first briskets. . . good but dry . . .

[fjp110]

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?

[classicrockgriller]

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.

[DTAggie]

I agree with CRG, I have settled on 185* IT to pull and FTC otherwise the meat will be dry.

[fjp110]

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?

[classicrockgriller]

I wouldn't have FTC at that temp ......... unless I was to make pulled or shredded brisket.