Help! Brisket cooked fast

[jblood323]

Hello all,

I threw a 15# packer cut brisket last night in my #2 around 630pm, set the Maverick temp gauge to 190 and the temp at 240.  Usually I set it at 225, but am having people over around noon today and didn't want the brisket to finish any later than 5pm.  At 515am this morning, my temp gauge alarm went off and the brisket read 190, in between the flat and point.  Usually I would have pulled it at this point, but part of me didn't believe it was right.  I mean 11 hours for a 15 pound brisket seems way off IMO.

So i turned the temp down to 175 and crawled back in bed for another 2 hours.  No the internal temp is reading 176 and I'm wondering if I should pull it or turn the #2 back up to 225 and let the IT rise to 190 again and then check....or will this severely dry it out?

Any help is greatly appreciated.

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[Nimrod]

Quote: At 515am this morning, my temp gauge alarm went off and the brisket read 190, in between the flat and point.

Jblood....hope things came out OK but if the temp probe was in the pocket of fat between the flat and point it probably was registering correctly at 5:15 but not for the meat.  An instant read therma pen can be very handy as a second opinion.  How did it wind up?

[SconnieQ]

Jblood....hope things came out OK but if the temp probe was in the pocket of fat between the flat and point it probably was registering correctly at 5:15 but not for the meat.  An instant read therma pen can be very handy as a second opinion.  How did it wind up?

I tend to think it was probe placement. Even though a lot of people put the probe between the flat and the point, there is a thick line of fat in that area that you want to avoid. For brisket, I use two probes, one in the flat, and one in the point (in the meaty parts). Whole packer briskets cost a fair bit of money, and buying an extra meat probe to get two readings is worth the investment. The instant read thermometers are fine for checking as a back up, but they do involve opening the door, which you want to avoid with brisket or other long-smoked meats. Get yourself an additional wired probe you can run through the vent hole. They are pretty inexpensive these days.

[DivotMaker]

Any word on the outcome, J?  Your instincts were right - no way a 15 pounder could be done that fast, even at 240 (imo...but I could be wrong).