Fire went out on my brisket!

[tri3forme]

Well folks, I woke up at 10am this morning (yes, I know that's late but I was tired from drinking a few too many beers last night, staying up too late and waking up periodically to check on the smoker)and found that the fire on my offset died and had a smoker temp of 135. The meat registered at 155 but was registering 165 this morning at 6am. I threw on my brisket last night around 10:30 with smoker temp at 250ish and did a decent (not great) job maintaining that temp. FYI, at 6 this morning, the meat was at 165 and I wrapped it in butcher paper. Anyways, I just kick-started the fire again but concerned about the outcome of my brisket with such a huge swing in cooking temp and 10 degree drop with the internal temp of the brisket. Surely I'm not the only one who's had this happen to. What has been your experience? Please tell me everything is going to be ok.

Thanks,
A Concerned BBQ'er

[Papa Tom]

Well folks, I woke up at 10am this morning (yes, I know that's late but I was tired from drinking a few too many beers last night, staying up too late and waking up periodically to check on the smoker)and found that the fire on my offset died and had a smoker temp of 135. The meat registered at 155 but was registering 165 this morning at 6am. I threw on my brisket last night around 10:30 with smoker temp at 250ish and did a decent (not great) job maintaining that temp. FYI, at 6 this morning, the meat was at 165 and I wrapped it in butcher paper. Anyways, I just kick-started the fire again but concerned about the outcome of my brisket with such a huge swing in cooking temp and 10 degree drop with the internal temp of the brisket. Surely I'm not the only one who's had this happen to. What has been your experience? Please tell me everything is going to be ok.

Thanks,
A Concerned BBQ'er

Yur good. Might be a new record for lo n slo tho......

The danger zone for meat is between 40° and 140° so the brisket stayed above 140° and that be good.

[tri3forme]

yup...you're right about that.

Does restarting the cooking process squeeze out some of the juices that have re-entered the muscle fibers during the 'resting period' (as the meat cooled about 10 degrees), making the end product a bit more dry?

[Papa Tom]

Dunno for sure but I've had it happen to me and I thought the brisket(s) turned out just fine.
Once was even a catering gig and I had 5 briskets on then after they were finally done I had to keep them warm for 6 hours and do ribs. All turned out fine and the crowd loved it all.

[tri3forme]

Well, that's great to hear...makes me feel better! Things are moving along quickly now that I've got the temp back up to where it needs to be. I'll let you know how it turns out.

[tri3forme]

Report: The brisket turned out almost great…..just a smidgen on the dry side but I don’t think any of the guests noticed. I am my harshest critic after all. I am now officially a big fan of the butcher paper technique and loved the texture of the final product. The bark held up great and the meat wasn’t over smoked. The ultimate lesson for me is that the fire dying out and meat cooling 10 degrees had no real or significant negative impact (unless it contributed to my earlier complaint about it being a smidgen dry). Thanks for the words of encouragement.

[Chopper]

Guys I was smoking a brisket and the pit went out during the cook. Am I good to finish the cook or should I toss it.
I smoked the brisket at 275 degrees for two and half hours, then wrapped it in butcher paper when internal temp hit 150 degrees. I put it back on the smoker at 10pm and the internal temp got to 180 degrees at some point before the pit went out. I got up at 4am and the pit was at 76 degrees and the internal temp was at 155 degrees measured at the thickest part of the flat. I seasoned the brisket with Big Swede BBQ Badass Texas Boost for the cook. Any help here would be greatly appreciated., Thanks

[k.a.m.]

Guys I was smoking a brisket and the pit went out during the cook. Am I good to finish the cook or should I toss it.
I smoked the brisket at 275 degrees for two and half hours, then wrapped it in butcher paper when internal temp hit 150 degrees. I put it back on the smoker at 10pm and the internal temp got to 180 degrees at some point before the pit went out. I got up at 4am and the pit was at 76 degrees and the internal temp was at 155 degrees measured at the thickest part of the flat. I seasoned the brisket with Big Swede BBQ Badass Texas Boost for the cook. Any help here would be greatly appreciated., Thanks

Keep cooking it your'e fine.

[GTR]

Guys I was smoking a brisket and the pit went out during the cook. Am I good to finish the cook or should I toss it.
I smoked the brisket at 275 degrees for two and half hours, then wrapped it in butcher paper when internal temp hit 150 degrees. I put it back on the smoker at 10pm and the internal temp got to 180 degrees at some point before the pit went out. I got up at 4am and the pit was at 76 degrees and the internal temp was at 155 degrees measured at the thickest part of the flat. I seasoned the brisket with Big Swede BBQ Badass Texas Boost for the cook. Any help here would be greatly appreciated., Thanks

If the internal temp was still 155* I'd finish the cook. Don't know how good it will be but I'd finish it none the less.