Smoke day delay = spoiled meat?

  • Some of the links on this forum allow SMF, at no cost to you, to earn a small commission when you click through and make a purchase. Let me know if you have any questions about this.
SMF is reader-supported. When you buy through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.

mike72

Newbie
Original poster
Hello there  - I want to express my thanks to y'all for making this site such a great information resource!

- I am still a bit of a newbie -I wanted to smoke a brisket today however due to work and weather I have to delay the smoke. Question is, I prepped an 8lb piece last night, wrapped it and it is now sitting in the fridge giving me dirty looks.

Will it still come out ok if I throw it on the smoker on Sunday morning? (it came out of the cyrovac Thursday morning around 10am but has been refrigerated pretty much (aside from transportation and prep) since then.

I understand that many people don't like to freeze raw brisket as it can come out differently then fresh.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated!
 
You should be fine....

what is the rub? If it has a lot of salt or sugar you may end up with a bit drier piece of meat. I have rinsed mine off before to remove the rub and had no issues when the same thing has happened to me. Then reseasoned it, but with less salt or sugar.
 
What JJC said.

Rinse it off, wrap it, back in the fridge, then reduce your rubs sugar & salt content.

Good luck...should be fine

Can't wait to see your q-view.
 
Thank you both - I used a beef rub recipe from amazingribs.com (pepper, a little sugar, garlic onion, chili pwder, but I left out most of the salt).  Just curious, what affect would sugar have if it is left on? I know salt can pull out the juices, but I thought sugar is just used for basic taste. Anyhow,  will rinse it and it looks like Sunday will be Q day. I will try to post some pics if it comes out. As this is my first attempt at a real brisket, wish me luck!
 
 
You should be fine....

what is the rub? If it has a lot of salt or sugar you may end up with a bit drier piece of meat. I have rinsed mine off before to remove the rub and had no issues when the same thing has happened to me. Then reseasoned it, but with less salt or sugar.
I have also rinsed the rub and started over a couple days later due to circumstances 
 
both sugar and salt cure meat and tend to dry it out a bit.
yeahthat.gif
 
If sugar and salt are placed on the surface of meat, for instance, the meat will dry out as the moisture is attracted to the sugar/salt.....    If meat is placed in a solution of dissolved salt and sugar, a brine for instance for poultry and pork, through the process of equilibrium brining, the salt and sugar that have been transferred into the tissues will hold onto the liquid making it more moist even throughout the cooking process....

+++++++++++

Hygroscopy  is the ability of a substance to attract and hold water  molecules  from the surrounding environment. This is achieved through either absorption  or adsorption  with the absorbing or adsorbing material becoming physically 'changed' somewhat, by an increase in volume, stickiness, or other physical characteristic of the material, as water molecules become 'suspended' between the material's molecules in the process. While some similar forces are at work here, it is different from capillary attraction, a process where glass or other 'solid' substances attract water, but are not changed in the process (for example, water molecules becoming suspended between the glass molecules).

Hygroscopic substances include cellulose  fibers such as cotton and paper, sugarcaramelhoneyglycerolethanolmethanoldiesel fuelsulfuric acidmethamphetamine, many fertilizer chemicals, many salts  (including table salt), and a wide variety of other substances.

The full article link......

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hygroscopy

Dave
 
Last edited:
Thank you all for the advice to rinse the meat. I rinsed it off and redid the rub. Smoke day started at 9am. spent most of the day enjoying the beautiful fall weather in the yard with my 3 year old. The smoker (WSM) started up pretty quick (I start with about 25 natural briquettes) and got a steady 215. The range was pretty much from 215-230 throughout with a high spike of 300 around 1.5 hrs in (my fault) (I added handles to the smoker so I could lift the body of the bottom - when it started to lose heat the first time I threw a little too much on... ) I started with a hickory chunk, added some pecan chips at 1 hr, then more hickory with 1 chuck of apple thrown in for the fun of it. (all at about 45-1hr intervals.). I sprittzed some beer/water/bbqsauce /beef broth mix on the meat on and off throughout the smoke.

Anyhow - at around 3pm I added some chicken and removed everything by 4:30. I guess I was just getting worn out so I foiled the brisket in a 9x13 pan with some apple juice and put in in the oven at 250ish for a few more hrs. After taking it out and letting it rest I took a peek - it was swimming in it's own juices (1 inch of juice left in the pan after I removed the meat!) and was falling apart tender & delicious. I haven't cut up the flat yet, the Q view below is from the point (I threw it into the oven for a few minutes to dry out just a little - I wanted a bit of bark -awesome stuff!). 

In closing, I am happy with the result and will keep on smokin!

Thank you all again!


 
SmokingMeatForums.com is reader supported and as an Amazon Associate, we may earn commissions from qualifying purchases.

Latest posts

Hot Threads

Clicky