Extremely Fast Cook Times on Brisket & Butt with Insulated Cover - Can Dinner be Saved?

[YeOldeBrisket]

Hi Folks,

I'm seeing something pretty strange with my pellet smoker. I put a 9.5lbs butt and 12lbs brisket on my smoker at 225 and in just 7.5 hours, temps are 178 on the pork and 193 on the brisket (temp taken on the flat). Neither were wrapped. I've never seen cook times anywhere near this quick. I never wrap my butts and they usually take about 16 hours. I usually wrap briskets in in butcher paper around 150 at about 9 hours in. I tossed these on before bed and never had a chance to wrap. It seems like there was no stall at all. The only thing different about this cook is I just got an insulated blanket/cover and used it as it was below freezing last night. Obviously the blanket is doing it's job and it's interesting to observe how much heat was running off from wind and air while not using the blanket. Interesting things aside, I'm worried about both not spending enough time on the heat for all the glorious breaking down of fat and being done too early. This was supposed to be diner after three hours in a cooler! What would you do in this situation? Drop the smoker temp to X? Take off the blanket? Thanks!

 

[schlotz]

I first would want to understand the accuracy of the thermometer measuring the grate temps and secondly the probe measuring the IT of the meat. What you've described kind of sounds like the smoker was running a lot higher than 225º. At this point you can attempt to slow it down some but when probed tender I'd pull, let each piece sit on the counter until the IT drops at least 5º then wrap tightly and place in cooler with lots of towels. Keep the probes in them so you can monitor the IT. As long as the meat is kept above 150º you're good. Usually that is good for 4-5 hours, maybe a bit more. You can always attempt to hold in a low oven @170º if necessary.

 

[sandyut]

I may have missed it but what smoker are you using?

I agree with schlotz - accurate temp checks is a first step, grate temp and testing meat probes against a known accurate probes.

but yes, sounds like the smoker may be running hottear than expected.

the insulated cover shouldn’t affect the cook time. They are used to insulate the unit and thus use less pellets when cold. If the controller is off, it will be off with or without the cover. I have used my cover in 50-60 degree spring days and 20 degree snow days. Smoker runs the same in both, just warms up slower when super cold,

 

[YeOldeBrisket]

I first would want to understand the accuracy of the thermometer measuring the grate temps and secondly the probe measuring the IT of the meat. What you've described kind of sounds like the smoker was running a lot higher than 225º. At this point you can attempt to slow it down some but when probed tender I'd pull, let each piece sit on the counter until the IT drops at least 5º then wrap tightly and place in cooler with lots of towels. Keep the probes in them so you can monitor the IT. As long as the meat is kept above 150º you're good. Usually that is good for 4-5 hours, maybe a bit more. You can always attempt to hold in a low over @170º if necessary.

Thanks schlotz . The initial readings were taken with the built in probes and I confirmed them with a Thermapen. I used a cheap infared thermometer on the grates, drip pan, and walls of the smoker and got 226º.

 

[Brokenhandle]

Have you checked your probes for accuracy...ice water and boiling water? But even if you haven't, meat is done when it probes tender, not always gonna be the same temp. For instance...if you had two pork butts in your smoker right now, of the same size, it's possible they could probe tender at different temps.
Follow the methods mentioned above for holding and you'll be good.

Ryan

 

[YeOldeBrisket]

I may have missed it but what smoker are you using?

I agree with schlotz - accurate temp checks is a first step, grate temp and testing meat probes against a known accurate probes.

but yes, sounds like the smoker may be running hottear than expected.

the insulated cover shouldn’t affect the cook time. They are used to insulate the unit and thus use less pellets when cold. If the controller is off, it will be off with or without the cover. I have used my cover in 50-60 degree spring days and 20 degree snow days. Smoker runs the same in both, just warms up slower when super cold,

Green Mountain Peak (used to be called Jim Bowie which is a way cooler name than Peak) Prime.

I certainly used a lot less pellets than usual. I know this smoker very well, without the cover, and was expecting about a 16 hour cook time. I'm wondering if without the cover there is a great deal of heat loss I was unaware of. In the sense that perhaps the 225 I would set wasn't a solid 225. It's still strange to me how quickly these came up to temp. I confirmed 226 at the grate this morning. Maybe I had some big temp spike overnight?

 

[Gonna Smoke]

As others have said, "It's done when it's done and probe tender."

 

[bauchjw]

How did it go? I’m curious what you did? I had a pork butt one time that got done 4 hrs earlier than I expected. It came out pretty good from a long rest!!!!! How did it look?

 

[Brokenhandle]

I'm curious also!

Ryan

 

[YeOldeBrisket]

bauchjw & Brokenhandle it turned out okay but not great. I ended up removing the insulated cover, turning down the temp to 210º, and wrapping just the brisket. To reach 203º the beef only needed about another three hours and the pork took another seven.

The bark on the bottom of the flat on the brisket was extreme. More like alligator armor. The top was as expected. I find that strange as it's not like it's much hotter on the bottom. On this grill, the grates are a good distance from the firebox which is shielded and under the drip pan which is a couple further inches from the grates. If I'm essentially cooking with hot air, I don't see how the bottom was so much more cooked than the top. I'm starting to wonder if there might have been some sort of flare up on the foil lining the drip pan that somehow stayed burning for a significant time. The point was perfect. The butt was also perfect with uniform bark on all sides.

I'm not ready to give up on the cover just yet. Other people, of course, use them without incident and I liked that the grill sipped pellets with it on. I'm going to do the biscuit test this weekend with the cover on and also use a bunch of external probes and see what happens.