Questions about my first brisket

Mr07Ag

So I bought my egg about a month ago and until this past weekend and besides the occasional burger or chicken breast, I had not had the time to do a proper cook with it. This weekend I picked up my first brisket ever, a 14.5# packer, and planned on 1.5 hours per pound at 225 degrees. I put it on at 8:30 Sunday night and watched it until midnight. I had my Maverick wireless thermometer set up on the grate and in the point. My egg was having trouble stabilizing around 225 and would either settle at ~200 or 250.

I let it run around 250 in order for it to cook a little bit faster as my wife was worried it wouldn't be done when I was expecting leaving all of our guests hungry. Only had to get up at 3am to improve airflow as temp had gone to 190 and then at 6 I was up for good and it was cranking along. At 8:30 AM the Maverick starts beeping at me while I am trying to install a new garage door telling me the meat is done. I couldn't believe it and just assumed the thermometer was off since it had only been 12 hours since I put it on. I let it go a little bit longer and at 9 am poked it and prodded it checking for tenderness. Temp in the point was saying 205 and I was scared to cook just based on time so I FTC and called our friends and family to say our dinner is now a lunch.  

Long winded way of asking, is there any guide to estimate how much of an increase in temp over 225 will cut cooking time? This was my first ever brisket and the point was good but the flat was dry. Also, from the moment I put it on (fat side up) to when I pulled it I never moved it and the bark on the bottom and gone from true bark to burned and very tough. I was using a cast iron plate setter with a drip pan with water. It was my first ever brisket and while it wasn't horrible (I did buy hamburger buns in case I needed to make chopped beef) it wasn't exactly where I wanted it. 

Philly35

My last one cooked pretty fast too at 225° dome temp. I put some firebricks in the egg to throw in the cooler for a long ftc, and five hours later it was at 167°. If the flat is a little dry, chop the whole thing and mix the point in with it, and you'll have a killer sandwich that your company will rave about. Did your drip pan run out of water?

Mr07Ag

Water pan didn't dry out and thankfully the point was big enough that most people ate from it. The point was good but once you got into the flat you needed to have a beer close by if you took a big bite. 

Does anyone rotate or even flip their brisket mid cook to keep from charring the underside or is that just a product of cooking at too high of a temp?

dstearn

I have only cooked 3 packers so I no expert however I have learned a lot from my mistakes and the experienced eggers on this forum. First, what grade brisket was it? Select, choice, prime. The more fat content the faster it will cook. Second, are you cooking at grid or dome temp. If dome is your Tel Tru calibrated?. During my first brisket attempt I was going for 250 dome and it was way off which resulted in an undercooked brisket. 1.5 hrs at 250 dome is more of a guidline. If it is done a little early and you have to FTC that is not a bad thing at all. The water pan is not needed on the egg as it retains moisture well. I think the cast iron platesetter could increase the temp on the flat, I only used the standard ceramic on the XL with a 18 inch round drip pan, no water. I cook fat side down since the heat source is coming from below. It protects the brisket from the direct heat off the platesetter plus it is easier to remove the brisket from the grate. What I have learned is that once you temp is stable, ie 225 grid, 250 dome, just set it and forget it. Each time you open the dome and peek it adds more time to the cook. If you are running late, raising the temp by 25-50 degrees will accelerate the cook. For my 3rd brisket, 12 lb choice, I had planned for an 18 hour cook, 1.5 per LB. It was at 198 internal at 15 hours and was probing like butter. I FTCed until serving at 3:30.