Does altitude affect "stall" time?

[Bearcarver]

Hi all, I'm new at smoking meat and have run into an issue. I have a GMG pellet smoker that seems to do a good job but twice now I have run into the dreaded "stall" issue. Once with pork shoulders and most recently with a brisket. In both cases the meat reached just shy of 200f and then simply would not rise in temperature any further.In the case of the pork I finally gave up and found that it was actually done and easily clawed apart, however, the brisket was another matter. I decided I was going to be patient and wait out the stall. I had double wrapped it in foil when the temp hit 165 and then increased the smoker temp to 325. It only took another 1 1/2 hours to reach 198 but after 3 1/2 hours at a meat temp of 198 I could wait no longer if I wanted to give it a 2-3 hour rest period so I pulled it off the smoker. Well it was a disaster! The ends were nothing but charcoal, the bottom was a 1/2" of uneatable shoe leather and what was eatable was only because I dowsed it in bbq sauce. Since this was the second time this has happened I started wondering if the issue is the altitude at which I live. I am at an altitude of 8800' and water actually boils at a temp of 196 degrees. Could this possibly be the issue? Most of the cook smoker cookbooks I have say that the meat needs to get 205f to break down the collagen but perhaps this is not possible at this altitude. Any thoughts on this issue would be appreciated.

Thanks,
Dennis S

Example A
212° Boiling Temp Altitude:
It seems to me that a normal Brisket or Butt smoked at a normal Altitude with a boiling Temp of 212° often gets wrapped at 165°, after hours of 230° Smoker Temp. Then it's taken to approximately 203° to 208° IT to be just right.
So that would put the Finished IT to be 4° to 9° below Boiling Temp.

Example B
198° Boiling Temp Altitude:
That tells me that it should be good to use the same Smoker Temp of 230°.
Then Wrap it at 165°, just like the Normal example.
However here is where I'd change the Finishing stage. Like with the Normal Altitude example, the finished IT was between 4° and 9° below boiling (212°).
So that should mean that the Finished IT at your 8800' should be between 189° and 196°. That would be between 4° and 9° below your 198° Boiling Temp.

This should make Example A and Example B the same.

Bear

 

[jokensmoken]

This is just my opinion and I'm sorry if I'm repeating something someone else has posted already.
I dont know about "high altitude" but I do a absolutely know about cooking to a particular temperature.
Some more delicate meats need to be cooked to a specific temperature but brisket is not one of them.
Brisket, IMHO, is done when it is TENDER regardless of IT.
I had very mixed successes cooking brisket to temp...
One would be fabulous at 203° and the next would be tough and chewy. I tried wrapping, running naked, panning it with braising liquid...everything that is normally suggested to "improve" results...
Most worked "sort of" but my brisket was still inconsistent.
Then I read about "probing" for doneness and about abandoning your meat thermometer beyond a certain point, not going by IT at all.
I now keep a bag of bamboo kabob skewers with my smoking supplies I use to "probe" with.
Probing is simply checking the tenderness of the brisket.
SO...at about an IT of 195° I abandon my meat thermo and "probe"
At 195° I take a skewer and try to stick it straigh through the flat (from side to side not top to bottom)...
When the skewer slides right through the brisket with very little resistance or effort it's done.
Some say like a knife through warm butter...I'd say (for me) I want the skewer to feel like I'm pushing it through a jar of peanut butter.
Just continue to cook and probe every 20 minutes until the skewer slides right through.
My brisket is now very consistant.
Walt.

 

[Bearcarver]

This is just my opinion and I'm sorry if I'm repeating something someone else has posted already.
I tried wrapping, running naked, panning it with braising liquid...everything that is normally suggested to "improve" results...

Walt.

Hey Walt,
I don't know who told you "Running Naked" is one way to improve your results, but most places that's liable to get you "Locked Up"!!!


Bear

 

[dennisst99]

Hey Walt,
I don't know who told you "Running Naked" is one way to improve your results, but most places that's liable to get you "Locked Up"!!!


Bear

Thanks all for the great suggestions! (Running around necked didn't really work but it has kept the neighbors from peeking over the fence when the smoker is going!)
I have done 2 briskets (packers) since my original post and both have come out perfect. I cook at 225 then wrap the meat at 160-165, boost the smoker to 250 and cook until IT reaches 195 when probed in various spots. I then let it rest for a minimum of 3 hours wrapped in a cooler. As I said the last 2 have been great.

Thanks again for all of the suggestions!
Dennis

 

[jokensmoken]

Hey Walt,
I don't know who told you "Running Naked" is one way to improve your results, but most places that's liable to get you "Locked Up"!!!


Bear

LOL...

 

[bobw4email]

I am at >6000 ft, and having same issue. First brisket was perfect, but I had run out of time and never hit 204 deg. The next two were inedible. I think due to high cooking temp and again not cooking long enough.

Yesterday I got up at 3am to make sure it was done by 5pm. I was determined to get to 204 deg, but gave up after 19hrs (yes, 19!) at 189deg IT.

I wrapped in butcher paper at 150deg, Was using lump charcoal in my kettle Webber grill, and kept it between 210-230 deg with only two minor exceptions (260deg for about 30 min, and 170 deg for 30 min).
It came out ok. Barely good, far from great.

So, after finding/reading this, knowing I do not possess the ability to determine by tenderness, I am going to follow Bear's advice Example B and cook to a lower IT temp.
Boiling point 212 - 201 @ 6000ft = 11deg.
200-204 deg ideal IT temp - 11deg = 189-193 deg

 

[sandyut]

hmm. I am 5000 ft and I cook all my briskets at 275. 210-230 will make the cook nightmarishly long regardless. Doneness by temp alone will not always get you where you want to be. I recommend always double checking tenderness with an instant read probe or something like it. every brisket is different and each cook will also be slightly different - IMO.

 

[SmokinEdge]

I’m over on the Western Slope and sit at about 6400’
The only real difference I can see in cooking is when cooking in water(boiling, simmering) baking can be a bit different but just usually takes a little longer than the recipe may call for, but not a lot longer.
While I can honestly say I have not bbq’d at low elevation, I see no problem with meat cooking to IT of 300* if you wanted to, and no, it doesn’t take a week for it to happen. I finished a 9# brisket point over the weekend in just under 9 hours. Probe tender at 204* IT. There was a pork but along side that finished the same. Been doing this for several decades up here, no issues.

As to the pellet grill. Specifically the GMG, and others with the fire pot in the center of the cooker. I’ve been there and done that. The shoe leather bottom is predictable, at least up here, so I started smoking for about 5hrs on that grill then into a foil pan covered and into the oven. Meat finishes perfectly fine. Will turn to jello if you don’t watch it.

 

[bregent]

I was determined to get to 204 deg, but gave up after 19hrs (yes, 19!) at 189deg IT.

At 6000 ft water boils at 201F. As a general rule, you wouldn't want you IT to get above boiling point.
In any case, and at any elevation, cook to your desired tenderness and don't worry about IT.

 

[EdP]

Well it was a disaster! The ends were nothing but charcoal, the bottom was a 1/2" of uneatable shoe leather and what was eatable was only because I dowsed it in bbq sauce. Since this was the second time this has happened I started wondering if the issue is the altitude at which I live

I’ve done this twice, and I’m at sea level