Brisket in cold rain and snow – what stole my heat?

[briser3]

Hoping the experts here can help me understand what went wrong and how I can adjust for it in the future.

It was low 30’s outside, and for much of the day there was a rain and snow mix coming down.

7lb brisket flat went into the smoker @ 5:00AM – set at 250 degrees. (Masterbuilt 20051311 GS30D)

4 hours - brisket was 141 degrees. I expected it to be about 165 and ready to wrap @ 4 hours (wrong!)

8 hours - brisket was only 148.

12 hours - brisket was 160. At that point I wrapped it, and moved it to a 260 degree oven.

16 hours into it the brisket finally hit 201, and I pulled it and moved it to the cooler wrapped in towels.

Going into it I figured if the inside of the smoker is 250 degrees it doesn’t matter what the outside temp is. I believe I was wrong. My theory now is that once the brisket got to 140, the cold walls of the smoker were stealing all the heat energy.

Is my theory accurate? And if so, how can I compensate to smoke through the winter?

Brisket turned out pretty good, although the middle pieces didn’t pull apart like I expected.

 

[PAS]

Is that unit even insulated?

 

[briser3]

Is that unit even insulated?

No - it is not. Just the thin metal.

 

[zwiller]

A lot of guys go to Harbor Freight and grab a welder's blanket for this. Myself, I sold my gasser and went MES which is insulated. WAY happier with it.

PS results still look great! Dig he strat cutting board even though I am Gibson man.

 

[Murray]

A couple of questions come to mind. Did you monitor cabinet temperatures with a third party remote digital thermometer or are you relying on MB built in thermometer? How was the wind? At 30F the heat from the smoker at 250F should radiate thru the walls and warm the outside of the smoker rather than the cold working itself from the outside. Just read no insulation, that would be the first modification I’d do

 

[TuckersBarbeque]

You are right, if it says it's 250 in the smoker, it's 250 in the smoker regardless of what the outside is doing... with one caveat. If it is windy, it does have the ability to keep dropping the temperature and making it work it's way back up, so you might find your average temperature was closer to 225. If you didn't notice the swings than this wasn't the case.
It sounds like you just had a tough piece of meat with a lot to sweat. The stall can start as early as 145.
It still looks great though!

 

[briser3]

A lot of guys go to Harbor Freight and grab a welder's blanket for this. Myself, I sold my gasser and went MES which is insulated. WAY happier with it.

PS results still look great! Dig he strat cutting board even though I am Gibson man.

I will look into one of those blankets. And thanks - I was happy with the outcome too (especially for my first one)

 

[briser3]

A couple of questions come to mind. Did you monitor cabinet temperatures with a third party remote digital thermometer or are you relying on MB built in thermometer? How was the wind? At 30F the heat from the smoker at 250F should radiate thru the walls and warm the outside of the smoker rather than the cold working itself from the outside. Just read no insulation, that would be the first modification I’d do

I monitored the cabinet temp with a third party remote. It was fairly windy as well!

 

[barnesski1]

You are right, if it says it's 250 in the smoker, it's 250 in the smoker regardless of what the outside is doing... with one caveat. If it is windy, it does have the ability to keep dropping the temperature and making it work it's way back up, so you might find your average temperature was closer to 225. If you didn't notice the swings than this wasn't the case.
It sounds like you just had a tough piece of meat with a lot to sweat. The stall can start as early as 145.
It still looks great though!

This sounds pretty spot on!

 

[zwiller]

Wind is actually the worst of all! Try and get the smoker somehow out of the wind. Next to garage, fence, etc.

 

[sandyut]

Wind is actually the worst of all! Try and get the smoker somehow out of the wind. Next to garage, fence, etc.

VERY TRUE! wind is the worst. I would try to block the wind and get a welding blanket. both will help alot.

the flat looks quite good! they are a challenge in my book for sure. FP's are much easier.

 

[Fueling Around]

...
And thanks - I was happy with the outcome too (especially for my first one)

Nice!

Yes, wind is your biggest enemy. Besides, the extra fuel consumption, It can create uneven areas in the smoker that your temp monitor might not detect depending on probe location.

 

[SmokinAl]

A MES is pretty well insulated. Did you check the pit temp with an external therm. It sounds like to me that your smoker temp was lower that you thought. Even in the cold weather, you could have cranked up the smoker temp to 275, since it didn’t seem to be cooking as fast as you were expecting.
Good move moving it to your oven. You probably should have left it in the oven a bit longer. It still looks real good!
Al

 

[briser3]

Nice!

Yes, wind is your biggest enemy. Besides, the extra fuel consumption, It can create uneven areas in the smoker that your temp monitor might not detect depending on probe location.

Great point - I had not considered uneven areas - so it could have been cooler than I thought the whole time.