Pastrami Timing question -- Temp controlled Smoker / Sous Vide

Hey,
Im making the pastrami recipe for the second time, but this time in much larger quantity (super bowl).
I built a heater meter system, which is essentially a Immersion Circulator for a smoker. It's a micro-computer that controls airflow into the smoker chamber, maintaining temp and smoke generation. Unfortunately, i took it on its maiden voyage on the short ribs, and the temp control wasnt perfect. I noticed that while it maintained 150 for the first 3 hours, the temp jumped to about 165-170 for the last 3. I have since removed the ribs and vacuum sealed them, and dropped them in the bath. Should i adjust cooking temps or times for the pastrami? The internal temp of the meat when it came off the smoker was 129.

Also, if I leave the pastrami in for the full 48 hours, the meat will be done about 36 hours before service time. Would it be best to pull the pastrami out a few hours early, cool, refrigerate, and then put it back in the circulator sunday morning?
Or should i just run through the full 48, and use the bath for an hour on gameday?

thanks!

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Brendan_Lee_56950

I did short ribs for a dinner last saturday for 48 hours, I pulled them the morning of the dinner, chilled in ice bath and then put them back in the circulator from the fridge 2 hours before service Saturday night and they came out just fine.

I'm interested in this heater meter system though, seems like it could be very helpful for my smoker.

Avidan_Ross_38422

thanks for the tip. had you smoked the ribs as well?

the heater meter is pretty much overkill unless you are a computer hacker and want to spend 2 hours soldering tiny components together. if you are after temperature control, i would recommend one of these two

Rocks Stocker

or

BBQ Guru

Brendan_Lee_56950

I didn't smoke these ones no. I'm not sure about the first part of your question since I just got my smoker back so I haven't had a chance to smoke alongside sous vide.

What temp were you planning on cooking the pastrami in the circulator? 129F isn't that hot and I'm guessing it wasn't at that temp for the entire 3 hours so it may not make that big of a difference at all.

Avidan_Ross_38422

cooking in the circulator at 149

Chris_Young_80640

@AvidanRoss – I would go ahead and cook for the full 48 hours, then chill and refrigerate. Reheat them on game day. This is pretty much what we do all the time. Except we tend to remove the ribs once they're chilled, take the meat of the bone, clean the meat into perfect block-shaped portions without excess fat or gristle, and then repack. We'll reheat these cleaned up portions to order.

Avidan_Ross_38422

thanks chris, thats what im gonna do. how long is reheat? 1hour?

i was only able to get bone-out plates. would that effect my cook times?

Chris_Young_80640

@Avidan – Bone out won't change your cooking time, but it will shorten your reheat time because the food will be thinner. 1hr is usually fine for reheat.

Mason_Perry_34060

Please post pics! Is it a standard brisket?

Avidan_Ross_38422

It's a boneless short rib. 15 pounds of it. I took it out of the sous vide tonight. I opened one bag to pull off a few slices for a friend who can't make the Super Bowl party. I actually vacuum sealed the slices and wrapped them, since it was his birthday tonight. Definitely not a traditional birthday gift.

I attached two photos. One of the dry rubbed short ribs. Another of my weber smoker and the new heatermeter computer (in blue)

Mason_Perry_34060

Nice, did you hold your camera upside down?

Avidan_Ross_38422

Nope. There is a bug on this website when you "attach a file" from an iPhone. It's weird.

Avidan_Ross_38422

apparently it does the same thing via macbook air.

Avidan_Ross_38422

and now they are right side up. maybe preview was automagically showing me them right side up the whole time.....im a lefty, so im used to technological assistance.

Mason_Perry_34060

It's ok I turned my laptop upsiode down.

Mason_Perry_34060

Any pictures of the meat sliced?

Avidan_Ross_38422

I realized after the Super Bowl that I didn't take photos. I saw a few iPhones out snapping shots, so I asked on Facebook. Fingers crossed.

Johan_Edstrom_5586

@AvidanRoss Yes!

Mason_Perry_34060

Ya I was roo busy to take any pictures as well hopefully someone snapped a couple!

Allen_Johnson_67197

Thats one nice looking Brisket!! @AvidianRoss

Mason_Perry_34060

I think he said boneless short rib, I still need to do my corned beef with tritip....

Avidan_Ross_38422

yep. boneless short rib

Avidan_Ross_38422

so the theme was the old jewish deli, made with scientific accuracy.

starting from the left. jewish deli rye and a sourdough above it (both using a 40 year old wild starter). centerpiece, the pastrami. smoked turkey behind it. homemade mustard, made using a home-brewed IPA. homemade russian (using homemade mayo of course).

there is a cole slaw and potato salad hiding off camera....

we would have made the swiss cheese had we come up with this plan earlier!

all in all, a huge hit....when the power went out, people came back for seconds and thirds.

Johan_Edstrom_5586

That looks great and isn't it fun putting out perfect foods!

Chris_Young_80640

@AvidanRoss – Very nice job. Looks delicious.

Brendan_Lee_56950

@AvidanRoss that bread looks killer too! Very nicely done!

Mason_Perry_34060

I love making my own sourdough! Well done sir!

jonny.d.hunter

@chris why do you put ice in the smoker? Does it filter the smoke?

Chris_Young_80640

@jdhunter0324 — No, the ice serves two purposes:

(1) Even with so-called digitally controlled smokers, the temperature quickly ends up hotter than we would like it to be. So we put ice in as a heat sink. It takes a huge amount of heat energy to melt ice (it takes as much heat to melt a gram of ice as it does to heat that same gram of water from 0 °C to 100 °C). So the ice helps the smoker from getting too hot.

(2) In a smoker, you want the relative humidity to be neither too high nor too low. The high temperature and constant flow of fresh smoke coming in keeps it from being too high, instead, it tends to become too dry. So the melting ice also helps keep the humidity higher.

Does this answer your question?

Jack_Mayer_85396

@Chris, its nice to have an expert confirm what I sort of had running around in my mind ... Especially helpful is the explanation on the ice in the smoker. I'll pass that along to my friends with the BGE. Thanks!

Avidan_Ross_38422

One can also build a side car smoker that allows you to "cold smoke". The heater meter also does a great job of keeping low temps (though 150 is about as low as it can go).

For humidity issues, there isn't really as much of an issue with pastrami since the 7 hour smoke doesn't get to "stall" temperature.

Long story, but I'm building a humidity control into my next smoker for this problem exactly.