Finished and sampled my 2nd brisket ever. I will say, its light years ahead of my first.
It was on for 16 hours and when I pulled it, it was 201-202 in the point and probe tender. The flat didn't feel as tender, but I pulled it out of precaution. However, upon slicing - it failed the pull test. But the 3 people that have tried it so far think it's good.
Should I have let it go the extra degree or two? Is the point forgiving or will it dry out? Or pulled it out sooner? Any advice is greatly appreciated!
Congrats on improving your brisket.
There's a few things going on here that you can fix for your next attempt.
First thing, briskets are ONLY done when tender all over never by time or temp. You check for tenderness by stabbing all over with a kabob skewer or a probe and make sure the thickest center most portion of the flat is tender (last part to get tender).
Use the Internal Temp (IT) to tell u when to start checking for tenderness, if it isnt tender come back and try again in another 1-2 degrees. I start checkin at 200F unless its a prime brisket then i check at 198F.
Second, put your temp probe in the thickest center-most part of the Flat muscle. The point muscle is hard to mess up and will be ready way before the flat muscle. Don't worry the point will be fine so don't give a second thought about it.
Now getting the temp probe in the right spot is not easy. I have gone to putting 3 temp probes in form different angles and usually 1 gets placed properly... theone reading the lowest temp haha.
Finally, lets talk a little bit about estimating time. You never cook by time but u gotta know roughly when it will be ready.
At a smoker temp of 275F, with an unrapped brisket the whole time, and not opening the smoker until time to check for tenderness.... whole packer briskets take a little over an hour a pound for me (untrimmed weight not trimmed weight).
Knowing this u know roughly how long it will take to become tender BUT always plan your smoke so that you finish 4 hours before eating time.
If you finish 4 hours early that is perfect. You just tightly double wrap in foil and tightly wrap in 3 bath towels and set on the counter and it will be piping hot when it comes time to slice and eat.
If you DONT finish 4 hours early, well you gave yourself 4 more hours for the brisket to do it's thing before people are waiting to eat :)
So being armed with all of this info it will let you know what to do on your next smoke so you improve even more on your brisket.