Brisket cooking too fast!

[rjaffrey]

My name is Ray and I'm from Texas, actually born and raised in England but moved to Texas 17 years ago so kind of from Texas!

Anyway I have a 15lb brisket, brined for around 50 hours, then seasoned with Jim Baldridge's secret seasoning for 10 hours and put in my Little Guy, #1 Smoker I had to squeeze it in and it was touching the sides.  Put a temp gauge in the thickets portion of the brisket about 1.5 inch deep.
4:30am  41 degrees - starting temp.
5:30am 125 degrees
9:30am 194 degrees
10:20am 194 degrees

I was thinking this would be a 12 -14 hour smoke, but 5 - 6 hours in and its almost done, what should I do???

Please help!

much appreciated..

ray

 

[rjaffrey]

I'm cooking at 225

 

[Pork Belly]

Did you cram that whole chunk of meat on a single shelf? I have a #3 not a #1 so I dont know where your thermostat is in relation to your shelving. I say that because you stated "I had to squeeze it in and it was touching the sides." Is your brisket blocking the majority or possibly all the heat from rising past it? If the heat is not getting to the thermostat the element will be running full tilt and roasting the underside of that brisket. You should open the door and look if you have doubts.

 

[rjaffrey]

will check right now!

 

[rjaffrey]

actually Brian I have probe thermostat I stuck through the hole at the top, the number 1 doesn't have a built in thermostat..also I believe there was room at the sides.  I stuck it in the mid level shelf and it was touching the door and the back wall, not the sides..

 

[rjaffrey]

Oh sorry you are referring to the one that monitors heat internally, OK will open to see what's going on. 
it does now appear to be going between 192 and 194 whenever I look at it, it's been like that for an hour or so..

 

[rjaffrey]

OK so we are 10 hours in and it's still stalled at 194..

 

[SuperDave]

What's your next plan?  At 225, your meat will never reach your box temperature, so you might just be drying out your meat if you are really at 194 IT.  I think you ought to take a sample. 

 

[Pork Belly]

You weren't really clear what your goal is, what temp are you trying to get to?

 

[DivotMaker]

It has to be a probe placement, or probe, problem!  There is NO way that a 15 lb packer is going to hit 194 in 5 hours, at 225!  It shouldn't even be close to done now, 12 hours in.  Need to verify temp with another thermo, or make sure it's in the thickest part between the point and flat. 

 

[rjaffrey]

Oak after 11.5 hours it reached 200 so I pulled it out, it was VERY tender, so much so that when I took it out it broke in half.  I quickly put it in a big foil tray and covered and put it in my cooler.  Will take it out in a while and slice.  Will post pics.  The stall of 194 lasted from 9:30am to 3:30pm! 
Bark is not black, more dark brown and not heavy.  Will let you know how it tastes!

 

[DivotMaker]

Wow, 46 min per pound on a brisket is really fast!  Can't wait to see the pictures and hear the results.

 

[rjaffrey]

Here are two pics, wanted to take more but was too excited to get any decent ones.  The bark was not very dark, but it was all very tender.

 

[rjaffrey]

Additionally I didn't notice too much of a smoke ring so I will put 6 ounces in next time, this time I did 5.2 ounces..

 

[Pork Belly]

There is a good bit of science with smoke rings. the short version is, you will not get one ever in an SI. You can chemically create one but why bother.

 

[tnlyne]

You can chemically create one but why bother.

The color and presentation of one's food is another factor that leads to better enjoyment of the overall eating experience. If your smokes always looked like dog food and they were sitting next to a brisket with a faux smoke ring I can almost guarantee which one would be devoured first. Hey, sounds like something worthy of a social experiment here. If it was a blind taste test I'm sure the results would likely be different.

 

[DivotMaker]

You can chemically create one but why bother.

The color and presentation of one's food is another factor that leads to better enjoyment of the overall eating experience. If your smokes always looked like dog food and they were sitting next to a brisket with a faux smoke ring I can almost guarantee which one would be devoured first. Hey, sounds like something worthy of a social experiment here. If it was a blind taste test I'm sure the results would likely be different.

+1!  It may not make it taste better, but it sure do look good! 8)

 

[Pork Belly]

Divotmaster

I tried one big chunk of lump charcoal a few times early-on, searching for the elusive smoke ring (when I actually cared about it).  No luck.  I couldn't tell a difference in taste with one lump, so I quit.  In the name of science,  I'm going to have to try 3 chunks to see if I can tell a difference!  Mikey's definitely right about the smoke ring - all show.

Divotmaster

I tried lump charcoal in the box a few times, trying to get a smoke ring (when I cared about that!), but couldn't really tell any difference in the taste.  It's great, either way!  You won't be disappointed.

Divotmaster

As for the smoke ring:  The sooner you give up on chasing the elusive visual smoke ring (adds no flavor) in a smoker like this, the sooner you will be at peace. 8)

Well Divot just when you have me convinced it does not matter, you go all Bi-Polar with your ring issues. Understandably with over 5000 posts it might be hard to remember all your previous opinions. You did some good work convincing me smoke rings don't matter I think I will stay with that opinion for now, I'm at peace with it.

 

[tnlyne]

I don't see the bipolar? He tried to get it, understood it was for all visual effect anyway, and never had success without curing salt. But we all agree it looks neat.

 

[SuperDave]

...... and never had success without curing salt. But we all agree it looks neat.

But only to a point.  The artificial smoke rings I've seen on some posts using the curing salt look awful in my opinion when they are 1/2" + deep.  So much so that it tells me to only add the curing salt toward the very end of the brine period.  Adding a smoke ring for appearance sake would at least want to look natural.