Question for the board...


 
Hey, Bill, got your butt up off that plateau yet?

Dan, you should be having brisket for breakfast for breakfast by now, if you were at 171 at 4am.

My overnighter will be tonight... 2 13-lb packer briskets in one cooker, and cycling a least a dozen and maybe 18 slabs of babybacks through the other. The neighborhood should smell good tonight!

Keri C, smokin' on Tulsa Time
 
Seems like all is going well, Bill. And good morning. Dan. Welcome to the board. How's the brisket now?

As Vernon said, the resting phase is essential. This is true for all your low and slow meats as well as your high-temp grill-roasts and even steaks benefit from a rest to re-distribute the juices though, obviously, the rest time is considerably shortened for a small steak. The internal temp of the meat rises during the resting phase; how much depends on the type and size of your meat and at what temp it was cooked. I pull briskets and butts about 190-192 because I can rely on the increase during the rest to bring the temp up to my target. There ius a window though so--within reason--pull temps are a matter of personall preference, like so much else in barbecue.

Remember that a lid temp decline later in the cook may only mean that you need to stir the coals so that the built up ash falls through (very gently, so that you don't get ash flying up all over your meat). I've only added coals once during a long cook and, checking later, discovered that I probably didn't need to. Since then, I start with a bit more to be sure, eliminating the issue, which makes a smoother cook.
 
<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Keri C:
Hey, Bill, got your butt up off that plateau yet? <HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

My butt on a plateau? The wife prevents my butt from getting on a pedestle.
icon_smile.gif


Seriously though, I believe so Keri. Over the past hour or so my meat temperature has climbed from 161°F to 167°F. That seems like a monumental jump considering the temperature was at 159°F at 2:30 AM and 161°F at 9:00 AM.
 
Bill,

Just like Kevin, I have added charcoal and found later that it was not necessary. However, I have started a time or two with too little charcoal and then had the "pleasant" experience of trying to get some charcoal going because the temperature was passing 200 going the wrong way just so I could then watch it pass 300 going the wrong way. Much easier to add a few briquets and reuse the excess on the next cook.

Sometimes you may hit another plateau in the 170-180 range. I personally have not had that experience with butts, but some folks report that.
 
After hitting a second plateau at a temperature of 188°F for over an hour and seeing my lid temperature drop from ~255°F to 233°F due to lack of charcoal, I decided to remove the butts and wrap them in HD aluminum foil and put them in the cooler.

The 4 pound butt on the bottom rack fell apart in my hands as I was removing it from the smoker. It literally separated into 3 pieces. The two 7 pound butts were moist, but they did not fall apart like the smaller butt did even after removing the twine.

I hope I didn't remove them too early. The total time for this smoke was 17 hours and 15 minutes.

If I find that the texture is not what I would prefer, can I transfer the two large butts into the oven after resting in the cooler for 2 hours? I don't think this will be necessary, but I'm curious. I'd hate to think I smoked these butts this long and stayed up most of the night to find out I removed the two large butts about an hour too soon.
 
I doubt you removed them too early. But could you put them in the oven? Yes, wrapped well, you could.
 
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