Long Time in "The Stall" --> Meat Dry


 
T

Tip Quilter

New member
I had my first encounter with my new WSM to use this past Sunday. It was an interesting adventure, and I learned a lot. I didn’t keep a log, and got my lesson on that. What I’m sharing here is from memory.

MEAT: 8-pound pork shoulder and a 5-pound choice beef brisket, both from Costco. Applied rub to both at 4:00 PM day before and refrigerated overnight. No marinade or injections. I was guided by principles from 3 cookbook recipes and info from this VWB website.

EQUIPMENT: WSM 18”. Kingsford Competition briquettes. Redi-Chek wireless thermometers, one probe in each meat and grill temperature sensor as well. Butt was on top rack, brisket on bottom. Water pan was full with 2 gallons. I did not use tin foil on the meat at any time.

METHOD: Started fire at 5:15 AM. Took meat out 45 minutes ahead, as instructed. Attempted to fire-up with the Minion Method, but all my charcoal was grey ash by the time I put the meat on… not sure if I did this right. It was hot. Spent a little time getting the fire down to 250. From there, I kept the temperature steady at 200-250, mostly at around 225/235 (top & bottom racks were about 10 degrees apart) all day until the last couple hours (mentioned later).

COOKING: Put both meats on at 6:15 AM. Both the butt and the brisket seemed to cook at same pace. The meat got to an internal temperature of 150 by 12:00 PM, certainly at 160 by 1:00/2:00 PM. Then the temperature just sat there. I’ve smoked stuff in a Weber 22” kettle grill before, so I thought I knew about “the stall.” I waited and waited and waited. It never moved. My goal was to get the brisket to 190 and the pork butt to 205. I added about 20 briquettes at 5:30 PM to try to keep the fire going (after 11 hours, I wasn’t sure if I was going run out of fuel). I did not use tin foil, and I didn’t want to finish the brisket using the oven method because I didn’t want to cook the brisket and then have it sit warming until the butt was done. It was a timing issue, perhaps stupid on my part.

I was trying to get the meat to at least 180, and it got there after going 50% on all the bottom vents and 100% on the top vent for the last 1.5 hours, with the WSM temperature up to 275-300. I was getting impatient, but the internal temperature of the meat did start rising slowly from 160 after about 15 minutes.

I took both off at 180 at 7:00 PM. I didn’t get to the 190-205 on brisket and 205 for the butt that I was instructed to, but thought 13+ hours was enough. Time to eat!

RESULT: Sliced and served at 7:45 PM. The meat was a bit dry… the brisket more than the butt. Wife and guests said it was good. We’d gone out to a BBQ restaurant the day before and their brisket was so moist and had pliable texture. My brisket felt a tad brittle.

So here’s my observation and question(s):

Almost all the cookbooks had specific temperatures for the meat, but those recipes used much larger cuts of meat than what I was using. I expected the cooking time to be less, but the internal temperature just sat there in “the stall” and never changed until I turned up the heat. What did I do wrong that got this meat dried out? The only thing I could think of is that I should’ve pulled the meat sooner. But when?

The last thing is that it seemed kind of “high maintenance” to keep the WSM at 200-250 for extended periods. I’m curious about how y’all start a fire, put meat on and then go to bed. Do you sleep soundly? It seems risky to me. After the first 2-3 hours I didn’t change the vents/temperature that much, but I did have to do it.

Thanks for your feedback and thanks for this VWBB forum. I’m learning! I welcome all comments, for any piece of what I’ve shared here. Sorry for the long post…
 
Tip,

From your description, would say you should have kept both meats in the WSM longer, not shorter. It's unlikely either meat would be tender at the 180 degrees. Way too many cookbooks use temperature instead of other tests to define when a BBQ'd meat is done. Maybe it's just that temperature is an easier concept for the general public to understand. In BBQ the meat is done when it's done, not at any specific temperature.

For brisket, it's dry and tough if under cooked and dry and crumbly if over cooked. Pork butt/shoulder is dry and tough if under cooked and mushy if over cooked.

Bob
 
Flats are hard to keep moist, but try cooking at 275 or try a packer. You're right, a stall makes your meat dry. Look up info on foiling meats at 160f.
 
Bob Bass said:
Tip,

From your description, would say you should have kept both meats in the WSM longer, not shorter. It's unlikely either meat would be tender at the 180 degrees. Way too many cookbooks use temperature instead of other tests to define when a BBQ'd meat is done. Maybe it's just that temperature is an easier concept for the general public to understand. In BBQ the meat is done when it's done, not at any specific temperature.

For brisket, it's dry and tough if under cooked and dry and crumbly if over cooked. Pork butt/shoulder is dry and tough if under cooked and mushy if over cooked.

Bob
Click to expand...

its hard to wrap your head around that. I mean that meat will be dry and tough and yet it's undercooked. I did a chuckie this week and for various reasons pulled it at 195 IT ....Half the roast was moist and juicy , but the thicker side was tough and dry (albeit tasty). I should have kept cooking it and I will next time.
 
