Low stall in smallish brisket


 
PeterD

PeterD

TVWBB Super Fan
Hey all,
76 and sunny here--first awesome, perfect day in North Jersey since last September, so I decided to do my first brisket smoke of the season. Grabbed a 10.5# packer from Restaurant Despot, trimmed'er down to 9.75#, Minion'ed with about 20 lit of Blue K, hickory and cherry for smoke. Temps kinda fluctuating a little between 265 and 280, but that's OK...I'm sittin' monitoring the fire with a deeeeelish churchill-sized cigar, a glass of something cool and icy, and just watching the ET-73.

I'm 6 hours in as I type this and the only thing kinda concerning me is a low stall temp. Usual plateau is 160-175ish for me on briskets but it started to stall out around 148 and is only up to 154 at the 6-1/4 hour mark. Still got plenty of time before chow tonight (7:30 is the target, so I'd like to get it out of the smoker around 6:30, in 3-1/2 hours from when I'm writing this). Should I just let it be or would you start foiling in that situation? I'm tempted to let it be but don't want to be eating around 9 if I can avoid it.

Pics up later.
 
Yeah, I'm after a nice firm dark bark that's for sure. Gotta refuel, I think. Opening up the vents and temps aren't really going up.
 
Well, I ended up foiling for an hour after boosting the temp to 315, let it go for an hour and now it's back on the grate to firm up the bark a bit more, but darkness is coming, supper is late and things aren't looking good. Temps are now well into the 200 range in the thickest part of the flat but it's not even close to probe tender. Not like the quivering ball of cow I've done in the past. I'm starting to get worried, that's for sure!
 
Unless going HH I usually count on 11/2 hrs per pound. It's a lot easier to hold it for a few hours than it is to try and hurry it up. Hope you got to eat last night.
 
Sorry to hear about your brisket, can't say that's ever happened to me when doing a full packer. Hope it was edible.
 
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