Brisket cooking extremely fast

[h22lude]

I bought a 14 pound packer brisket at the butcher yesterday.  This morning I got up at 6am to start prep.  I trimmed the fat and removed the silver skin.  I injected with beef broth.  I spread a nice rub on it.  Smoker was cooking a little high (250*).  After about 2 hours it was already at roughly 140*.  I foiled it with 1/2 cup beef broth and lowered the temp to 225*.  It has been about an hour and a half since I foiled it and it is already reading 190*.  It isn't tender yet but it seems like that cooked really fast.  Temps were taken from the flat.  I assume the point is much lower.

I know estimates aren't the best to use but to go from 1.5 hours per pound to about half hour per pound seems like a huge jump.  What should I do?  I don't want to over cook it but I also don't want it to be tough from not cooking long enough.  Plus, since it is reaching the 200* rest temp a lot earlier, it is going to be finished way before dinner.

Also, my rub/bark isn't very hard.  I can rub it off with my finger nail pretty easily.  What is the best way to fix that?

Edit: I just lowered the MES temp to 205* to see if that slows things down.  I did have an oven thermometer in there and it was reading pretty dead on.  Nothing higher than 250* to start and when I lowered it to 225* it was sitting right around there.  I did however drop it in my water pan and couldn't clean it out so that is trash now lol  Good thing it was only $5 but I just bought the damn thing this morning.

 

[noboundaries]

Fear not.  It will be fine and you can fine tune your technique later.

The quick runup to 140F isn't all that unusual. You wrapped it probably 30 minutes before the stall.   Once wrapped the injected liquid and the natural water in the beef will sweat out into the sealed environment, adding to the 1/2 cup broth you added.  The brisket is now braising in those juices and will cook quickly because water and broth transfers heat 25 times faster than air. Just to give you an idea that it isn't cooking so unusually given the process you're using, braised brisket can go from raw to completely fork tender in 3-4 hours.

Do the probe test at 200F and if it is tender remove it from the smoker and let it rest insulated for a couple hours.  You'll be amazed at how much liquid will be in your foil when you open it up, probably 3 cups unless some dripped out.  BTW, save that flavorful liquid and use it for au jus. 

The meat will be tender, juicy, and flavorful but won't have any bark to speak of.  Good learning experience!   

 

[h22lude]

Thanks.  I'll go check it again now.  I will be putting the point back in with more rub and some of the liquid to make burnt ends.