Wow. It seems so counter-intuitive. Not sure how I'd have cooked it longer unless I'd started it the night before. I thought that maybe it was because I was using a smaller piece of meat... so many of the recipes called for 16# or 20# shoulders and briskets.

I'm a newbie, so I'll certainly take your word for it. The issue for me is putting the meat on around midnight and then trusting it'll cook through the night at a safe temperature (200-250). I'm worried that it'll spike or burn out. Then again, this is all new, and I put up the post to get advice. Keep it coming!
 
Tip,

"counter-intuitive"... thoroughly understand ! Same with closing vents to lower the temperature to those accustomed to an oven. ;)

A couple of items/methods that should lessen the total cook time :
Foiling the meat after the bark has fully formed and sealing it tightly so no water vapor is released (decreases the time in the stall)
Using the best quality meat you can (for some reason, better cuts seem to get tender faster)
Run the WSM at 250 rather than at a lower temperature (the greater the heat available, the less time it takes to heat the meat to some temperature, ie temperature differential)

And, of course, using some method to tell when the meat is tender, be it the bend test, the handheld digital thermometer probe test, the fork test or the giggle test.

The WSM does a great job as a BBQ smoker. Cooking BBQ deals with a good number of variables. The trick is to know how to control those variables.
If those variables were not present, we probably wouldn't have BBQ contests ! What we would have is ho-hum bbq. Everything, always the same. :)

Bob
 
You said all the coals were grey when you put the meat on. Perhaps some additional details on how you started will help. The minion method is to fill your ring with unlit then put 10-20 lit red coals on top. Either add your meat right then, or assemble and wait until temps come up. About 30 min. I prefer to assemble immediately and get the smoke while temps come up. That method will get you an over night
 
I opened it about once every two hours or so to check the meat and turn it a couple times. Not much. So I guess it depends on how you define "a lot."
 
Jeff R said:
You said all the coals were grey when you put the meat on. Perhaps some additional details on how you started will help. The minion method is to fill your ring with unlit then put 10-20 lit red coals on top. Either add your meat right then, or assemble and wait until temps come up. About 30 min. I prefer to assemble immediately and get the smoke while temps come up. That method will get you an over night
Click to expand...

That's what I did. I was just surprised it all went gray, which means it all got activated.
 
Bob Bass said:
Tip,

"counter-intuitive"... thoroughly understand ! Same with closing vents to lower the temperature to those accustomed to an oven. ;)

A couple of items/methods that should lessen the total cook time :
Foiling the meat after the bark has fully formed and sealing it tightly so no water vapor is released (decreases the time in the stall)
Using the best quality meat you can (for some reason, better cuts seem to get tender faster)
Run the WSM at 250 rather than at a lower temperature (the greater the heat available, the less time it takes to heat the meat to some temperature, ie temperature differential)

And, of course, using some method to tell when the meat is tender, be it the bend test, the handheld digital thermometer probe test, the fork test or the giggle test.

The WSM does a great job as a BBQ smoker. Cooking BBQ deals with a good number of variables. The trick is to know how to control those variables.
If those variables were not present, we probably wouldn't have BBQ contests ! What we would have is ho-hum bbq. Everything, always the same. :)

Bob
Click to expand...

I'll try the foil... the brisket was on the bottom rack so I guess I just got kind of lazy.

Testing the meat is going to require some practice. I am big on meat thermometers/temperature because I tend to be pretty exacting with how I cook meat. That's why I bought the wireless ones.

Yes, I am happy with my WSM. It's just new. I'll get the hang of it sooner or later. That whole thing with "The Stall" as just really weird... I wasn't expecting that one.
 
Alan F said:
Flats are hard to keep moist, but try cooking at 275 or try a packer. You're right, a stall makes your meat dry. Look up info on foiling meats at 160f.
Click to expand...

Yes, but the only thing I think about is all the advice I'm getting about cooking the brisket longer to have it be more moist. Again, that seems counter-intuitive. If it's going to take that long, I'll probably start the fire around midnight and go to bed. The only thing is... won't 6-8 hours be too long before putting on the foil?
 
Tip,

I've said Temperature means little when BBQing. BUT, a temperature reading device is a good thing IF using it to monitor when things happen with the meat(s). Such is the case with the stall and foiling.

If you are going to foil, you will want to wait until it is in the stall. This is where, in the bbq process, where the bark is forming. If you foil too soon, the bark will not form completely. If you foil too late, bark will be good, but the overall cooking time will be longer than if you foiled earlier.

When your temperature shows you are in the stall, take a look at the meat. Is the bark forming ? If so, using you fingernail, try scrapping the bark off an area. If it scrapes off easily, continue cooking and try again in 20 minutes. If the bark is fully set (you might be able to scrape the bark, but it does NOT come off easily), then foil. When foiling, completely encase the meat TIGHTLY so that NO moisture (water vapor) can get released from the foiled package and return back to the smoker.
 
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