Weird brisket experience

[midwest]

I had a cow butchered last winter and cooked one of the briskets this weekend. It was about 16 pounds before trimming but had a lot of fat so I’m guessing it was around 12 pounds. My friends has a rec tec bullseye grill. It’s lowest setting is 225 and then it also goes down to low. We let it run on low for about half hour and it was staying around 212-215. Put it on and 11 PM and I got up at 7:00 am and like clockwork it was exactly 165. He only had foil so I wrapped it and the batteries on the Ink Bird were getting low so I plugged it in to charge assuming it would take the brisket until mid afternoon to finish up. I did bump the temp up to 250 at 7:00 am when I wrapped it. Around 9:00 am the ink bird was charged so I stuck it in to watch the rest of the day, it went right in and the temp went to 207. I checked a few more places and all were tender and over 205 so I stuck it in the cooler and rested it until 4:00 pm and we ate. It tasted perfect and everyone loved it. I’m just glad I didn’t wait any longer to put the probe back in because it likely would have been ruined. Last one I did I wrapped at 7;30 am and it didnt get to 200 until 4:00. I honestly wouldn’t have checked this one until at least noon or later if it wasn’t for the ink bird. I wasn’t think so I just shit it down. I should have left it running when I pulled it off to see what the cook temp actually was when I had it set at 250…

 

[MidwestSmoker]

I think it is the foil that did it. I used foil only once when making brisket and had the same experience of the temperature rising very fast after the wrap.

 

[JPSBBQ]

The foil absolutely presses you through the stall. The grade of meat will also have a dramatic affect. The higher the grade the faster it cooks. Kinda contrary to my instincts but it’s true. Every piece of meat is unique. If you are not cooking similar sizes and grades in a similar manner, then the timing can vary wildly. The long rest is actually a huge benefit and probably made for a great product.

 

[RayClem]

Since the foil is impermeable if you seal it properly, it will hold the moisture within the meat. Thus, the temperature is unlikely to get much higher than 207 F and the meat would not dry out. However, if the meat braised too long at that temperature, it could easily have ended up fall-apart tender rather than something you could slice.

You can use a similar method to produce pulled pork using a pork shoulder.

 

[Slimpicker]

Midwest, you story is very normal to my brisket cooks accept the foil. With 'paper' mine were getting done closer to noonish and then a 4 hour cooler rest and perfect.
So for me, I say it was the foil