I did 2 briskets Thanksgiving eve one 7 lbs and one just under 8 lbs. the end result was tasty but it dried out really fast. Here is what I did. Please let me know if anything I did caused the drying.
I bought the briskets from the local Wegman's they were very fatty and I didn't trim much at all. I let them sit in their vacbags for a week or so. I dry rubbed them without mustard, just dry (paprika, chili powder,white chili powder, cayenne powder, sea salt, brown sugar, etc . . ). I put hot water and bourbon in the drip pan and I smoked it for 4 hours with the cabela's pucks. Then moved it into the garage to finish it overnight without the smoke. at this point I spritzed it with a warm mix of bourbon, honey, and apple juice. The box heat was around 190 F when I went to bed around 2:30 am, I forget the IT to be honest. At 8 am the meat was 196 and the box was at 206. I did the FTC till around 2 pm, so 6 hours give or take. It was still steaming when I took one out and cut if for dinner. the meat was really moist when I cut it but by the time we went to eat it the meat was really dry.
So what do you think happened?
Any time you FTC, you will raise the IT of the meat.
So if you cooked it to 196* then FTC'ed, your Brisket probably rose close to 203* to 205*.
If the 196 was a mistake, then you could have added juice to the foil when you FTC'ed.
That would have slowed the rise of the IT and gave it some moisture to re-absorb.
I like 185* IT before FTC.
It is all a learning curve. Find you a good sauce, eat what you got, do it again.
I agree with CRG, I have settled on 185* IT to pull and FTC otherwise the meat will be dry.
Makes sense. I woke up and expected it to be around the 160 degree stall. I was a little shocked when it was at 190. I guess at the point I should wet it and then wrap it in foil, no FTC?
I wouldn't have FTC at that temp ......... unless I was to make pulled or shredded brisket.