My brisket stalled for 8 hours at a comp in Austin

Was at the Texas Smokeout last year. My 14 pound prime brisket hit 160 degrees at 2 AM and just stopped. No movement for hours. Panicked. Wrapped it in butcher paper with a little tallow and cranked the smoker to 275. Finally pushed through around 10 AM. Still took a ribbon. Anyone else ever have a stall that bad? What did you do?

3 comments

3 Comments

kevin_lane19d ago

Man, that stall is brutal but it happens. I had one go for almost six hours on a pork shoulder last summer (it was so humid, I think that was the real problem). Ended up just riding it out with the heat steady, but the wait was pure pain.

rivera.shane18d ago

Six hours? I would have started naming the smoker and asking about its life goals.

hollyscott19d ago

Was it just super dry air that day? Kevin's right about humidity, it's a huge factor. I've heard some guys in really dry climates will actually put a water pan in their smoker just to fight that stall. The meat's basically sweating, and if the air's too dry, that sweat cools it down way more. Makes sense that cranking the heat finally pushed it through, you had to beat the cooling effect.