Quote:
Originally Posted by Fire Me Boy!
How long do you rest? I take it to around 195, then wrap it in foil, wrap that in a beach towel, and park it in the cooler for an hour.
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Like I said - I didn't rest. And I'm starting to settle on that as being my problem.
I know the theory behind it, but I worry that the rest will hurt the bark if I haven't set it thoroughly. And yeah, 195 was my target mark but I was out there at 5am during a flash flood warning (the lake behind my yard broke out and was about 3 feet into the yard while this was happening...good times).
So in the deluge, I didn't want to get my probes out in the rain and risk damaging them. I just threw my chimney starter over the top damper to keep rain from running down it without constricting it (surprisingly genius, by the way) and decided to trust my dome thermometer as I know it's about 15 degrees off from the grate temp.
Big mistake. After struggling for 6 hours to figure out why it wouldn't fall below 275 and after figuring I was through the stall...only to see the internal temp of the brisket drop by 3 degrees I realized I might have an issue. So I got my probes out, fired them up, took the temp at the grate and realized that my dome thermometer was stuck and my grate temp was down to 165.
So I threw them in a five gallon bucket, stuck the lid on to protect them and set about getting things back on track. Probably cost me the 2 hours I needed to get it to 195 before I pulled. Really, 203 has always been my ideal target temp but I never have that patience (or plan well enough).