16 hours in only at 178 degrees brisket


 
J

Jay Smity

New member
Set my brisket last night. Using a WSM 22 inc. It's been 16 hours so far. The brisket is only at 178. I have my probe right on the same grate where the meat is. It's been holding 225 with spikes here and there. I'm not trying to do a wrap. I'm concerned my meat will be very dry. MY wife would be ****ed if that happened since I spent good money on this thing lol! Help please!
 
How many hours at 178? Is it nearing the end of the stall?

Not sure why you aren't willing to do a wrap. That would surely help your concerns over dryness and speed up the finish.
 
What size brisket? If its a big one, you make not really be off track. If you want to speed it up I'd bump your temp up to 260 or so. I agree with KT though i'd also wrap it in paper which will retain moisture and speed up the cook.
 
I also would agree with wrapping. Trust me if you are a brisket fiend like I am butcher paper will become your best friend.
 
Jay Smity said:
... I'm not trying to do a wrap. I'm concerned my meat will be very dry...
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When a brisket turns out "dry", generally one of two conditions are the cause.
If it is "dry" and tough, then it was probably undercooked.
If it "dry" and crumbly, then it was probably overcooked.
Somewhere between these two conditions is where a brisket is nice an juicy.
 
Jay Smity said:
Set my brisket last night. Using a WSM 22 inc. It's been 16 hours so far. The brisket is only at 178. I have my probe right on the same grate where the meat is. It's been holding 225 with spikes here and there. I'm not trying to do a wrap. I'm concerned my meat will be very dry. MY wife would be ****ed if that happened since I spent good money on this thing lol! Help please!
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Curious how this cook turned out. How long in the end? What internal temp did you pull the brisket off the pit? Did you end up wrapping and/or bumping the pit temp? And how did it taste (Did the wife approve)?
 
Bob Bass said:
When a brisket turns out "dry", generally one of two conditions are the cause.
If it is "dry" and tough, then it was probably undercooked.
If it "dry" and crumbly, then it was probably overcooked.
Somewhere between these two conditions is where a brisket is nice an juicy.
Click to expand...

I like how Bob sums it up very nicely. I haven't really thought about it that way but it is all true. There can be some modest salvation in buying a well marbled brisket. But nothing replaces years of hard earned experience.
 
Jay... the description "dry" in reference to a brisket means absolutely nothing !!! Read the posting above....


Just saying "dry" is kinda of like "the car won't run"... well, is it out of gas ? is it without tires? has it burnt to the ground ? has it a dead battery ????
 
I no longer cook at 225-250°F, I target 275°F for all low & slow cooking and it seems to avoid the situation Jay encountered. You push right through the stall, wrap with foil or butcher paper at 170°F, and take it across the finish line at 205°F.
 
I agree totally with Chris. First and foremost... taking control of your cook based on information gained on your past experience.
Jay had just cooked another brisket that was also "dry".
 
FWIW, I just did a 16 hour brisket over Saturday night/Sunday morning at 250 and it turned out wonderfully. No wrap. That being said I’ll try 275 next time because not stalling for 4-5 hours would be great.
 
Choice brisket, final temp of 200 (then foiled for carryover). Hit a snag overnight when it started raining but caught it at around 4am and added more fuel. Here’s the chart. You can the stall and then the smoker temp dip from the rain.
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For what it’s worth, while I did plot this in google sheets, the data points were just notes on my phone taken at scientifically rigorous times like “when I finished my whiskey and decided to check the brisket” and “when I woke up to check on the brisket.”

Edit: I also miscounted the time because I accidentally screwed up my timer. It was more like a 13.5 hour cook.
 
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Chris C in Chicago said:
“when I finished my whiskey and decided to check the brisket” and “when I woke up to check on the brisket.”
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Sounds pretty scientific to me!

Thanks for the additional info. My brisket cooking is still a work in progress. I feel like I improve with each cook, but to be honest I go so long in between I'm not really sure. But I know I've got the basics down.... fire WSM, trim fat, apply rub, put brisket on smoker, wait, get impatient, wait some more...

Anyway, the last cook I did I pulled the brisket somewhere around 185F to 187F. I usually start probing for tenderness around the 185 mark and go by that rather than the temp. But whenever I look online I hear that the sweet spot for brisket is (depending on who you ask) 195-205. Everyone enjoyed my last cook, but being that I'm always trying to improve, I think the next time I'll try to be a little more patient and see if I've been undercooking all this time.
 
Brian Johnson said:
Sounds pretty scientific to me!

Thanks for the additional info. My brisket cooking is still a work in progress. I feel like I improve with each cook, but to be honest I go so long in between I'm not really sure. But I know I've got the basics down.... fire WSM, trim fat, apply rub, put brisket on smoker, wait, get impatient, wait some more...

Anyway, the last cook I did I pulled the brisket somewhere around 185F to 187F. I usually start probing for tenderness around the 185 mark and go by that rather than the temp. But whenever I look online I hear that the sweet spot for brisket is (depending on who you ask) 195-205. Everyone enjoyed my last cook, but being that I'm always trying to improve, I think the next time I'll try to be a little more patient and see if I've been undercooking all this time.
Click to expand...

I don't think it'll hurt anything to bring it a bit higher, at least in my experience.
 
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