Question about brisket

[nebatc]

I have made a couple really good briskets in the past couple months so I figured I would smoke one for the 4th. I picked one out at costcoand it looked like it had a good amount of fat on it like the others. I smoked it for 12 hours 2-4 hours more than the other 2 i got it up to 190 and pulled it wrapped it in foil and blankets and put it in the cooler. An hour later i started to slice it and there was no fat to be seen. when I took a bite it was as tough as old shoe leather. My question would be is this from there not being enough fat or not smoking it long enough?

 

[pit 4 brains]

How much did it weigh? More importantly, what temp range was your smoker at? I believe smaller briskies are more easily dried out if the temp gets too high. The big packers are tougher and the amount of meat can take some higher temps and survive a longer time in the smoker without drying out so much..

Did it stall?

As silly as it may sound, maybe you got it to 190 too quicky..

 

[fourthwind]

If I had to guess, the probe was in a bad place.  I have had a few where the temp just didn't seem right for the time, and once I started probing around, I found that most of the brisket was actually 10° to 15° hotter.  Once I put the probe back to where it was it was reading right.  Not sure why it happens other than there are things about fluid and heat dynamics I just cant explain.  Saying that you were 2 to 4 hours longer in smoke time is what tells me it might have been something similar.  Then there is always the possibility the slab of meat was just too lean to begin with.

 

[adiochiro3]

Fourthwind is probably right.  I've probed briskets that show temp ranges of greater than 20* from one part to the next.  Believe it or not, the flat on my last brisket a week ago was the lower temp.  My guess is either a faulty probe or the whole brisket wasn't up to temp.  195* is the minimum for a tender slice scenario.