Yesterday I smoked what was probably my somewhere around 50th brisket. Never have I had so much difficulty. Go figure too, it was the first brisket in who knows how long that I was under zero time constraint.
15.7 # angus select, very flexible, pretty well trimmed from the butcher. Admittedly I only spent about half the time trimming that I usually do, which might have caused some of my issues.
Anyways, at 0400 I set the fire and by 0545 the brisket was on. Went simple, just salt and pepper. Smoked at 285, the sweet spot for my smoker, and left it alone for 4 hours. Started getting a beautiful mahogany color and put my digital probe in as I figured I was around 140-145. I was at 148, and I was stalled.
I was stalled at 148. I've never hit the stall that low. Anyways, 3 hours later I made it to a whopping 149, but the color was getting dark enough and my flat tip was starting to dry. Wrapped in butcher paper (second time ever using butcher) and threw it back in. 2 more hours and I was still at 149.
Never have I had a stall last 5 plus hours. Fortunately I was under zero time constraint and it was a beautiful fall day to sit outside and drink beer and maintain a fire. Then magic happened and I began climbing. By 1600 I was at 190 and by 1630 I hit 200. Passed the probe test, so I pulled it to rest on the counter for an hour.
Beautiful bark, light crunch in the pepper with a sticky complexion, very juicy, light smoke ring. First few slices in the flat and I was on cloud 9. Passed the pull test with flying colors, tasted great.
But then I noticed something... I passed the pull test and jiggled more than a Sir-Mix-A lot music video... yet I still had spots of not fully rendered fat. This difficult brisket struck again with a final blow.
SO my question(s) to you... why the white fat? Was it from my shotty trim and what's left was the overly thick areas? Should I have let it go a little higher than 200 despite it being probe tender? Am I overthinking it and just had a bad brisket day?
15.7 # angus select, very flexible, pretty well trimmed from the butcher. Admittedly I only spent about half the time trimming that I usually do, which might have caused some of my issues.
Anyways, at 0400 I set the fire and by 0545 the brisket was on. Went simple, just salt and pepper. Smoked at 285, the sweet spot for my smoker, and left it alone for 4 hours. Started getting a beautiful mahogany color and put my digital probe in as I figured I was around 140-145. I was at 148, and I was stalled.
I was stalled at 148. I've never hit the stall that low. Anyways, 3 hours later I made it to a whopping 149, but the color was getting dark enough and my flat tip was starting to dry. Wrapped in butcher paper (second time ever using butcher) and threw it back in. 2 more hours and I was still at 149.
Never have I had a stall last 5 plus hours. Fortunately I was under zero time constraint and it was a beautiful fall day to sit outside and drink beer and maintain a fire. Then magic happened and I began climbing. By 1600 I was at 190 and by 1630 I hit 200. Passed the probe test, so I pulled it to rest on the counter for an hour.
Beautiful bark, light crunch in the pepper with a sticky complexion, very juicy, light smoke ring. First few slices in the flat and I was on cloud 9. Passed the pull test with flying colors, tasted great.
But then I noticed something... I passed the pull test and jiggled more than a Sir-Mix-A lot music video... yet I still had spots of not fully rendered fat. This difficult brisket struck again with a final blow.
SO my question(s) to you... why the white fat? Was it from my shotty trim and what's left was the overly thick areas? Should I have let it go a little higher than 200 despite it being probe tender? Am I overthinking it and just had a bad brisket day?
