Brisket was done in 4.5 hrs ?

2bears · Sep 6, 2010

I Started the smoke at noon today planing a late supper ......

I foiled at 160 - 165 (3hrs) then decided to check the temp at 4:15 and wouldn't youknow it the dang thing was done, 201 - 205 degrees F.

4 hours and 15 min for a 13 pounder ! I have done several briskets now and they always take 7 - 8 hours so I am supprised at this. The temps were between 200 - 225 with an occasional 250 260 when I added more wood (just like always) so I don't get why this was such a short cook.

Will add pics later.

pineywoods · Sep 6, 2010

I would suggest two things. First probe the brisket in a couple different places to make sure you weren't in a pocket of fat. Second do a boil test on the thermometer to make sure its calibrated correctly. If the brisket is that temp and the thermo is right all you can do is go with it but that sure is a fast cook at the temps you said you were running. Have you verified the smoker temps are close to what you think they are with your other thermo?

rdknb · Sep 6, 2010

I agree with piney, I do not think there is any way it could be done that fast at those temps

2bears · Sep 6, 2010

The thermometer is a digital that was calibrated against a standard. The thermometer on the lid to the cooker was purchased at Home Depot and calibrated before install.

I probed several places on the brisket and all were consistant between 200 - 205 from the flat to all over the point, the brisket was done, I sliced it up and it was very good with a good smoke ring.

The flat was just about too dry and the point was perfect.

pineywoods · Sep 6, 2010

Cool glad to hear it was all good. If you know all the thermos are right all you can do is go by them. I have heard of briskets cooking super fast before but have never had one do it for me

2bears · Sep 7, 2010

Here are the pics of the brisket

ak1 · Sep 7, 2010

Looks good.

Just goes to prove the saying "It's done when it's done"

northern greenhorn · Sep 7, 2010

Hey, maybe the brisket fairy sprinkled some magic dust on there while you weren't looking to make it cook faster, or maybe your smoker is sitting in some weird space/ time warp.

wntrlnd · Sep 7, 2010

I'm thinking the brisket was from one of those Mars cows.

About three years ago, the planet Mars was closer to the Earth than it will be for the next 100,000 years or so

The beef from cattle born during this especially close encounter with Mars is just now coming to market in some parts of the country. Meat industry experts say this beef might exhibit some unusual characteristics, like cooking much faster than you would expect. There have been no reports that taste and texture of the meat of these Mars cows is any different than normal cows.

The "Mars Effect" or finishing too soon, affects all animals, not just cows. Younger, larger animals exhibit the effects more distinctly than older or smaller animals.

Can humans be affected my the Mars Effect? There is no conclusive proof to date, but some researchers have noticed a strong correlation between advertising for male enhancement products and the recent visit of the red planet.

2bears · Sep 7, 2010

northern greenhorn said:
Hey, maybe the brisket fairy sprinkled some magic dust on there while you weren't looking to make it cook faster, or maybe your smoker is sitting in some weird space/ time warp.

Hey it is what it is. It cooked in 4.5 hrs.

Maybe it was because the vac bag stated that it was "ANGUS" which made it cook faster... High speed low drag ANGUS baby !

My neighbor watched me put it on the smoker and we visited off and on through out the cook and he was there when I temped it at the finish, he too could'nt believe that it was done already, he smokes meat as well so he has done a few briskets this summer and knows that they usually take 8 ish hours to finish out.

So this leads me to a question. I watched the BBQ Pit Masters comp on TLC channel and they did brisket this week. They stated that you can go to the web site and see their recipes, well I did and they state that they cook the briskets in 4 - 5 - 6 hours BUT they cook at 350 - 400 degrees AND they come out very tender. How can this happen? Everyone say's to cook low and slow to get perfect product yet these cooks on that BBQ show on TLC do it in almost half of the time. They trim the product of most of the fat as well...

I see that they do cut the point off after 1 hr of cook/smoke and then cook them seperately - Is that the difference?

2bears · Sep 7, 2010

AK1 said:
Looks good.

Just goes to prove the saying "It's done when it's done"

There it is...

captsly · Sep 7, 2010

I had a super lean 16lb brisket get done in about 6.5 hours. It blew me away. I was expecting it to go at least 10 hours or so... I think it had to do with it being so lean. As said before "Its done when its done" weather is too quick or too long....

herkysprings · Sep 7, 2010

I've found higher grade meat (beef or pork) like organic or angus, etc will cook much faster in the same cooking medium as "Regular". I've done many tests on this, to the point that I basically can expect to shave off anywhere from 2-3 hours, to even 1/2 the time depending on what I am cooking.

The draw back is that these cuts typically cost 2X the price, so it comes down to whether I want to spend money to gain time, or just cook longer. After my first successful overnight cook I pretty much knew the answer to that one ;)

More Money = More meat + slightly more time when I'm sleeping anyway!

2bears said:
I Started the smoke at noon today planing a late supper ......

I foiled at 160 - 165 (3hrs) then decided to check the temp at 4:15 and wouldn't youknow it the dang thing was done, 201 - 205 degrees F.

4 hours and 15 min for a 13 pounder ! I have done several briskets now and they always take 7 - 8 hours so I am supprised at this. The temps were between 200 - 225 with an occasional 250 260 when I added more wood (just like always) so I don't get why this was such a short cook.

Will add pics later.

meateater · Sep 7, 2010

Here's my two coppers. Maybe a high grade of meat that is already much more tender will need less time to break down.

Maybe it was aged longer, less steroids?

eman · Sep 7, 2010

Dang smoke ninjas struck again!!!!

sqwib · Sep 8, 2010

wntrlnd said:
I'm thinking the brisket was from one of those Mars cows.

About three years ago, the planet Mars was closer to the Earth than it will be for the next 100,000 years or so

The beef from cattle born during this especially close encounter with Mars is just now coming to market in some parts of the country. Meat industry experts say this beef might exhibit some unusual characteristics, like cooking much faster than you would expect. There have been no reports that taste and texture of the meat of these Mars cows is any different than normal cows.

The "Mars Effect" or finishing too soon, affects all animals, not just cows. Younger, larger animals exhibit the effects more distinctly than older or smaller animals.

Can humans be affected my the Mars Effect? There is no conclusive proof to date, but some researchers have noticed a strong correlation between advertising for male enhancement products and the recent visit of the red planet.

Just as long as it wasn't "Mad Cows"

2bears · Sep 8, 2010

Funny stuff guys..."Magic fairy dust" - well this is a "craft" isn't it?

matts · Sep 8, 2010

I got a couple of those home depot thermo in my big rig. I tested them and they read fine. But when they are installed on the smoker, they read about 50 degrees low. They were mounted same level as the grate. I always run a digital in a block of wood sitting on the grate and go by that.

That brisket looks mighty tasty.

jeremymillrood · Sep 23, 2010

Amazing...this gives me hope that I'll be able to get my 10 pounder done in 10 hrs this weekend..

jirodriguez · Sep 23, 2010

yeah.... every piece of meat is differant. I usually do 14-16 lb. full packers, and they almost always take 14-16 hrs., but the last one I got was done after 11 hrs. 30 min. Go figure... lol

Brisket was done in 4.5 hrs ?

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