Why does nobody talk about the smoke ring stall on brisket?
I was smoking a 14 pound packer brisket for a competition in Austin last month, and I hit a wall I never expected. The bark set perfectly, the temp was climbing steady, and then it just stopped at 175 internal for over four hours. I checked my fire, my probes, everything. Turns out, I had wrapped it in butcher paper a bit too early, right when the fat was really rendering, and it created this weird steam pocket that halted the cook. I had to unwrap it, let it vent for 45 minutes, and then re-wrap it looser. The whole thing added nearly five hours to my cook time and I almost missed turn-in. Has anyone else had a stall that wasn't about the meat temp but about the wrap timing?