. Going to do burnt ends so will pull and remove the point and re-smoke the point. 
Any advice on when to pull etc would be helpful. It ran around 200 overnight but had dropped <200 by the morning. Raised the temp back up to 225 for the last couple hours. Just don't want to dry it out. 
Thanks. 

gmac

Bump

lousubcap

With brisket it is all about the feel in the thickest part of the flat, temperature only gets you to start looking.  So, when you probe the thickest part of the flat and get no resistance, you are there.  And the point will run hotter but with all the fat content don't worry about the temps there. I don't do burnt ends so no help there.  
Now, if you are planning to FTC of an extended duration you may be some carry over cooking so you can pull with a bit of resistance but going that road is a crap-shoot.  Now, if it is "probing like buttah" right now, then let it cool for around 15-20 mins on the counter before FTC.  That will minimize any carry-over cook.  FWIW-

gmac

16 Hrs in. Probing 203 in the thickest flat probed horizontal. Not like "buttah" yet though so I will leave another 1/2 hr and then FTC. 

gmac

Well, it's off and I pulled the point off with a fork. Happy so far. 

gmac

Wow. One reply on a legitimate request for help. 

SGH

gmac said:

Wow. One reply on a legitimate request for help. 

Brother I just saw this. My apologies. I'm sure the original question doesn't still stand. With that said, can I help in any way? Again, I missed this somehow or I would have responded immediately.

SGH

gmac said:

Wow. One reply on a legitimate request for help. 

Man if you ever need help and I'm not on the forum and no one answers your request, then text or call me. I will gladly answer. 228-627-5400. Name is Scottie. 

gmac

Thanks SGH. I was just blown away that with all the activity on here that was all the help I got. No offence @lousubcap I followed your advice. 

I have FTC'd and will post some pics. I also have Cazzy's number but I didn't want to bother him on Mother's Day not knowing what his day looked like etc. 

I smoked the point another hour and all is in the cooler waiting the arrival of Mom. Really needed that advice on when to pull so thanks again Lousubcap. 

gmac

Thanks SGH. Really appreciate that. I've been egging for 5 years but an $80 chunk of meat is rare for me and I don't want to screw it up. 

cazzy

gmac said:

Thanks SGH. I was just blown away that with all the activity on here that was all the help I got. No offence @lousubcap I followed your advice. 

I have FTC'd and will post some pics. I also have Cazzy's number but I didn't want to bother him on Mother's Day not knowing what his day looked like etc. 

I smoked the point another hour and all is in the cooler waiting the arrival of Mom. Really needed that advice on when to pull so thanks again Lousubcap. 

Call anytime bruh.  The only day that was tough was last Saturday.  After breakfast, we've just been in the media room watching movies.

Hope it turned out well.

SGH

gmac said:

Wow. One reply on a legitimate request for help. 

Brother you have a legitimate gripe above. Again I wish I would have seen it sooner. I try to answer all questions but due to work in not around as much as I use to be. For the future, I posted my number above. If you can not get a answer on the forum, text me. 

SGH

For the record, my Q help hotline is open 24/7.

gmac

Thanks guys. This is what makes this forum worth the BS. If you ever want to know about corn, that's all I know. And yes, corn. 

SGH

gmac said:

Thanks guys. This is what makes this forum worth the BS. If you ever want to know about corn, that's all I know. And yes, corn. 

I made a 55 gallon corn steamer. Have you ever saw one? 

cazzy

gmac said:

Thanks guys. This is what makes this forum worth the BS. If you ever want to know about corn, that's all I know. And yes, corn. 

What's the quickest and most efficient way to get the corn off the cob?

gmac

cazzy said:

gmac said:

Thanks guys. This is what makes this forum worth the BS. If you ever want to know about corn, that's all I know. And yes, corn. 

What's the quickest and most efficient way to get the corn off the cob?

Sweet corn...a knife. Dry dent corn...a combine. 

gmac

SGH said:

gmac said:

Thanks guys. This is what makes this forum worth the BS. If you ever want to know about corn, that's all I know. And yes, corn. 

I made a 55 gallon corn steamer. Have you ever saw one? 

No. I haven't. 

SGH

cazzy said:

What's the quickest and most efficient way to get the corn off the cob?

If doing it by hand, a bundt pan. The absolute fastest way  is a mechanized stripper.  

cazzy

SGH said:

cazzy said:

What's the quickest and most efficient way to get the corn off the cob?

If doing it by hand, a bundt pan. The absolute fastest way  is a mechanized stripper.  

