Smoking at altitude

[Shaunvdv]

I’m looking for some advice. I live about 5,000’ in elevation and cooks take a lot longer. I’m wondering if anyone can help me figure out if there is a way to speed it up a bit or if I just need to accept the fact that cooks take longer.

Here’s an example. I decided to try cooking my first brisket on Christmas. I know, probably not a great idea. I also chose to make a prime rib just in case the brisket wasn’t going to be ready for 6:00 dinner. Glad I did so. I cooked an 8 lb brisket flat at 225-260 on my OK Joe highland smoker. I started the grill at 5:00 am and put the meat on at 6:00am. I ended up taking the brisket off the pit at 8:00pm (IT 165), wrapped it, and put it in the oven at 250 until it hit 202 IT. The stall was at 165 degrees. It sat there and also dropped to 154 for a while. After about 4 hours of starting the stall, I decided to put it on the oven. The brisket ended up hitting 202 at 2:00 am. That means that the 8 lb brisket flat took 20 hours to cook. I let it rest for 5 hours in a Yeti cooler. It was delicious for breakfast but took quite a bit longer than expected.

Is that normal for an 8lb brisket flat? From what I had been reading it should have been a roughly 8-10 hour cook. I gave myself 12 hours to allow some testing time.

I have found that pretty much every cook I do takes double the time that bbq books say it will take. Is that normal? Is it safe? Is there anything else I can do to help it?

 

[Big Andy]

https://www.bbq-brethren.com/forum/showthread.php?t=288408

 

[Shaunvdv]

Awesome, thanks. I was trying to find something here but can’t figure out the search bar from my phone yet. Lol.

 

[Big George's BBQ]

I made mention in your other post Check put thirdeye's blog He has something with high altitude He is a member here

 

[pmad]

Wow.
When you cook at that altitude, you should be cooking 15-20* lower than what you would at sea level as the water leaves the meat much quicker.
I'd always use a water pan.
But altitude should only increase the time by 20-25%, not double.

Have you checked the Smoker's temp with a good thermometer?
Maybe you're cooking way lower than you think.

 

[Shaunvdv]

Thanks, I will check that out. I’ve been finding some info out there and it’s been a lot of trial and error.

 

[Shaunvdv]

The double increase in time makes me wonder too. I have the standard analog type thermometer on the grills themselves. Those aren’t accurate at all and I don’t trust them. I set an electronic probe on the grill about one inch off the grill grate and I have a water pan that I refill every couple of hours.

 

[Shaunvdv]

It could very well be that my temp was lower at the brisket than it was at the probe, now that I think about it more.

 

[Clay-b-que]

Welcome to the party Shaun! Also check out this thread from a fellow Coloradan:

https://www.bbq-brethren.com/forum/showthread.php?t=288189

 

[North Is Up]

I'm at just over 6000' in the Sierras. I went through the same learning curve that you will figuring it out. I start smoking at around 9p for dinner the next day. I use a water pan in my Egg with everything I smoke.

Brisket: What I have learned is that it's okay to smoke all night at about 225 to get the smoke taste I want and that will take it to around 140 internal at 7a. I refill with charcoal and crank it up to 275 for the rest of the day. By 4p to 5p, it's ready to pull and rest. Don't be afraid to add that heat in the morning. You need it to get past the stall or you'll be watching 160 internal all day.

You'll figure out your timing. Enjoy!

 

[busmania]

I’m in centennial too. My cooks take forever. I always chalked it up to using an offset with no tuning plates (all convection heat, no radiant heat). But I think y’all are onto something when it Comes to altitude. For example, a rack of spare ribs might take me 7 hours cooking at 275 on my offset. A brisket? Always take forever and at least 1.5 -2 hours per pound but it’s hard to say how long a brisket actually takes because I always under estimate the time and have to crank the heat toward the end to get it done in time.

 

[lstoker]

I'm up in NoCO - I disagree with the dropping temps that some users have stated. I cook at higher temps, 250-275 maybe even a touch more depending on what I'm cooking. Double check all your probes as well, you really need to ensure you are cooking at the temp you think you are.

We are just about 5500 feet elevation here. If you go 225 or lower it will take FOREVER and you will be rewarded with shoe leather. Before moving here, I never wrapped anything, now I do. You sacrifice your bark quality a little bit, but I find it's a valid trade off.

For that size brisket flat, I would wrap once my bark sets up and it's visually the way I want it. Finished IT is more critical for higher elevations, you can't necessarily let it sit and chase 202,203, 205 or whatever... That piece of meat may not want to do that on that particular day. I once had a guy on the Western Slope tell me - Once your meat gets close to the IT you're chasing, if it stops rising take it off within 30 mins regardless. I cooked a pork butt yesterday, it cruised up to 200F and then dead stopped at 201F, it was very close to probing like butter at 200F but a little resistance. 20 mins later it was still 201F but probed perfectly.

 

[Clay-b-que]

^^^Good points. I always try to keep my temp between 275 and 300. I used to try around 250 but things took forever and were dry when done. Water pan, wrap with liquid and higher temps have worked for me...and cooking to probe tender not paying attention to temps.

 

[Shaunvdv]

I'm at just over 6000' in the Sierras. I went through the same learning curve that you will figuring it out. I start smoking at around 9p for dinner the next day. I use a water pan in my Egg with everything I smoke.

Brisket: What I have learned is that it's okay to smoke all night at about 225 to get the smoke taste I want and that will take it to around 140 internal at 7a. I refill with charcoal and crank it up to 275 for the rest of the day. By 4p to 5p, it's ready to pull and rest. Don't be afraid to add that heat in the morning. You need it to get past the stall or you'll be watching 160 internal all day.

You'll figure out your timing. Enjoy!

