brisket times

[yakmatt]

why did my brisket cook so fast?

i bought two untrimmed briskets, 10 lbs each. I trimmed a pound of fat off each.
Rubbed both and refrigerated for 24 hours. straight from the frig on to my Traeger smoker at midnight. 1/2 Pecan and 1/2 Mesquite blend of wood. One of my maverick remote probes was giving me a bad temp, the other seemed fine.

5 hours later, at five am, the maverick remote probe showed a temp of 160. i opened the smoker and used my very accurate thermapen instant read and found temps between 180 and 190 on various places in both briskets.

two questions
1) do these remote probe thermometer not tell accurate temps?
2) why did the briskets cook so fast?

i haven't sliced or tried either, they are for a party later tonight.

 

[bassman]

Normally, the remotes are fairly accurate. The difference could be in where you had the probe of the remote and where you tested with the thermopen.

As far as the length of time, you didn't say what temp you had the Traeger at.

 

[yakmatt]

thanks bassman. i set the Traeger temp to 225. which is electronically controlled and previously calibrated.

i read a good tip on the forum about using a raw potato to hold a temp probe. which i did to get a verification temperature.

 

[rivet]

What did you have the traeger at? Not sure I'd be complaining, my last brisket smoke took over 16hrs!

 

[pineywoods]

I would suggest checking your thermometer by getting some water boiling then just placing the tip into it. It should read 212 of very close. I've had a brisket go very fast before but never two on the same smoke.

 

[ellymae]

I second Piney's comment.
Also - when you probed the briskets did they feel like a hot knife going through butter? I use internal temp strictly as a guide these days and don't pull brisket of there isn't any resistance.

 

[tequiladrum]

Check your thermometer...The boiling water is not as accurate as the ice water test...Get a cup of water fill it with chipped ice (Not cubes) stick probe into it. Should read 33°-34°. This is very accurate.

 

[earache_my_eye]

I think you will get your answer when you slice/pull them.....sometimes you just get lucky...

If they're still tough, your temp readings are funny....if they're nice and tender....well, then, good for you!! You found TWO speed briskets!!

Remember, that guideline of 1 1/2 hrs per lb. is just that.... a GUIDELINE....there are no hard and fast rules when BBQing.

L8r,
Eric

 

[oneshot]

Hi Yak, I also own a Traeger (lil Tex) and I have found cooking times in the Traeger generally go faster then the other smokers. I'm not sure but I think because they hold a constent temp. without messing around adding wood chunks or coal and opening the door very often, if at all.

 

[zapper]

Seems fast to me too.

The test will be in the chewing. You may need to slice it paper thin if it comes out tough.

I have never had anything cook faster than expected that I can remember.

While I guess it is possible that you did find the "Speed" brisket, I suspect that grate temps were a little higher than you think.


Let us know how it turned out on the plate!

 

[fire it up]

Maybe you just had a nice, quick smooth smoke.
One time I had a 9# butt cook completely, to 205 in 6 hours.
Weird, but it happens. Damn meats sometimes have a mind of their own.

 

[fatboy]

If I understand you correctly, there were some places on the brisket that were 180°-190°, but nothing under that while the maverick showed 160?

Was it the receiver that read the 160°. If at any time the receiver had gone out of rande, the display would have lock onto the 160° reading and would not have let you know that it lost contact.

As to the speed of the brisket, by the time you trim the kernel fat out of the middle of the packer trim (it was a packer wasn't it?), you would have a fairly thin piece of brisket comparatively. The thickness would determine that amount of time at any given temp that it would take the internal temp to rise.
Five hours at 225° is not a surprisingly short period of time for a piece of meat that thickness to reach those temps depending on the temp of the meat when it went in.

The next question is whether or not the brisket was tender. With thinner cuts of meat, the internal temp rises faster, but that doesn't mean that the meat is tender.

for example, if you cook a trimmed brisket point at 275°, it will reach 195° in about 1 1/2 -2 hours, but it will still be tough a can be. It will need a bare minimum if 4 1/2 hours to become tender, and less than 5 hours.

I might add that the lion's share of the top winning BBQ competitors cooks their briskets in 4 1/2 -5hours in or around 350°.