Brisket shredded

I see lots of mention of times here, but nothing really about temp...at what temp did you wrap it and at what temp did you pull it from the smoker?

It sounds like you overcooked it based on your description. While the probe test should be your ultimate guide, internal temp can be a good indicator of when you're approaching done-ness....definitely don't ever cook to a specific time/duration though. If they came out well before "cooking for 8 hours" you probably just got lucky.

I’ve always done fat up on my WSM and had no problems. The heat is a very good question to ask.

The shredding part is cooking too long. If the bark was as hard as you said, then your heat may have been hitting too directly and burned the bark. I had that happen with my UDS, when I didnt flip the brisket and had my temp around 290 or so. Bark was crisp.

I would agree with the others, if your brisket is shredding, you have probably over-cooked it.


Keep in mind that no two briskets are alike. Even if you find two identical briskets, they will cook differently due to the difference in animals. Then if you try to compare previous cooks with this one, you have differences in outside temperature and humidity which can slightly alter your cook times.



As BluDawg says "You can not cook your brisket to a specific temperature and or a given period of time and call it done!!!!"

Every piece of meat is different, so cooking by temperature or by time alone should not be your method of determining when the meat is done.


Probing a brisket for being done isn't difficult if you don't overthink the process.

There is no special or magic probe to use, just pick one type of probe and stick with it. I use a bamboo skewer to test for being done.

It really isn't a matter of a specific type of probe to use for testing, but more of a matter of experience with a successful cook, that one understands what they are looking for in terms of feel. Once you get one right you'll know.

To put it into words, some say "it's like a hot knife into butter". I tend to disagree, simply because there is a slight bit of resistance when you probe. As another Brethren put it; "I would say it's more similar to the feel of probing a ripe alvacado after the skin is pierced".



Just a slight resistance as it smoothly pushes into the brisket.

Probe the point to practice for that probe tender feeling. When you get close to that with the thickest part of the flat it's ready.

https://youtu.be/t9UILZf0obk