Put a 13 lb packer on yesterday at 1:00PM. We had a couple of hours worth of family stuff planned for this morning (leaving at 7:30 and getting home at 11:00). I figured I'd pull the brisket off the smoker before we left this morning and FTC for a few hours until we got home the have the first round of meat for lunch.
Ran a bit over 250 most of the night including a good 3 hour period where I couldn't get it any lower than 280 (really dry charcoal is my guess). I thought it was going to be done way too early when I hit 160 after 6 hours (even warned my wife that I would probably be waking her around 3AM to hold a serving tray for me when I pulled the brisket off).
Stall happened hard at 165, and I needed to wake up and add fuel around midnight while it was still stalled. Got the fire stoked back up to 250 and went back to sleep. Woke up at 5:30 and it had just barely made it out of the stall. It was at 172. Added some more fuel around 6:30 and was still at 174, so I knew I was going to have to let it cook while we were gone. A more pragmatic (i.e. less stubborn) man would have wrapped it during the night, but of course I did not.
Driving home, I made the executive decision that we were having pulled brisket and that it would be pulled after a very short rest after coming off of the pit. My patience for letting it firm up (in FTC) for slicing was not going to be there, and my wife had already been bugging me for pulled pork. This would be close enough.
Got home, and the meat was at 198. That would work, so I took it off and let it rest for about a half hour while I cleaned up and the wife made a salad. Amazingly, the brisket tasted great and the texture and moisture were spot on. Strange not having much sliced (a few pieces of flat sliced OK almost despite me), but everyone was happy with the results. Mrs. SB said it is her favorite way to have brisket. The kids both gave it a "this is AWESOME."
Moral of the story as always... it will be done when it is done.
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