Help..I did a 3 lb flat brisket and it was like leather. Plz tell me what is the proper way to smoke a brisket. First, rubbed it down with rib rub from cookshack, both sides. Put directly into my smokette, 225 temp for 3 hours. Pulled it out and put in foil with BBq sauce on both sides and back in the smoker. After 5hrs 30 min the temp was 180. At the 6hr mark the temp was 186. I turned heat down to 140 and it sat there till I cut it. The total time in the smoker was 7hr & 30min. I had hoped to pull the meat instead of slicing but didnt want to exceed the 190 degree peak which is why it was removed at the 186 temp. I am real hungry for guidance.thanks

Sounds like you did not let it cook long enough. Rather than shooting for a specific internal temp, I would suggest you use the probe to poke the brisket. When you can poke the probe fairly easily, it should be done. There should not be resistance, if any, when you poke it with the probe.

As Yoda(aka SmokinOkie) once said, it's done when it's done.

John

I did a 3 lb trimmed flat brisket this weekend and it came out really good. Being a trimmed flat, I followed the 2001 winning recipe (off this board). I smoked it to an internal temp of 190 and took it out and put it in foil with the finishing sauce. Due to timing of dinner and company, I ended up putting it in the fridge overnight and then just put it back in the oven on 150 for an hour to heat it back up. I sliced it against the grain and it was very tasty and tender.

I think you should have cooked it more if you wanted to pull it.

You were pretty close, you just needed to cook it longer.

Pulled will require you to overcook it to a point that it's too tender to slice.

If I'm pulling brisket (which I don't do often) I take it well over 200 as it want it really tender.

Don't go with such small flats, they're difficult to really do well consistently. Whereever you got that, ask them if they have untrimmed ones.

The gang is right on with their advice for brisket. If you want pulled beef try cooking a chuck roast instead of a brisket. I season chuck the same way as brisket and cook to an internal temp of 200 or so depending on the probe test.

Thanks all. More time is the key here. Cant wait Bob