Thanks for the info. Do you wrap it at 7:00am when you are cranking the heat up? If so, are you wrapping in BP or foil?

 

[Shaunvdv]

I'm up in NoCO - I disagree with the dropping temps that some users have stated. I cook at higher temps, 250-275 maybe even a touch more depending on what I'm cooking. Double check all your probes as well, you really need to ensure you are cooking at the temp you think you are.

We are just about 5500 feet elevation here. If you go 225 or lower it will take FOREVER and you will be rewarded with shoe leather. Before moving here, I never wrapped anything, now I do. You sacrifice your bark quality a little bit, but I find it's a valid trade off.

For that size brisket flat, I would wrap once my bark sets up and it's visually the way I want it. Finished IT is more critical for higher elevations, you can't necessarily let it sit and chase 202,203, 205 or whatever... That piece of meat may not want to do that on that particular day. I once had a guy on the Western Slope tell me - Once your meat gets close to the IT you're chasing, if it stops rising take it off within 30 mins regardless. I cooked a pork butt yesterday, it cruised up to 200F and then dead stopped at 201F, it was very close to probing like butter at 200F but a little resistance. 20 mins later it was still 201F but probed perfectly.

Thanks for the reply. Much appreciated. Sounds like I should have wrapped earlier than I did and not take it to 200. Unfortunately, I was tired so I didn’t see the end and set my alarm on my probe to 200. It could very well have been ready at 195. On the next attempt, I will give myself more time, wrap earlier, and increase temps a little.

 

[Shaunvdv]

^^^Good points. I always try to keep my temp between 275 and 300. I used to try around 250 but things took forever and were dry when done. Water pan, wrap with liquid and higher temps have worked for me...and cooking to probe tender not paying attention to temps.

All good points indeed. I look forward to the next cook. Not sure what I’ll do next but I do have a pork butt in the freezer because I couldn’t resist the $1.49/lb. lol.

 

[lstoker]

All good points indeed. I look forward to the next cook. Not sure what I’ll do next but I do have a pork butt in the freezer because I couldn’t resist the $1.49/lb. lol.

Hang with it.. I'm from South Louisiana and have lived up and down the East Coast before moving here. I thought I had a pretty good handle on smoking. I'll never forget when Colorado and my first time at elevation beat that cockiness down hard.

We hadn't lived here long and decided to have Super Bowl party. I filled up both my BGE's with Pork Butts and proceeded to do my thing (I might have drank a bit that day)... I cooked as I always had and was confident in the product I'd serve to our guests. :roll::roll: NOPE - Those butts took forever to get to temp, I had to move them into the oven to finish (something I had never done) and I kept chasing a IT that wasn't going to happen. They were the worst I could remember ever doing.

Since then, I have asked lots of questions and completely relearned most of what I thought about smoking. I now cook mostly on a stick burner but have elevated my BGE temps as well. I've even adjusted how I do my ribs a bit. Feel free to reach out if you ever have a question, I might not have the answer but I can likely share how I screwed it up!

 

[Shaunvdv]

Hang with it.. I'm from South Louisiana and have lived up and down the East Coast before moving here. I thought I had a pretty good handle on smoking. I'll never forget when Colorado and my first time at elevation beat that cockiness down hard.

We hadn't lived here long and decided to have Super Bowl party. I filled up both my BGE's with Pork Butts and proceeded to do my thing (I might have drank a bit that day)... I cooked as I always had and was confident in the product I'd serve to our guests. :roll::roll: NOPE - Those butts took forever to get to temp, I had to move them into the oven to finish (something I had never done) and I kept chasing a IT that wasn't going to happen. They were the worst I could remember ever doing.

Since then, I have asked lots of questions and completely relearned most of what I thought about smoking. I now cook mostly on a stick burner but have elevated my BGE temps as well. I've even adjusted how I do my ribs a bit. Feel free to reach out if you ever have a question, I might not have the answer but I can likely share how I screwed it up!

Thanks for the info. Yeah, I’ve been smoking pork butts on my Weber grill for years, in Colorado, but had never tried smoking meats prior to moving to elevation so I don’t know any different. All I know is that when I read about times online, it’s always way off for me. Hahaha. I just assume double time. I will take the info people have shared here and hope that by adjusting the temps up a bit, having more water in the system, injecting the meat, and wrapping should help speed it up a bit and still stay moist.

 

[Marquez]

I experienced the same uncertainty regarding times after noticing my cooks take longer than the recipe indicated. I noticed that this happens no matter whether it was on a charcoal cooker, the ceramic, or pellet cooker.

That is the reason I started the thread about New Year's Eve brisket cook. I was not looking forward to a 14hr cook!

In my opinion, all cookers operate differently so generalizations are hard to apply. It seems that the certainty across all cookers is that higher temps translate into more energy into the meat. Once the goal temp is met, then rest and treat it as the recipe calls. Of course, its dependent on the meat and the cooker.

I'm looking forward to learning more about cooking at altitude.

 

[El Ropo]

If I were a mile high, I'd start my cooker off at a lowish temp like 250F for a couple hours to lay some smoke on the meat, then crank up the grate temps to 300-325 to power through the rest of the cook. After a couple cooks like that, I'd make a decision whether is is actually necessary to add water to the cooking environment, spritz, wrap, etc.

Of course, this is how I cook at sea level too lol.

FYI, when cooking BBQ meats like brisket, butts, ribs, chuck roasts(for pulled beef), I would never suggest chasing internal meat temps.. they are done when they are done. And I would think the faster you can reach "done" the less chance of drying out the meat. But I've never put this to the test at altitude. So you high flying folks proceed with caution


But doesn't it make sense if you are having trouble with painfully long cooks at lower temps to raise the temps?