Brisket temps...

Mike, you ask why, and I say to you, as Smokin Okie was once heard to say, "...every man has his own plateau to climb."
acarriii

Interesting point. When I've run the experiment like yours I didn't get those results. I have a lot of molecular temperature density & humidity variables running around in my head -- but no firm answers yet

Lower temps DID mean longer times.

Guessing that the 45 degrees difference (180 to 225) didn't make a difference until the very end on my cooks. Obviously I can hold it at 180 for a long cook, but I still want to hit 190 to 200 to finish.

CS used to have the 150 automatic setting at 180 (many still do) for the automatic setting for brisket. But you'll never get it up to 190 until the temp of the smoker goes up.

Try an experiment, set it at 180 and see how long you can cook it. 12 hrs, 18 hrs 24 hrs? then bump it up. Should be plenty of time to get a bark.

hmmmmm, I'm gonna have to try this one myself, thought about it before, just didn't do the experiment.

I've always heard the "pit pros" in Texas who cook their briskets for 24 to 30 hours...

We'll figure out how to get a bark for you yet. I too like it on Brisket and mixed in with the Pulled pork ---- yum yum.

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Lower temps DID mean longer times.

Think that the variable in our equation might be briskets? Each one is sooo different that it might be impossible to form a correct hypothesis.

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Guessing that the 45 degrees difference (180 to 225) didn't make a difference until the very end on my cooks. Obviously I can hold it at 180 for a long cook, but I still want to hit 190 to 200 to finish.

Would think you'd have to raise it to finish. If your goal is 200 internal, you gotta be over that number with pit temp.

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Try an experiment, set it at 180 and see how long you can cook it. 12 hrs, 18 hrs 24 hrs? then bump it up. Should be plenty of time to get a bark.

Essentially, we do just that. Started them out at 180. The next day, took them to 225 to finish.

Bark? Therein lies the problem. We are starting to think that the "size" of the bark may be directly related in some way to the length of time that heated smoke cooks the meat. This time we used two loads of wood. Next time, we'll try 3 loads of wood.

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I've always heard the "pit pros" in Texas who cook their briskets for 24 to 30 hours...

We're all for anything that improves the final product...as long as it doesn't represent a ton of extra work for us. However, we wonder just how much of that stuff is myth/lore, etc., as we've had some pretty highly touted brisket in Dallas, Ft. Worth, Houston, Galveston and El Passo...although all excellent, none of it was an iota better than what is easily produced in the CS.

One of these days, we're going to try one for 24 hours or more. Should be easy. Just set CS to 180 and let it go as long as you like...then, crank the CS up and finish.

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We'll figure out how to get a bark for you yet. I too like it on Brisket and mixed in with the Pulled pork ---- yum yum.

Wouldn't think of pulled pork without Mr. Brown. We may have all come to the solutions, yet to be tried. Reheat cold in oven or indirect on pit. OR, just let it cool to room temp and then reheat in oven. OR, try opening and closing the CS door when finishing, for a one stage approach.

Regards, Mike