The Stall

My brisket fell into the stall at about 10:00 Sunday morning.  The stall persisted for about two hours before the internal temperature of the brisket started dutifully climbing again.

If you are unfamiliar with the process of smoking a beef brisket, you have likely not heard of “the stall.”

I will explain the stall in a moment.  First, I would like to tell you about the strategy for smoking a brisket.  Obviously, you need a smoker and wood chips or pellets.  But the primary key to success has to do with temperature.  You want to use a fairly low temperature for smoking.  My chosen temperature is 220°F.  This typically translates to something near 1½ hours of time in the smoker for every pound of brisket.

I shoved my brisket in the smoker at 4:30 in the morning.  The brisket didn’t reach my desired internal finish temperature of 180°F degrees until about 3:30 in the afternoon. 

It is important that the brisket reaches 180°.  If you pull the brisket out any earlier, you are going to have a chewy product.  By reaching 180°, you allow the fat to breakdown and tenderize the meat.

This is where the stall comes in.

The stall will begin at an internal temperature between 150° and 170°, depending on the size, shape, surface texture, moisture content of the brisket, and type of smoker and humidity within.  Once the brisket stalls, the internal temperature stops rising even though you are still applying heat.  A brisket may stall for up to as many as five or six hours under some conditions.

My brisket stalled for about two hours before the temperature once again climbed toward 180°. 

The stall is caused by evaporative cooling within the brisket.  At the point of stalling, evaporating moisture cancels out the heat being produced by your smoker’s fuel.  This forces the internal temperature to plateau until the evaporative process is complete.

You’ve got to be patient and you need to trust your thermometer when dealing with the stall.

My Finished Brisket

—Mitchell Hegman