2.25 lb Brisket point stalls for 5 hours


 
Jonathan Wexler

Jonathan Wexler

New member
Twice now, my brisket points go to 160 pretty quickly at 225. Then just sits there for 5 hours. I gained 6 degrees by upping to 175.
Burned all the fuel and added more. I quit after 5+ hours. This is a 2lb piece of meat.

Is the water pan the cause of this? Bark did not even start until the pan RAN DRY.

This feels ridiculous. Last time it did the same thing. 164 degrees and actually seemed fully cooked. it was a Picanha as brisket is not common in Portugal.

Am I wrong in thinking a 2 1/4 pound piece of meat shouldn't take 14 hours?

I have read the "theories" about why we stall and if moisture is the cause, why baste? Why use a water pan?

Sorry i am frustrated and my mind cat grasp a 2 plound object in an average 240 degree oven for 5 hours still. not having a core temperature of 166.
 
No it shoud be quicker. Picahna is different though.
Check thermometers. Check what temp picahna should be cooked to.

Edit: oops i mixed up which cook was which.
 
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That’s not unrealistic. The point is the fattiest cut and thickest part and you’re running 240°F.

If your bark is set at the 4-5 hour mark and the point is at 165°F, I’d wrap it and up cooking temp to 300°F to get to done temps.

What cooker are you using? Another thought is thermal inefficiency. Too big a cooker for too small a roast.
 
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The stall is caused when evaporation carries of heat as fast as it's being produced. Anything that increases moisture contributes to the length of the stall. While it is often necessary to add moisture to prevent ending up with a dry final product, fat content is something that needs to be considered. As Brett-EDH suggests, wrapping and increasing the temperature can greatly reduce stall duration.
 
When the meat hits the stall, wrap it.

What I usually do is watch the temperature; if it gets to the 155-165 range, and the temp hasn't changed for 15 minutes or so, that's when I wrap tightly in foil. The stall usually clears in an hour or so.

I do a lot of small (2-3lb) chuck roasts. The last one hit stall at 4 hours and 160 degF. Wrapped, and 2 hours later it was at a probe-tender 206 degrees.
 
I don't say this to correct you but did you increase your pit temp to 175f, or something else like 275f? Also; others' feedback is relevant but are you confident that you are recording an accurate pit temp?
 
Thanks for your patience guys. I think I am agitated over problems caused by my assumptions.

1) The cooker is a ProQ Frontier. This is the closest thing to a WSM I have been able to find in my country of residence. There are some Weber products here, but very limited. It works pretty well and has (or more honestly I have) steadily improved with practice. This go round, the temp was rock steady, so I am getting better at that.
2) Product availability: I assumed that the products I use make a bigger difference than I think they really do. This is compounded by language difficulties. When I ask for brisket, I get strange looks. These points were located in a town upriver by a friend who bought me 3. Finding a brisket point instead of a picanha made no difference is the stall. While both are small triangular wedges with a fat cap, they both stalled. Having a local french grocer starting to carry briquettes this year, proved no longer a burn than natural charcoal twigs and bits. Butchers don't use paper to wrap here, I can't find the pink stuff here and what I tried turned to pulp in minutes.
3) I assumed I could run from start to finish without a wrap, because I succeeded in Oregon in the past. Well that assumption is shot.
4) I have the temps right (triple not double device check) Half my brain is metric and half non-metric, yes 175 was an error, I meant 275. I live in a constant state of having to check the conversion numbers online. My brain is not becoming metric.
5) Space vs quantity, last time was one picanha, this time 3 points on 2 levels. Still stalled.
6) If evaporation is bad, the water pan must be pure evil. Yet none of you suggests dumping the pan and all of you suggest wrapping, so that assumption was apparently wrong too.


Reading what you all write about wrapping, and the timing that Chris stated, I need to change my game. Sitting for 3-5 hours PAST the 160 point waiting for Godot, is dumb. I will wrap it pronto and accept that I am not the master of the universe. It's not going to do what I THINK it should, and need to stop being stubborn.
 
Your choice of meat, picanha, is a lean cut that needs to be cooked to 125-135 IT for rare/medium. But you can cook it like a brisket by wrapping it tightly in foil at around the 4hr mark, as Brett mentions, then take it to +/- 203. I've never done this, imo picanha is best treated like steak.

As for brisket in Portugal, ask your butcher for Maca do Peito, (brisket/clod), this cut is more conducive for low and slow.

The ProQ Frontier is a very capable unit. I've been to numerous bbq festivals where some competitors were using it, and the results were exceptional. So you're good there.

Butcher paper available here, as well as all your bbq needs. I've ordered from them dozens of times. Grate company based in Holland. Free shipping when you spend €100 or more.
 
Are you sure..... That your temperature and your measure is accurate near your piece of meat?
Typically, 275 F cooking temperature stall is minimal. Stall is much much more pronounced at lower temperature, because the delta t for heat transfer is basically the difference between the temperature and the boiling point of water. Which is more or less 13F cooking at 225 and 63 F cooking at 275. IE, at 275. Stall will be probably about one fifth the time of at 225.

My briskets usually take 10 or 12 hours.at 275F...... I cooked one at 225F once that took 21 hours. Pretty big difference. 12-hour difference between 225 F and 275F

My gut says your temperature measurement may be in a poor location relative to the meat, the temperature may be lower than your measuring .

Here's an example of a 12 lb brisket cooked last night, basically no stall of 275F after wrapping at 165.
 

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I'll start out by saying I used to be pretty dogmatic about 225. These days I cook hotter depending on what I'm cooking. The stalls at 225 can be brutal because you are just barely above the boiling point. Try cooking at 275. With whole briskets you might start lower for a 4 or 5 hours because the thin part of the flat can curl up and moisture can pool up on it. Once you are in the stall you can actually turn up the heat because the evaporation will protect the brisket. Once wrapped you can go even hotter still depending on the cooker.
 
Chris, you can order the pink butchers paper from Amazon in the UK / most any Amazon in another country. Many products will ship internationally (I’ve ordered quite a number of things from Amazon Germany sent to the U.S.) though you might have to pay a little. Don’t lose hope. Trial and error.

Pink Butcher’s Paper
 
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