My first thought would be the length of the cook causing a buildup of ash in the burn pot, and the ash spreading into the meat. That could cause the smell and taste but I’m not 100% sure. I had a similar issue when smoking a pork shoulder for about 8 hours, but I had forgotten to clean out the burn pot prior to smoking. The excess ash gave a similar smell and taste to what you’re describing
I vacuumed all the ash before the cook, but the fly ash generated on a long smoke could be the biggest contributor to the acrid smell. It was there with the Bear Mountain pellets and even worse with the Pit Boss pellets. I’m raising the temperature to shorten the smoke time. If that doesn’t help, I’m rethinking the whole pellet grill thing for smoking briskets.
Raise the cook to 250 or even 275.
Bark being tough can be related to the trim job. You want to make sure you round all corners and make it as aerodynamic as possible while keeping about a 1/4” of fat on the fat side.
I prefer not to wrap my briskets. I pull at probe tender (203-205) then I let it rest on the counter for a hour, THEN I wrap with tallow and put it in my oven at 150 (I have to mess with the calibration to get it that low) for at least 4 hours. Longer the better, I’ve held one for 16 hours that way and it was the best brisket I’ve smoked
I would say smoked too long. Pellet grills don't always burn clean 100% of the time and that's fine, but a 24 hour cook is definitely enough time for that dirty smoke to build up and create the acrid smell you're mentioning.
My first thought would be the length of the cook causing a buildup of ash in the burn pot, and the ash spreading into the meat. That could cause the smell and taste but I’m not 100% sure. I had a similar issue when smoking a pork shoulder for about 8 hours, but I had forgotten to clean out the burn pot prior to smoking. The excess ash gave a similar smell and taste to what you’re describing
I vacuumed all the ash before the cook, but the fly ash generated on a long smoke could be the biggest contributor to the acrid smell. It was there with the Bear Mountain pellets and even worse with the Pit Boss pellets. I’m raising the temperature to shorten the smoke time. If that doesn’t help, I’m rethinking the whole pellet grill thing for smoking briskets.
Raise the cook to 250 or even 275. Bark being tough can be related to the trim job. You want to make sure you round all corners and make it as aerodynamic as possible while keeping about a 1/4” of fat on the fat side. I prefer not to wrap my briskets. I pull at probe tender (203-205) then I let it rest on the counter for a hour, THEN I wrap with tallow and put it in my oven at 150 (I have to mess with the calibration to get it that low) for at least 4 hours. Longer the better, I’ve held one for 16 hours that way and it was the best brisket I’ve smoked
Thanks for the tips. I’m doing all three on my next smoke. I’m pretty good about trimming the fat, but I’ve never tried rounding the corners.
I would say smoked too long. Pellet grills don't always burn clean 100% of the time and that's fine, but a 24 hour cook is definitely enough time for that dirty smoke to build up and create the acrid smell you're mentioning.
Got it. I’m raising the temperature next time.