That's how I do it.  I need to be able to do 40 ears and want to see if I can speed it up.

loveTheEgg

I see you posted this under "beef" I wonder if that had anything to do with the fact that I just saw this post at 4:15. Given you title I would have clicked on it. (Not that I would have been much help) I would have told you to pull it at 190. That's where I pull all mine and all have been pretty awesome. Anyway,  back to the point.....again I did not see this post so wondering if a lot of others did not see it. Hope all turned out well! 

SGH

loveTheEgg said:

I did not see this post so wondering if a lot of others did not see it. 

I did not see it either until he bumped it. I would have responded immediately had I seen it.

loveTheEgg

I think it had something to do with posting it under beef instead of Egghead Forum. 

lousubcap

Well, I hope I didn't hose it up for you..regardless enjoy the eats.

gmac

OK. I went seriously wrong on the flat. Point was great but the bottom1/4 inch of the flat is dry and hard and it crumbles badly. Help! 

loveTheEgg

My advice... pull it at 190 next time 

cazzy

loveTheEgg said:

My advice... pull it at 190 next time 

That wasn't the problem...the only brisket I've ever pulled at 190 was a SRF brisket.  The hardness is likely due to cooking too hot and he was likely over on the flat...which is why it is dry.  After you pull at 190...what do you do?  Wrap in foil?  If so, that would work, but there are other ways to do it properly without pulling it early.

@gmac Please list your step by step process of your cook.

loveTheEgg

You might thinking I'm joking but I have pulled every brisket that I have ever done at 188. Why 188? No idea! That's where I pulled it on the very first one and it was perfect. All of them have been spot on. I did a Gold SRF for Christmas and I pulled it at 185. Here is another crazy thing. I don't even prob them to check... I just pull them at 188 and FTC for 1 hour. That's just what I do and it works for me every time. :-)

lousubcap

Oh well. we came we saw, we got our a$$es kicked.  Every journey is a learning eggsperience.

gmac

OK, here is the step by step in all the glorious detail.

I bought a 19.5 lb full packer from a local packer (Norpac).  The quality was "A or better" because I don't think they rate it as closely as the US system. 

Yesterday I trimmed it down to 1/4 inch of fat on the flat or more. I didn't want to over-trim and err'd on the side of fatty.  Pulled out a bit of fat from the deckle but didn't go crazy digging into the fat.  Figured I'd rather trim it off after slicing than before.  Rub was salt and pepper only.

Last night at 8 pm EDST, I put it on at 250 (by the dial thermometer - this is important to remember for later).  I had cooked pork chops earlier for supper and then tamped it down to get it closer to the desired temp.  I had filled the egg with Maple Leaf lump to the top of the fire ring (plate setter was right on top of the lump, probably touching) at 6:00 and put on two fist+ size lumps of apple wood at 8 pm on top of the charcoal.  I put the plate setter on, legs up and put my pizza stone on as well in the 6 O'clock position to cover the gap at that end because it was such a big piece of meat.

I checked it at 8:30pm and it was about 200.  I left it pretty much alone.  I checked at 10:00pm and it was down around 175 so I bumped it open a touch more.  At 10:30pm it was running 225. I went to bed and tried to get something from the wife but got shut down (you wanted step by step...).

At 1:30 am I woke up and went out and checked it and it was running 200 and I left it all alone.  

At 7:00 am I checked it and it was at about 170 or so. I bumped the temp up slightly.

At 8:30 am I checked it and it was back to 200 by the temp gauge I mentioned before.

You can see the posts above staring at about 10:09.  When I pulled the flat, I wrapped it in foil, a towel (it was blue) and put it in the cooler.  I left the point on for a couple hours as I mentioned and then pulled it and wrapped it in foil and then a Cheerios towel and a stripy one.  When I pulled off the point, there was already some flat stuck to the grill which was dry but very tasty and we ate it.  

So, here's what I think I did wrong.  I did a clean burn a while ago and I forgot to pull the thermometer and I wonder if I really screwed it up and need to either get a new one or re-calibrate it.  I don't have any sort of electronic monitoring beyond my thermopen (orange).  I am pretty comfortable with the accuracy of it and as I said, when I probed it at 185 it was NOT "buttah". Still some resistance but it was clearly done and dry on the thin edge (which I wasn't worried about because that was gonna go in the burnt ends anyway).

I'm not sure what other details I can provide so please ask if you have any questions.

Tinyfish

Was the dry part of the flat hanging over your indirect deflector getting direct heat.