Brisket Stuck at 153 Degrees

Unknown

Set it up indirect at 3:30. Cooking at 250 (actually pegged at 246). Meat rose steadily to 153 and has been stuck there for an hour. Is my thermometer nuts? The dome temp changes a degree or so so that's working, but the meat temp is stuck at 153. Should I turn up the heat? Wait? Get it the heck out? Thus far, I haven't even opened the lid.

GrillMeister

Petear,[p]This is a plateau that will take a few hours to break through and then it head on up higher temps.

Pakak

Petear,[p]I'm not sure where you live, so I don't know what time it is there. If I knew, I'd be able to determine how long you've been cooking. I'm assuming EST, so it's been on about 3 1/2 hours? If so, you're probably not even half way done yet. Figure about 1 1/2 - 2 hours per pound.[p]It's normal for the internal temperature of the meat to plateau and that's just about the right temp. Put the meat when it's 195° - 200°. Wrap it with a towel and put in an ice chest (or, I put it in an unheated oven) for about an hour, then slice.

GrillMeister

Pakak,[p]I'd wrap it in foil first before I wrap a towel around it. [grin] [p]

Pakak

GrillMeister,[p]You don't know what you're missing by doing that! There's nothing like picking lint from between your teeth, especially mixed with a bit of good sauce.

Unknown

Thanks. I've found older threads on "plateaued" brisket. Mine is only two pounds so I thought it would cook fast. I did, however, cover it with about a pound of bacon because it didn't have much of a fat cap and it was kinda thin. That pound of bacon has probably lengthened my cooking time. When you are working with a small piece of meat, the extra pound really shows up.

GrillMeister

Pakak,[p]Yeah, but Mrs. GrillMeister would take away my eggs if I used one of her good towels. [grin]