Brisket Help Needed!

[Fayettejim]

I smoked my first whole packer this weekend. 13.5 pounds. I followed Meatheads recipe and smoked it naked at 225 on a RecTec pellet smoker. I put a large pan of water in the smoker and injected the brisket with beef broth. I was expecting a 16-18 hour smoke so I put it on at 4pm. At 4am I checked it and it was around 170 degrees. I put more water in the pan. I checked again at 7am and the temp was 215 at the point and the water pan was dry. So, I had a dry brisket after 15 hours. What happened? I know each cooker is different and each brisket is different but this was unexpected. I’ll keep a closer watch next time but I’m curious as what went on.

Update: Thanks to all for the advice given. I’ll definitely use my probe next time , put it in the flat and set for "out of stall" temp. It’s good to know someone had a brisket that cooked quicker than expected. Thanks again.

Final Update: I took a very dry piece of flat and steamed it for ten minutes. Turned out nice and moist. A bit of Sweet Baby Ray’s and the world was good.

[GolfGeezer]

I suspect that at 4 AM, it was just coming out of the "stall" at 170 IT. If you had a probe that showed temps over time, that would possibly confirm this thought. The other is that, brisket being brisket, this one did not have much of a "stall" (I've had that before where an expected 12-14 hour cook took only 9 hours on a 13 Lb'er). I don't use a water pan in my MAK, so not sure if the pan being dry after 3 hours would have been unusual or not in the Rec Tec.

[Jerod Broussard]

Stick a temp probe in the thickest part of the flat and set the alarm for 195. That way you can be alerted when probe tenderness may be arriving. As for what happened, if it was done at 14 hours and you guessed a minimum of 16 hours, it only got done 12.5% quicker than expected.

[pkadare]

Don't cook brisket by either time or temp. If it was at 170 degrees at 4:00 am and you didn't check it again for 3 hours, that was definitely the problem. Once it comes out of the stall, you need to check it much more frequently and pull when it is "probe tender". Also, consider pulling earlier and cambro it for up to 4 hours.

[Henrik]

Good advice indeed.

[HouseHomey]

It sounds like you overcooked, otherwise it went well.