I’m irritated……

I’ve used my ex-father-in-law’s brisket cooking technique on numerous occasions and it ALWAYS turns out fantastic. He’s an old Texan and uses a side arm type, indirect charcoal / wood grill. His brisket is quite famous around here, and he’s always volunteering (asked to cook it) at events. Real simple too. Charcoal with Mesquite wood chips. 225F temp. Lots of salt and pepper, and he squeezes fresh lime juice on it from time to time while cooking and turning it over every half hour or so. He would pull it off the grill at about 165, or thereabouts, let it rest a bit and slice it up. Nothing written in stone on the temp ("It's done when it’s done" is what he’d say)…. So yesterday I tried following internet recommendations that I kept seeing. Pretty much every ‘smoker’ recipe said to smoke it at 210 – 220 until it reached 165 internal. Then wrap it tightly in foil, and continue cooking at 225-250 till it reached 180+, or two hours minimum. Something about it reaching 165 and “stalling”, and that it needed to cook longer wrapped tightly or it would just get dry.

I tried this new technique and it came out dry. Right at the two hours mark it reached 180, and I then let it rest for 30 minutes (as recommended). There must have been a cup of juice in the foil. I used hickory pellets, and the smoke flavor was great, but it was dry. Tender, but dry. Screw that technique. I’m sticking to the old man’s technique of just turning it and cooking it “till it’s done”. Anyone else have better luck than I did?