My brisket stalled at 160 for 6 hours, turns out my probe was bad

Last Saturday I fired up my offset smoker for a 14 pound packer brisket for my brother's birthday in Austin. Everything was going smooth until the internal temp just sat at 160 for what felt like forever, even after I added more oak. I was about to wrap and push through, but I decided to check my cheap probe against my instant read thermometer and it was off by 15 degrees. The meat was actually at 175 and climbing. Has anyone else had a faulty probe completely wreck their cook plan?

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iris_rivera4411d ago

Man, that stinks! I feel for you, spending all that time and fuel on a big cook only to have your gear mess with your head. I had a similar thing happen with an old wired thermometer last summer, it kept telling me my pork butt was stuck at 150 for hours when it was really already past 160. I nearly pulled my hair out thinking I had a bad stall, but it was just a dumb wire. Good on you for double checking with the instant read, that little move probably saved your brisket from turning into shoe leather. These cheap probes are fine for a while, but they can be sneaky when they start going bad.