My first smoke was a disaster

[crapshooter]

I don't know what happened but I put a brisket on yesterday around 1:30 pm and it took it until this morning to reach a temperature of 225. When the IT finally got to 185 around 2:30pm this afternoon I tried sticking a fork in it to see how tender it was and it was tough as a boot.  I turned it back on at 225 to let cook a while longer, but not sure if that will help or just make it worse.
I think this brisket is pretty much wasted.
Why would it take that long to reach 225 temp?

[Habanero Smoker]

Sorry to hear it didn't turn out good. I just replied to your previous post.

[smokeNcanuck]

Something was up for sure, should not take that long to heat up.
I see in your other post you may not totally under stand your pid??  Maybe  that was part of the issue.
You are getting some good help on that thread, stick with it and the guys will help you get it nailed down.
I can tell you that I did a brisket this weekend as well(in my garage however but it was probably only 3 or 4C canada eh!!)
I pre heated for one hour at 220F while I was getting brisket ready(maybe 8-9lbs) then dropped the temp to 180 for 2.5 hrs of smoke,
then up to 215F till IT was 160F.  At that point I wrapped in foil temp up to 225F till IT was 195F.  I put the brisket on at 8:30PM and was in
FTC by 1:30PM following afternoon.  So total cook time was approx. 15 hrs start to finish. FYI I have a OBS(single element) controlled with Auber PID.

Maybe this will help ya out?? I don't know and I'm no expert by any means!!

Any questions  just ask.  Stick with it, you will get it down soon!!

sNc

[crapshooter]

Thanks, you guys are great at giving help. I'm sure I'll figure out what it was. Actually it didn't taste too bad considering all the trouble I had with it. I am thinking I may have had PID set wrong also. One question, do you turn the switch off on the smoke generator after it finishes smoking? I've seen where you could set the PID to cut it off but didn't know if it actually cut switch off or not.

[kickedback]

I've had temp rising problems a couple times. I'm not sure if it has to do with single element or not. I'm fixing that problem with a dual element right now. I use a PID with the single element and had this problem with a turkey last week. I preheated to 225, put turkey in, dropped to 140 and after 6 hours never got to more than 185 in the garage with an ambient temp of 50. I guess it happens. I feel your pain.

[SnellySmokesEm]

What kind of brisket was it?  A Trimmed Flat, A Flat with the fat cap still on, or a packer cut?  I have really only smoked a Packer Cut ( Consists of the point and the flat with fat still on) and I usually take he temp no higher than 190

[crapshooter]

What kind of brisket was it?  A Trimmed Flat, A Flat with the fat cap still on, or a packer cut?  I have really only smoked a Packer Cut ( Consists of the point and the flat with fat still on) and I usually take he temp no higher than 190

It was a packer cut with the fat still on it.