Using AQ Autohold

Welcome to the forum.

I don't usually smoke flats but my best guess would be a probe temp of 190. As you say, you'll get a bit of carry over and a finish temp of 195 - 200 will hopefully be satisfactory.

I'm with Max, go ahead and try it although I don't think the carryover will be 10 degrees. What's important though is that it will continue to cook and the collagen break down so regardless of what the highest temp it gets to, it will continue to tenderize.

BUT... I'm just not a fan of Cook and Hold, especially with Brisket, or really anything that doesn't have a specific temp to tell you when it's done.

And a brisket flat is a tricky thing when you watch it like a hawk and usually get's dry VERY quickly, especially a 5lb'er.

And it's a guessing game, if as I imagine, you're trying to say, "...so, it's going to continue to cook because the smoker is warm so I'll pull it sooner... yadda yadda."

That's a tough call. You'll have some success with it, but you will be our guinea pig and let us know.

Thanks for the replies guys.

I guess my real question is, how long do you think a closed, un-tended AQ will take to drop to 140* after hold mode activates. (not opened to dump heat)

If it is about 30-60 minutes (my guess?), this isn't carryover, it is actually 30-60 minutes of additional cook after the desired probe temp is reached.

I'll have to try it and report back.

I think you're right about additional cooking during the cool down if you're not there to dump heat. May want to shoot for a lower finish temp before the hold.

I have used the hold cycle on my AQ with a pretty full load and it took about an hour and twenty minutes to come down from 230.

quote:

Originally posted by Wilber:
I have used the hold cycle on my AQ with a pretty full load and it took about an hour and twenty minutes to come down from 230.

And come to think about it I believe I peeked once.

I have used the hold feature on butts a couple of times. I chose this over wrapping in foil, then towels and placing in a cooler. Much more convenient. There was slightly more 'shredability' to the butt than when I pull it at 190 and place in a lidded pot where it sits for about 30 minutes. The difference was minimal, and may have had more to do with the butt itself than any additional cooking. The hold feature never exceeded 30 minutes.

I finally got around to testing this:

When set at 225 deg, the smoker took just over one hour to reach hold temp with no heat dump.

I took the time to do a smoker temperature map- see that new thread.