That one weekend when my brisket stall lasted 6 hours

I had a brisket last Saturday that hit 160 degrees and just sat there for 6 hours straight... I wrapped it in butcher paper at hour 3 but nothing happened. Turned out my firebox was clogged with creosote from the cheap wood I bought at that gas station in Odessa. Has anyone else had a stall that long just from dirty fire?

2 comments

2 Comments

harris.vera25d ago

I gotta push back on that a little. "Cheap wood from a gas station" might've burned dirty, but a 6 hour stall at 160 is pretty normal for a big brisket, especially if you're not running a clean fire. I've had clean fires and still sat at 160 for 5 hours easy. The butcher paper wrap won't magically break the stall either, it just helps push through once the meat starts sweating out.

rowan_hayes25d ago

Heard a BBQ science guy on a podcast talk about this actually. He said the stall happens when the meat's surface moisture evaporates fast enough to cool the whole thing down like a swamp cooler. So even with a perfect fire you are just fighting physics until enough moisture leaves the brisket. That butcher paper wrap just traps the heat better once it starts sweating, but it doesn't change the actual science of the stall. Kind of wild to think about, makes you realize how much of this is just dealing with basic thermodynamics.