Thanks for the in-depth insight as always @maxq. I have a few follow-up questions on some of your points (no pun intended)...
- Did you notice that Creekstone recently increased their prices? $174 for 12 - 14lb prime brisket.
- When you probe for tender, are you doing it on the top of the brisket, or from the side? I've been doing it from the side.
- Above you mentioned to start probing for tender around 190F. How long do you wait between each probe before trying again?
- "I always reference the temp at the dead center of aa packer, as point and end-of-flat temps tend to vary a bit." When you take temp, are you doing it from the top of the brisket in the center, or from the side of the brisket in the center? To identify the "thickest part of the flat" I just look at it from the side and put the temp probe in the area that's tallest.
- "13 - 15 lbs is a good weight range. Cook at 250 and count on 75 - 90 minutes @ pound, post-trim." How much weight do you generally trim off your briskets. I know it probably varies based on size... just trying to figure out how you know your final weight post-trim.
- Once you've removed brisket from smoker and you FTC, do you prefer to wrap in foil or butcher paper? Also, do you notice any negative results from letting the brisket sit in FTC for too long? Sometimes I've noticed that the briskets that sit for more than 3 hours tend to be more on the dry side, although maybe those briskets just happened to be dry to begin with!
- I use two temp probes and in general they are ~10 degrees apart (even though they're only placed a few centimeters part from each other in thickest part of the flat - again, inserted into the side). Sometimes this can confuse the process because one will be at 194 and the other 184. Should I go with one, or use two and just trust whichever is lowest temp?