Okay Food Board, need some help. Today is my twin daughters third birthday and I started smoking a brisket at midnight. I have an offset smoker and am smoking at 250 following Franklin's method.

I was prepared for the stall around 160 degrees, but this is excruciatingly slow. Over seven hours in and I'm currently at 137 degrees. Its only gained five degrees over the past two hours. It's pretty cold here (been in the 30's all night in Round Rock) and I'm leaning toward just moving it in to the oven.

Party starts at 4 pm. I'd rather do this right than rush it but at this rate the real stall will take forever...thoughts/advice? I'm upping the temp to 275-300 and will see how that goes.

Thanks in advance

Put the fire to it.

If you have to, you can use the Texas Crunch and foil it. But you need more heat most likely.

One thing I've found is that airflow is key. Even at 250, if you get bad airflow, your brisket can take forever. Make sure you aren't choking your vents too much. The smoke coming out of the stack should be thin and not billowing. Don't worry too much about temp. Some smokers just run better at higher or lower temps, so don't fight it. If the brisket temp keeps crawling along, just wrap it in butcher paper and throw it in a 250 degree oven and get some sleep. I've done it on a few, and the quality is exactly the same. Good luck!

How big of a brisket is it and what kind of smoker do you have?

It's a Yoder Smoker, not sure of the exact model though as my FIL gave it to me when he moved. But it's pretty high quality.

The brisket was 13.5 lbs before being trimmed. I've had the smoke stack vent and firebox door fully open all night for the smooth air flow as another poster mentioned above.

Thanks for the replies and help.

I'm no expert so hopefully someone else will chime in as well. Is 250 temp measured on the grate where the meat is or is it on top of the lid? How confident are you in your thermameters?
I've had briskets stall in the 130 range for a awhile and then again in the 170s but for a shorter period of time, so once you push through this, you may be alright.

How big of brisket is it?

Edit... knew I took too long to type that out. Listen to these guys. They always have good advice.

You need to consider the wrapping it, even once it's done you need to let it rest a couple hours.

Moving a little better now, at 141 with temp at 285 degrees

Well? How'd it go?

willie wonka said:

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Well? How'd it go?

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Results and pics (of the brisket)

It ended up being the best brisket I've made to date (out of four). Spent a total time of 15.5 hours smoking plus rested in a cooler for an hour. It continued to go slow the whole time so when I wrapped it I used foil, and prior to that I had to up the smoking temp to 285.

The lean was a little tough, but the point was perfect. Meat quivers...melty, smoky, fatty, jiggly. Damn good.

Can't believe I didn't get a pic amidst all the chaos, but it was a fun day. Can't believe my girls are three. Thanks food board for coming through!

chipotle said:

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WC 06 said:

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It ended up being the best brisket I've made to date (out of four)

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We don't believe you. Food board rule 1 in effect.

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I'm smoking a brisket Friday and I promise you I won't make the same mistake.

You can safely take a brisket to 275 and even 300 in a pinch, at 300 you will likely blow through the stall at 300

Hot and fast baby! Start it at 300, for an hour and then let it drop down to 250. Just speeds everything up.