Advice Needed


 
D

Doug Walker

TVWBB Member
I am in the middle of an overnight Butts over Brisket Cook on my 18 inch bullet. The Brisket is 11 1/2 lbs and the Butts are both 6 1/2 lbs.

I lit the Pit around 7pm last night. At 8pm I got the meat on the pit. I had the pit running at 143 with my BBQ GURU.

All was running great when i went to bed at midnight. I woke up later than I had planned (6:30 am) to hear the alarm going off on the guru. The temperature outside got colder then expected and my coals started running low but there were still hot coals in there. The Pit temp was at 168, the Brisket was at 169 and the Butts were at 165. I ramped up the temp back to 250. The Brisket quickly moved up in temp after getting the fire going again. Its now 8 am and my Brisket is up to 189... Too soon. Using the fork test, the brisket is not done yet. I'll be checking every 45 minutes from here. We are not eating until 2.

I imagine my temps did not drop for too long and I don't imagine I have any danger zone issues. Will this type of drop in temp give me a tough Brisket? I'll need to hold the brisket in a cooler for another 6 hours. I am lowering my pit to 210 to bring this one to a finish. I have time to spare, but what will the impact on the meat be? I think I really messed this one up.
 
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I've read articles from food scientists that describe holding a butt at 167*F for 6 hrs to produce the best pulled pork. They came to this conclusion after several experiments. This may apply to brisket as well.

I have a cpl of questions here. What's the grade and marbling of the brisket? With plenty of marbling you may be OK.

Has it stalled yet? You might not reach final tenderness as soon as you think.
 
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Not sure on the grade. I picked it up at a Whole Sale meat Market in town. They usually carry a higher grade of meat so I would put it at choice. The brisket is fairly thick across the flat. I wouldn't say I saw more than usual marbling.

I am less concerned about the Butts than the brisket. I have found the butts to be very forgiving. I just have not had as much experience with the brisket and have heard that inconsistent temps really challenge the final tenderness. At this point, I think by best bet is to run the pit around 210 and keep poking it with a stick for a few hours. If its not tender by 11, I can ramp up the temp again.

Unless the more informed suggest I am going looney with my plan.
 
It's now just before 8:54 am and the Brisket seems to have come down to 184 (weird). The Pit is holding at 236. Butts are at 182. The fork is telling me the Brisket is near done. Still a little grab when I pull the fork out. I'll check again at 9:30.
 
Gary S said:
Hope all turned out well. Let us know.
Click to expand...

The Pork turned out fantastic. The Brisket.... Not so much. I still have not idea what happened. After getting the Pit back up to temp, while the Pit was running at 210, the temp in the brisket dropped from 188 to 170. Then after running the pit at 250-270 it took hours to get it back up. When the Brisket was at 188, it was almost fork tender, but did not get to the correct texture until the brisket got back to about 190. But when I separated out the flat from the point, I knew instantly, this was way overcooked. Cutting up the point, the meat looked more like pulled beef than cubed Burnt ends. The Point was tasty, but the flat was dry as a bone even after resting for 2 hours in an ice chest wrapped in foil and towels. I think my probes must have been giving my bad reads, because, this is one cook that just did not make any since. The good news is the extended period in the zone was well received by the butts and they were perfect. That's another good reason to do Butts over Brisket. The Butts make a great back up plan to the Brisket.
 
Tuff to call, it may have dried out some too given the rise and fall in temps. Don't forget when you take them off and keep them wrapped in the cooler they continue to cook as well. They need to be cooled for 20-30 minutes to stop the cook. Worse case is the flat can be used in chili. :)
 
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