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Brisket temp falling
If your brisket’s temperature is falling, then follow this helpful advice. One of the reasons why a particular brisket can drop in temperature fairly rapidly is due to several factors. The most notable of which is the brisket stall.
The brisket stall is basically a temperature range between 150 degrees Fahrenheit and 170 degrees Fahrenheit, where the temperature seems to flatline and perhaps even decrease slightly over several hours.
One of the main interesting aspects of this phenomenon is that it almost seems like the brisket is not cooking anymore and is in fact losing its internal temperature.
Rest assured that it’s just the moisture being secreted out of the meat at a rate equal to the internal temperature increasing. Don’t worry, it’s totally normal and keep chugging along.
Another reason why your brisket temp may be falling, is due to the fact that your fuel source or fire is going out.
This part of the troubleshooting aspect of why brisket temperature can be falling, is actually quite Troublesome, because at that point, your brisket will continue to decrease in temperature until you refuel the fire and begin cooking it again.
Why is my brisket temperature dropping?
There are two main reasons why a brisket’s temperature can drop. The first one is the stall, and is a phenomenon that occurs anywhere between 150 degrees Fahrenheit to 170 degrees Fahrenheit.
The internal temperature seems to flatline for several hours and even decrease for a bit of time.
The second most notable cause of temperature dropping is of course due to the fact that your fuel source is not burning quite as hot as it used to. All you have to do in this case, is to just restock your chamber with wood and charcoal and relight it for hotter temperatures.
My briskets temperature dropped during the stall
If your brisket temperature is dropping during the stall, then you have two options available to you.
The first option available is to wrap a brisket and either full or butcher paper. This basically is a way to trap all the heat that is being evaporated out of your brisket onto the brisket itself, and can serve to rapidly increase the temperature at which it is currently at.
The second most notable way you can start to increase the temperature for your brisket during the stall is to increase the amount of fuel that you have cooking in the smoker chamber. Basically, just add in a lot of wood and charcoal and relight it to get the ambient temperature a lot hotter.
Why is my smoker temp going down?
If your smoker temperature is going down in terms of the ambient grate temp, then just start restocking the cooking chamber to an adequate amount of wood that you started with. That should certainly start increasing the smoker temperature, and should also increase the internal temperature of your brisket.
Is 200 degrees too low for brisket?
200 degrees Fahrenheit is the temperature that you should be pulling the brisket at once it reaches that internal temperature.
For ambient temperature, 200 degrees Fahrenheit is way too low. It will take over 24 hours to cook any meaningful size brisket, and should not be recommended by anyone.
In fact, you should be smoking a brisket at very hot temperature ranges such as around 300 degrees Fahrenheit. That’s so it Cooks thoroughly and you don’t really ever have to worry about the brisket temperature dropping again.
Final thoughts
Having a brisket temperature drop can be Troublesome at first glance. But if you know the reasons as to why it is happening, then you can take the necessary steps to negate it. A great way to increase your temperature for brisket Is to wrap it and either file or butcher paper. Another great way to increase the temperature for the brisket is to also increase the ambient temperature at which you were smoking to around 300 degrees Fahrenheit. You basically do this by adding more fuel to the fire.
Robert is a certified Pitmaster, with over a decade of experience in smoking the best meats you’ll ever feast upon. He also has a Bachelor of Business Administration from the University of Texas at San Antonio. When he’s not researching technical topics, he’s most likely barbecuing in his backyard.