First Brisket results

Reb

Cooked my very first brisket last weekend. Taste was great and the neighbors at a ton. However, the thinner end of the brisket (which did not have any fat cap under it) was very tender and almost fell apart when you picked it up. The thick part of the brisket was a little tough and I am wondering why.

Here are the details so any thoughts, comments or suggestions are appreciated.

6.5lb flat, choice grade, the butcher brought out a whole brisket and cut the flat for me.
The fat cap only covered the thicker part of the flat. Trimmed a little of the fat cap to make it even.
Used Dr. BBQs Short-cut brisket recipe (rub 3 hours before and injected)
Cooked indirect, fat cap side down.
Temp probe placed in the thicker part of the brisket
Thicker part of brisket placed toward the back of the egg.
Indirect setup – plate setter legs up, etc., drip pan with combination of water and beer.
BBQ guru setup – dome thermometer seemed a little off but grate temp was around 230
Put brisket on 10 am and cooked for 5 hours – temp stalled at 154 for the last 2 hours
When temp hit 162 at 3:00 pm, double wrapped in heavy duty aluminum foil, returned to egg.
Removed when temp reached 195, about 5:45 pm. (so almost an 8 hour cook)
Wrapped in towels, put in cooler for about 45 minutes.
Sliced thin.

Thanks

Beanie-Bean

Sorry to hear about that..one of these days, I'll have the courage to do a brisket. Going to have to go hit the different sites now to see what they're prescribing for temp/setup/time for brisket.

NightTrainLayne

Figured someone else would reply to this, but I guess not, so I'll try to tackle it.

My best guess is that it's just the brisket. Each one is different, and it might just be the meat.

As always, try, try again, practice makes perfect. See if another brisket does the same, and then you'll have to start tinkering with cook times and temps, but sounds like your on the right track.

ILL--EGGER

My first thought, after reading your post, would be to cook to 200 instead of the 195 and see if those 5 degrees makes a differance or not. Might be as simple as that or like the others stated...might of just been that particular piece of meat.