Problem with a brisket

[bbqjefff]

I respectfully disagree with the above comments about 225 degrees. I smoke nearly all my brisket and butts at this temp (and I live at altitude too). That said, there are several factors that could have an impact on the experience you had; some of them already mentioned above.
Are you sure your chamber thermo is accurate?
Are you sure your meat thermometer is accurate?
How many times did you open the cabinet to try various fixes? This hurts your chamber and meat temps when still that low.
Using time alone to gauge where your temp should be is a flawed mechanism. I'd have just let her cook through it.

From what you describe, when you took it out to wrap, then put it back in, you gave it an hour right? Probably just got a little impatient. What happened there was you let a bunch of heat out of your chamber twice, and then only giving it an hour isn't enough. You hit the stall, and even if you never open the smoker at that point, it's not uncommon to even notice a couple degree temperature drop during that time as the collagens break down, turn to liquid, and permeate through the meat.
Definitely try again, and remember that every piece of meat truly is different. I know people hate to hear it sometimes, but brisket is a cut that really is done when it's done.
Note: even though I disagreed with the 225 degree comments above, there is still absolutely no harm in cranking up the heat if you need to push through the stall. Or even if you just plain find that you like it better that way.

I agree with him about opening the chamber. Don't keep opening it. You are losing all the heat and it won't cook.

 

[sandyut]

Stop cooking at 225*
250-275* much better and eliminates lots of problems

That is the best advice!

 

[fxsales1959]

I was smoking a 3 1/2 lb. brisket flat yesterday in my Masterbuilt Electric Smoker. I had it set for 225. put the meat in about 1:30pm.
From what I read online it should take about 5 hours to get up to 195 after wrapping at the stall. Mine took 6 hours just to get to 160 degrees.
I'm not sure what the problem was. I wrapped it in double foil and put it back in for another hour. It still didn't move.
It was a bit windy yesterday, but nothing I haven't dealt with in the past and had decent results.
I finally brought it in the house and put it in the oven to see if I couldn't kick start it in there.
Still nothing! Not sure what happened. I ended up tossing it in the garbage.
This was the first brisket I've ever tried. In the past I've done Bison roasts, chicken, game hens, fish, and turkeys. with no problems ever.

Any ideas would be greatly appreciated...
Thad Overocker
St. Paul, MN

I don't trust my MES30. I still use it for pork belly (bacon)xometimes yardbird. I always have an inkbird probe in for grid level temps. Mnes done some weird shit.(so has the broken one sitting beside it.) sucks you had to can the meat. I got so I use pink butcher for my awraps. th stall on the MES30 at 225 cn be excruciating.

 

[SmokerMN1968]

I don't trust my MES30. I still use it for pork belly (bacon)xometimes yardbird. I always have an inkbird probe in for grid level temps. Mnes done some weird shit.(so has the broken one sitting beside it.) sucks you had to can the meat. I got so I use pink butcher for my awraps. th stall on the MES30 at 225 cn be excruciating.

You guys are all giving me some great things to work with in the future!! Thanks for all the advice! I def. need to get some pink butcher paper, crank that MES30 up to 275, and get back on the horse again.

 

[bellarozes]

Also never plan on bbq being ready for dinner time. Always start with many hours of leeway. And on smaller cuts, I generally assume it’ll take towards the higher end of the hrs/lb. Like a 10lb butt will take 15-18hrs, but a 4lb will still take 12-13 in my experience.

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