Brisket Help

Alan801

I am (hopefully) near the tail end of my first brisket cook. It is a 10 lb flat with nice fat on it. I put it on last night around 11 and kept it around 230-240 overnight.

I had to go to work today and have checked on it a couple of times. I have been trying to get the temp up all day and got it up around 300, then it dropped back to 220.

I finally went home and used my wiggle stick to clean out the ash, and opened the vents wide open. It still only got up to about 300.

My real concern is that the internal meat temp is still only around 140 after being on the egg for 15 hours. I am concerned I will not hit the plateua, or that I will not have it in time to serve tonight by 8.

Any input from experienced brisket cooks? I am hoping my fear is for naught.

Leggo My Eggo

Your lump may be all used up after such a long cook. Depends how much you had in there to start with among other factors. I had that happen to be on a couple of butt's I did last weekend. I pulled them and finished them in the oven and they turned out fine.

Alan801

That's a great idea. I might pull them and finish them in the oven. I think my lump is getting low. I think next time i will invert my spider to have more room for the lump. Thanks!

Fidel

Sounds to me like either your dome thermometer or your meat thermometer is wrong.

Brisket will usually get up to 140-150 in a few hours, then slowly climb the rest of the way. If yours is 140 after 15 hours either the meat thermometer is reading low or the dome temps are really low.

Kenny 13

Fidel wrote:

Sounds to me like either your dome thermometer or your meat thermometer is wrong.

Brisket will usually get up to 140-150 in a few hours, then slowly climb the rest of the way. If yours is 140 after 15 hours either the meat thermometer is reading low or the dome temps are really low.

I'd have to agree. Although no 2 briskets are alike, nor cook alike, I've never had one take longer than 4 hours to reach 140°. I've had some take in the neighborhood of 20 hours to fully cook in an offset smoker, but most of that time was spent in the 160-180° range while coming through the plateau.

asianflava

That's what I was thinking too, faulty thermometers. I can get a huge packer up to 190 in 13hrs at 230.