Stalled...to death! :(

[hophead515]

Hi All! I had kind of a weird experience yesterday with a full packer brisket that I smoked.

I have an 18" Weber SM. I separated the tip and flat the night before and seasoned it. Fired up the smoker in the morning, and everything was going great until the eternal stall. I was dialed in between 225-250 on the lower grate all day. IT of the flat (which was on the upper grate) hit 150 and then after about an hour into the stall, I wrapped it in butcher paper. The tip I put in a foil pan with beef broth and covered it in foil at this point. Then the stall just never ended. After 14 hours IT only managed to get up to 170, and at that point I finally just pulled it officially declaring a SNAFU. Flat was an embarrassment and was not served. It was dry and gray and not tender. I've made great briskets in the past, and this one just sucked, and I don't know what I did differently for it to just never break past the stall like that. The tip was passable, but definitely not great. (luckily we had a whole chicken on another cooker).

Wondering if there are any thoughts on what to do if experiencing a seemingly stuck stall? I checked my thermometers this morning, and they are all within 3 degrees of each other from hot tap water to boiling in a pot. I'm guessing stoke the fire up if it seems stuck next time, but at what point should I declare it stuck to do that? It can last 2-4 hours, right?

If I learned anything, don't rely on the IT to tell you if it's done. I'm guessing I should have been testing for tenderness instead of just blindly trusting the thermometer to reach the magic temp. I'll bet at some point it was done and perfectly tender, but I was too buy watching the numbers on the thermometer.

Thanks in advance! An BTW, I should visit more; I read through some great posts while I searched other threads for an answer!

Dave

 

[IA pigsNcrops]

I maybe would run 250-275, but when you checked your thermometers, were they the ones you had in the meat, or did you check the one reading 225-250 for accuracy?

 

[noboundaries]

How much beef broth and did you heat it before adding it to the pan? I always nuke sauces and liquids before getting it near the meat. I've seen 20F drops in meat internal temp after adding either without heating first.

 

[hophead515]

Thanks for the reply! I added 1 (one) 15oz can to a foil pan with the tip only. The flat I wrapped in butcher paper. I did not heat the broth up first, but will do so next time. That's something I hadn't considered, thanks for the idea. The tip was halfway decent. I didn't have a probe in it. The flat was pretty much a bust, though.

 

[hophead515]

I maybe would run 250-275, but when you checked your thermometers, were they the ones you had in the meat, or did you check the one reading 225-250 for accuracy?

I had 3 probes to start.. one in the flat, one in the tip, and one on the lower grate. Once I hit the stall, I reinserted the probe into the flat after I wrapped it. I did not put a probe in the tip after I put it in a covered foil pan with broth.

I think I might be running too cool. I stay closer to the ow end of the 225-250 range, and I'm seeing the 275 temp mentioned a lot in other posts.. That might just be the ticket.

I saw a quote recently, maybe it was here? It takes making a lot of bad BBQ before you can make good BBQ, I am undeterred! I have been home brewing since 1991, and I can tell you that with experience comes improvement.

I'm bringing my smoker camping this coming weekend and have plans to make another FP brisket. This one cannot be screwed up, so wish me luck! ha!