This one was a gauntlet.
I've never smoked a brisket, but wanted to give it a test run while the kids are out of town before we do a bigger cookout.
I used cooking instructions from a recipe for an 18 hour bisket from Traeger's app, but used my own rub and everything else, which is where I probably screwed up first since theirs used injections and more moisture.
Anyway, after 12 hours at 180, I bumped it to 225F and then wrapped in foil when internal temp hit 150ish. Another 12 hours it was still sitting below 160F so I turned it up to 250F. Woke up this morning at 6am after starting Saturday night at midnight, still only 180F, so I finally bumped it up to 280F until internal temp hit 200F after a whopping 32 hours on my smoker and a bag and a half of pellets.
Resigned myself to taco meat before I did the towel/cooler rest method for 3 hours. Sliced it about an hour ago and was shocked it was actually damn good.
Here's some photos from the cook:
https://imgur.com/gallery/bG2YJZ2
by JimothyTheBold
33 Comments
36 hours is a beast of a cook time but the pictures do not look dry at all so id say success!!!! So wheres my 3lbs i ordered?
32 hours is fucking insane, but can’t argue with the results! Looks great!
Try the Meat Church Overnight Brisket 2.0 method next time(look it up on YouTube). Cook time will be half lol
That looks great, but sheesh 32 hours seems excessive. Have you put a probe in your Traeger to make sure it is actually getting to the right temp? I have a Green Mountain Grill pellet smoker and it generally is a little cooler than the displayed temp. Might be worth checking out so in the future you can compensate if needed. Otherwise, it looks super good though.
This is just starting to get old. I make my jerky at 180. Absolute no reason for a brisket
12 hours at 180? No wonder it took 32 hours total.
I think Traeger made that recipe to sell more bags of pellets! hahaha.
32 hours is completely insane. 12 hours at 180 is a waste of time and pellets. Set it at 225 and let it be. Rest it on your oven’s keep warm setting for as long as you want to.
Yes, yes, yes, …. Oh my god get in my belly…..
Glad it turned out well but 180 is just too low for cooking. I’m guessing traeger recommends starting at 180 because it’s the only way to impart smoke flavor with pellets.
Looks good, but yeah, I run my brisket 250-275 and get excellent results. I ignore recipes for the 180-220 range. Hell, Aaron Franklin runs 250 to 275 as well. May your second one be great too, albeit a bit faster!
32 hours? utter waste of time. NOTHING takes that long to cook.
I bet I could do 40
Thats too long. More than 18 hours way too long
32 hours? Was it a 45lb brisket??? 12 hours below 160. That’s gonna get someone sick.
12 hrs at 180F is sketchy AF. you wanna avoid having the internal temp between 40F and 140F for long periods since that gives time for bacterial contamination byproducts. Basically your meat can spoil if you cook it too slow.
32 hours is insane.
A lot of others have mentioned that it was too long, but I’ll add one thing. If any recipe ever has “XX hours” I automatically ignore it. It may work, like some people’s experience with 3-2-1 ribs, but bbq is all about cooking to tenderness. There are way too many variables to just pick a time and have it work out consistently where it’s never over or undercooked. Time may inform your decisions, but you need to learn what tender feels like. First time is always tough.
Also don’t rely on the built in thermometer for the cooking chamber temp. Put an external probe in to verify your temperature.
With a cook that long, I bet you were even lower than what you believed.
What I’ve realized is that the rest matters more than anything else. I’ve been cooking at 275, wrap it around 165, take it off a little over 200, and rest it for 4 hours in a cooler.
I’ve played around with a bunch of different approaches, and the common denominator for me has been the greater the rest time = better meat.
Jesus lol kudos to you for roughing it out looks great but as others have said 180 is not necessary anywhere from 225-275 will give about the same results in legit half the time.
I’m surprised you didn’t get sick. The center of that thing must have been sitting in the danger zone for a *long* time.
32 hours holy moly lol. Longest I’ve ever had one on was about 13-14 hours.
Good god, that’s way too long
You’ve got the patience of a saint… I couldn’t last that long.
Hitting 160 degrees after 24 hours actually sounds really dangerous from a food safety perspective.
Is there really a Trager recipe that recommends 180 degrees?
You most certainly spend longer than 4 hours in the danger zone (by the sound of it, maybe 12+ hours).
Edit: found it: [https://www.traeger.com/recipes/scheiding-bbq-brisket](https://www.traeger.com/recipes/scheiding-bbq-brisket)
Aaron Franklin – 275 degree cook. 7 hours I think
Too low, too long. Wrap it after stall and the fat is rendering. Bump heat up. Rest 5-6 hrs.
That’s fucking laughable. 32hr screams idk what I’m doing. And that is impressive but incredibly dumb. Pellet smoke isn’t something that 32hr would make greater…. Could’ve been done in 14hr at 225-250
180? Why 180?
Looks kinda dry to me
Looks good man! You tried, you learned, and will do better next time. No one died and you didn’t burn the house down.
Not trying to talk shit, just being honest. That looks pretty dry. No reason at all anyone should be cooking a brisket at 180 and definitely no reason at all to take 32 hours.
7-10 hours at 275 buy plum wood pellets. Let it rip
It looks tender……but very very dry. Next time just smoke it at 225 till the stall and then bump to 250 for the remainder. Rest for a minimum of 3 hours.