Greetings.

I find if I pull my briskets at the recommended 203 ~ 207 degrees F, the bark is not as crisp as I would like, and the meat is not falling apart as much. Today I ran it up to 212F, and it was pure deliciousness.

Your experience?

I go to tenderness, not temp.  If the brisket is jiggly and my thermapen goes through with no resistance, then I know it is done.  I start checking for this around 195, and let the brisket go until it the correct tenderness.  Then I wrap in butcher paper and rest in a cooler for a minimum of 2 hours, but it can easily go a day as long as the cooler doesn’t let the temp drop too low.  Serving temp of 140.

The challenging part of all this for me is that it largely involves leaving the brisket alone to do its thing.  Can’t mess with it.

Thank you. With over 2 doz briskets done on this particular smoker (Pit Boss 700), I have never had my temp probe glide in under 208F. I wrap at the stall (around 170F) and let it rest until it gets to at least 150F before slicing. Yesterday (or day before) I let it get up to 212, and the meat was falling apart due to the breakdown of the inter-connective fat.

I have been as low as 198 on a brisket that I let the dry rub sit on for a couple days, but I’d say I’m typically 205-210.  I tend to wrap in butcher paper as late as I can, around 180 or so, just to soften the bark slightly.  

I’ll have to try out letting the brisket go even further than I usually do on a small piece, see how I like it.  Thanks.

What thermometer are you using?

Is it accurate?

... Multiple other devices.
One day I stuck a probe in a bottle of water and froze it. Other probe was placed in boiling water, temp checked against old school bulb thermometer.
211F in the boiling water on one device, 212 on the other. 33F on the other probe.

I have a single stick type and two of the 4 probe types (with wifi / blue tooth).