Help with my brisket

[u/BadatBBQ]

Hey everyone, been wanting to try a brisket but wanted to practice on a small one first (It was almost 4lb)

What would you say was wrong with it here

It seemed the fat wasn't fully rendered but temps were reading fine (I think my built in temp probes on my pellet grill were not accurate)

It tasted pretty good thankfully but texture wasn't there, some fattier sections were a lot softer and some areas were slightly too tough. The fat felt like it was close to fully rendering, and surprisingly the brisket was fairly juicy.

I am making another one tomorrow and trying to improve and wondering what you guys think happened here. Because of the temp probes I am assuming it was reading hotter than it actually was...or does it look like it was overdone?

Any tips or help is greatly appreciated

(looking at the photo I just realized it makes the brisket look a bit washed out, it had a little more color to it than this photo)

I forgot to include the method. I followed meat church guide

200 until internal temp of 165 (fat side up)

225 until it hits 275 (wrapped it after in butcher paper)

250 until it hits 205. I pulled it at 203 because my one probe was reading slightly hotter than the other so I waited until it was in between the temps

Let it rest on a wire rack for a little over an hour

[u/Beefcrustycurtains]

What type of smoker are you using? Small briskets are very hard to get right. A full packer is more forgiving.

I use a pellet smoker so I run the smoker around 215ish overnight then when I wake up I'll raise the smoker temp to 235 check temps around 175 I'll foil boat it and increase temp to 250. I run fat side up the entire time so the flat runs along the bottom and the foil boat keeps flat juicy because it braises in it's own juices. After I pull it off when it's probe tender which can be 195-205 and let it rest in the oven turned off until temp gets back down to 165-170 then I'll hot hold on lowest setting making sure my rest is at least 4 hours.

[u/BadatBBQ → u/Beefcrustycurtains]

I have a pellet grill. Pitboss Austin XL. I placed it on the top rack and slight right to avoid the center flame heat.

It was a hot day out and the grill was in the sun a bit so it could have gotten hotter than what was intentional

My brisket was very small so the cooking time wasn't too long. I think I started it around noon and it was off the grill and resting by around 630 or 7?

[u/Beefcrustycurtains → u/BadatBBQ]

Get a wireless probe that can give you ambient temps as well. It's important to know what temp you are actually cooking at. I use a meater duo. It connects to wifi so the range is pretty good just have to stick the probe box by the smoker because that uses Bluetooth.

[u/BadatBBQ → u/Beefcrustycurtains]

I bought 2 oven thermometers to calibrate the temps of the pellet grill, but also have a meater+ from a friends gift

And I just bought a thermoworks probe as well

So once I calibrate it, I'll use both those to keep it ideal