Today was a brisket day and a tale of temperature

Stormbringer

I arose at 06:00 to get the Large fired up for our brisket. I placed a couple of alder chunks into the lump and fired it up, then went inside and examined the brisket. It was ... big. I followed @lousubcap advice and used bricks to use the space but even then I was a tight fit. 

The dome temp gauge read 225F when I layered the brisket in. The FB read ... oh, something else that was higher. But the dome temp gauge it always right. 

After about 4 hours the meat hit 150F so I prepared for the stall. Also the meat had shrunk so I removed the bricks. 

The stall was all of an hour then it started to rise again. I wrapped it in butchers paper and the internal temperature kept on rising by 7 hours it had hit 195F. Didn’t sound right. The FB temp was up to 285F but the dome temp read 225F. Something was amiss. It shouldn’t be this quick.

I took the dome temp gauge from the MMX and plugged it into the large. Lo and behold that gauge rocketed to 275F. Damn. I looked closely at the large’s temp gauge. 

It was bent. Damn again. I unwrapped the brisket the IT went back down to 185. I added some cold fire bricks into the large to absorb the heat to get the temp down. It worked. Another two hours to hit 195F again then wrapped for 1.5 hours.

The result:

Pretty happy. The brisket had too much fat trimmed off by the butcher next time I’ll ask to leave the fat on so I can get some insulation on it.

Thanks for the advice Loufrank. 😂

JohnInCarolina

I’d hit it.

lousubcap

Great result right there.  And way to adapt to quite the audible with the temperature.  Great call with the cold bricks.  I would crush that and you nailed the ring as well.
Related, I don't have the clip on the inside of the thermo.  I space it using a wine cork (no worries finding those for you...) on the outside primarily so I don't impale it on any protein.  If concerned with spacing I will give it the eyeball thru the dome to make sure it is clear.

dbCooper

Looks to be a great result, more impressive given the obstacles you had to overcome.  Nice.

loco_engr

yummy looking brisky
way to adlib with the bricks

nolaegghead

Looks good.  Ask the butcher to leave at least a quarter inch of fat over the muscle (6-7mm) or better yet, trim it yourself where you can get it exactly where you like it. 

I'm not sure I fully understand why you wanted to drop the temp so fast (with the bricks).  Under 300F isn't an outlier temp to cook a brisket and that seems like a lot of work.

You could just let it ride (me) or pull the meat out for a spell before putting back in a cooler egg.

Stormbringer

nolaegghead said:

Looks good.  Ask the butcher to leave at least a quarter inch of fat over the muscle (6-7mm) or better yet, trim it yourself where you can get it exactly where you like it. 

I'm not sure I fully understand why you wanted to drop the temp so fast (with the bricks).  Under 300F isn't an outlier temp to cook a brisket and that seems like a lot of work.

You could just let it ride (me) or pull the meat out for a spell before putting back in a cooler egg.

I was trying to do it by the book, only the second time I've cooked a brisket. Good to know that I've got more scope on the temp. 

Stormbringer

lousubcap said:

Great result right there.  And way to adapt to quite the audible with the temperature.  Great call with the cold bricks.  I would crush that and you nailed the ring as well.
Related, I don't have the clip on the inside of the thermo.  I space it using a wine cork (no worries finding those for you...) on the outside primarily so I don't impale it on any protein.  If concerned with spacing I will give it the eyeball thru the dome to make sure it is clear.

I do this with the temp gauge in the MMX for the exact reason that you stated. When I get a new gauge for the large, I'll do the same.

Footnote: SMWBO (aka Mrs Stormbringer) pointed out that we do have the space for an XL . Now considering trading in the large for an XL. The MMX is our powerhouse for the two of us, the only time I use the large now is to cook really big things. So ... might as well go XL. 

lousubcap

@Stormbringer - in every cloud there is a silver lining.  Strike while the iron is hot.