Brisket - Ready too soon?

Unknown

My polder is reading 195 after cooking a 9 pound brisket indirect @ 225 for 13 hours. I was ready for an 18+ hour cook but it looks like the brisket is already done. Does this sound right???

Fireball

Matt,
Every piece of brisket is different. Put the probe into a different area of the brisket and check the temp again. The twist test with a fork (stick a fork into the brisket and attempt to twist it, if it twist easy it is ready to go) is another way to check. If it is done early wrap in foil and then in a couple of towels and into a dry ice chest. It will stay warm for hours. Good luck! Things will be ok.
Fireball

Tim M

Matt,[p]It could be done. Take temps in a couple places and make sure the tip is not too far through the meat. Those Polder type probes measure right in the tip only and it's easy to push it to within 1/2" for poking out the other side.[p]Tim

Unknown

I checked the meat in several different places with internal always beteen 192 & 200. Into the cooler we go...I'll let you know how it turns out. I'm not eating until 7 so I'm finished a little earlier than would have liked.

Nature Boy

Matt,
Sounds like either you had a turbo-brisket, or that your dome thermometer is off. Have you checked your dome thermometer in boiling water lately?? When I was up in New Hampshire cooking on my bro-in-law's egg, I could tell his dome therm was reading low. Checked in boiling water and it read 150!! 62 degrees off, and he had been cooking that way for who knows how long.[p]Whatever the case, sounds like you are in for some good eats no matter what. It will stay hot in the cooler for up to 5 hours.[p]Have fun!
NB

BBQfan1

Matt, Fireball was right on the button with 'every brisket is different'! I did a brisket Fri/Sat that actually cooked in reverse!! To explain: put it on at noon on Friday for our family gathering on Saturday. I came home at work Friday lunchtime and put it on placed on rack over dry pan which sat on 4 flat firebricks. Put the smoke to it pretty hard off the bat, so you never know where temp will actually settle when wood burns off, but I had to get back to work, so set vents where history told me I'd be okay. Sure enough, came home at 5:30 and dome was 250, but internal was 170 already; right on cusp of breaking through the plateau! I immediately closed vents to a sliver, put cold water in drip pan and added the slices of beef fat that I had reserved. The internal started to slack off into the high 160's. The dome went down to 210-220 after an hour or so and throughout the rest of the night, the internal temp began to slowly drop, to the point that by 2:30 in the morning it was 143 internal, despite the 210 dome temp!! This brisket was working its way through the plateau backwards!!! At 4:30 am I bumped temp to 250 again and it started to climb up again like a bandit. By 6 am when I left to get things ready for the pig roast, it was 167 internal! I wrapped in foil, but not before adding a can of beef broth on top of brisket, since it wouldn't be served til 5 pm. I cooled in the cooler, with ice over it to stop the cooking process and even put in freezer in the afternoon to ensure it wasn't drying right out. We put on with the pig we were roasting for last hour before serving, and it turned out to be the best brisket I've done to date!! Go figure! Every one IS different.
Qfan
ps--I marinated this one in root beer; a tip I had heard somewhere. Turned out well, flavour-wise.