Beef Brisket and Pulled Pork - Leave Alone Cooking Advice

[Yan89]

Hi guys

First post - hope it’s in the right place!

Got a lovely brisket and bone in pork cut coming and wanted some advice - I’ll need to leave both on my ironwood alone for 7 or 8 hours during the cook, so won’t be able to check temps and wrap in foil or butcher’s paper until I’m home later

I’ll be out from maybe 11am until 6pm and was hoping I could have them ready to eat for 7-8pm

I’m happy to start the cooks early obviously, and will have the Traeger app to tell me how they’re doing but won’t physically be home to take them off or wrap them.

Any ideas?

Thanks in advance!

 

[JPSBBQ]

I’d say you’ll want to cook @250F pit temp and wrap in foil as soon as you get home to achieve your goal. Probably need to bump temperature of pit to 275-300 after the wrap to speed though the stall. It can be done. You want to make sure you are 160-180 by the time you get home. You will be able to see this and the temp of the meat with your ironwood. I’d probe the brisket as that’s far less forgiving than the pork. If you aren’t close to those temps by the 5-6 hour mark, I’d bump the temp 25degrees up and keep monitoring. Good luck.

 

[traeger860]

I would start them the night before. Low temp - 185 or so on Super Smoke. Wrap in butcher paper before you head out and bump to 250. If it seems to be cooking too fast, you can drop it to 225. Too slow and you can bump to 275.

 

[Yan89]

I’d say you’ll want to cook @250F pit temp and wrap in foil as soon as you get home to achieve your goal. Probably need to bump temperature of pit to 275-300 after the wrap to speed though the stall. It can be done. You want to make sure you are 160-180 by the time you get home. You will be able to see this and the temp of the meat with your ironwood. I’d probe the brisket as that’s far less forgiving than the pork. If you aren’t close to those temps by the 5-6 hour mark, I’d bump the temp 25degrees up and keep monitoring. Good luck.

Thanks for this!

I would start them the night before. Low temp - 185 or so on Super Smoke. Wrap in butcher paper before you head out and bump to 250. If it seems to be cooking too fast, you can drop it to 225. Too slow and you can bump to 275.

And thanks for this too!

The cuts arrived today - the bone-in Pork is 3.03kg and the brisket is 2.64kg.. how long should I expect them to cook at those temps?

 

[JPSBBQ]

Thanks for this!


And thanks for this too!

The cuts arrived today - the bone-in Pork is 3.03kg and the brisket is 2.64kg.. how long should I expect them to cook at those temps?

The pork is Decent size and should take @ 6-9 hours. Hard to say as every cut has varied levels of fat and connective tissue. The beef is on the small side and I suspect it is just the flat portion. I would think it would cook in similar time or maybe quicker. Hard to say without seeing the shape and fat content. These are guesses.

 

[midwest]

I too would try to get the brisket done at 11am and put it in a cooler until you get back at 6. That would be easier then not being around the last half of the cook, taking it out around 6 and then only getting an hour rest.

 

[Yan89]

I too would try to get the brisket done at 11am and put it in a cooler until you get back at 6. That would be easier then not being around the last half of the cook, taking it out around 6 and then only getting an hour rest.

When you say cooler, do you mean a cool box? Sorry - I’m pretty new to this!

 

[RayClem]

When you say cooler, do you mean a cool box? Sorry - I’m pretty new to this!

Wrap up the brisket in foil. Cover it in a towel and place it in an insulated ice chest without ice. It can be a Styrofoam cooler or a commercial one made by Yeti, Igloo, Coleman,etc. The aim is to keep the meat above a safe temperature until dinner time. The extended rest will allow the meat to equilibrate in temperature from outside to the middle and redistribute moisture.

 

[Slimpicker]

Wrap up the brisket in foil. Cover it in a towel and place it in an insulated ice chest without ice. It can be a Styrofoam cooler or a commercial one made by Yeti, Igloo, Coleman,etc. The aim is to keep the meat above a safe temperature until dinner time. The extended rest will allow the meat to equilibrate in temperature from outside to the middle and redistribute moisture.

I have gone 4 hours in a styro cooler before, and it still would burn an unprotected hand while taking it out....
Meat Church talks about going 24 hours rest... I don't know what that's about but I do know 6 won't be "too long"

 

[Yan89]

Thanks once again for all suggestions. I’m cooking the brisket tonight - wish me luck!

 

[traeger860]

Thanks once again for all suggestions. I’m cooking the brisket tonight - wish me luck!

Good luck. Let us know what you end up doing and how everything comes out.

 

[MidwestSmoker]

When you say cooler, do you mean a cool box? Sorry - I’m pretty new to this!

Something like this:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Coleman-Xtreme-Litres-Performance-Camping/dp/B09MKQ8FWG

Coolers can keep things hot in addition to keeping things cold.

 

[Yan89]

So I cooked the brisket (2.64kgs) from midnight to 3.30AM at 225f when it registered at 160f internal temp, when I took it out and wrapped it in butcher’s paper which id put apple cider vinegar on. I then carried on the cook at 225f until the internal temp reached 204f (this happened at around 10am). I then took the brisket out of the butcher’s paper and re wrapped it in foil, then in a towel and put it into a Coleman xtreme wheeled cooler which I had preheated with boiling water.

I opened the cooler at 7pm (8 hours later) and put the brisket unwrapped onto the Traeger at 175f to warm it through, and we ate it about 30 mins later. It was nice, although a bit plain (I’d covered it in Traeger beef rub for 24 hours before the cook) and it was slightly dry. Weirdly, I had some the day after which seemed much nicer.

I started the pork (3.03kg bone-in pork shoulder) at 10.30am at 225f super smoke - the meat was marinated in Traeger pork and poultry rub for 20 mins only because I didn’t want it to break down and go mushy). I left it on the ironwood from 10.30 to 5pm at this temp, then upped the temp to 250f because it was stuck at 174f internal and we were hoping to eat at 7/8pm. It has only reached 183f by 6pm when I got home so I upped it again to 275f. By 7pm it was only at 187f internal and we were getting really hungry so I upped it again to 310f and it took a further 30 mins to reach 200f internal. At 7.30 I took it off the grill and placed it on a board to rest for 30 mins, before trying to ‘pull’ the meat. Unfortunately it didn’t pull well at all and was a bit on the firm side, which was disappointing.. but the flavour was nice.

 

[JPSBBQ]

Beef brisket can be dry especially the flat and especially if it’s not a prime grade or above. Foil wrap may soften the bark but will dramatically increase your window for moist tender beef.

The pork likely needed 5-8 more degrees to be the tenderness you wished for. That said I’ve had pork butts that parts are done and pull great while another muscle on the opposite side is still a bit tight and doesn’t want to pull very nicely.

Sounds like an overall win and great learning experience to me. Enjoy!

 

[RayClem]

When using marinades, it is possible to make meat mushy if you use highly acidic marinades and leave it too long. On a 8# pork butt, you could easily marinate it overnight without and issue. There are some interesting YouTube videos by Guga Foods showing what happens when you season steak in various ways and for varying lengths of time. Some combinations are complete fails. With dry rubs, 8-24 hours seems to be the sweet spot.