Without being there, knowing what temp you smoked it at, I'd say you overcooked it. For a 10-pounder to be done in only 12 hrs, I'd say your fire was too hot. Shoot for 225, not much hotter.Originally posted by TGTexas:
For my second brisket ever, it turned out way better than the first one. I rubbed it with salt and pepper then put it on the smoker for twelve hours. This was a ten pound brisket. The first brisket I used all mesquite. For this one I did all oak with a few mesquite chips. For me, I prefer the mesquite smell over oak.
I got a great bark but for the second time in a row, it wasn't very moist in the middle. It was more of a well done brown color than red. Still good but I wanted moist.
I took it out of the smoker and wrapped it in tin foil, then a towel and let it sit for an hour.
Any recommendations on how to get it more moist? Did I over cook it perhaps?
The ribs turned out great again btw. I'm thinking it must be pretty hard to screw up a rack of ribs.
Also try this next time; when you are certain it's ready, (use the fork test right where the flat meets the cap,) take it off the smoker, and wrap it loosely in Saran Wrap, then loosely in foil, then in a towel, then place in an empty ice chest for about 30 minutes. It will redistribute some of the juices throughout the brisket.
One final note: Moist does not equal rare. When you're smoking a brisket, you should get a nice red/pink smoke ring around outer part of the brisket, just underneath the bark; like this:
Note the color of the interior of the meat.
When you say "in the middle it wasn't moist," was that underneath the fat cap or down the middle from end to end?
My 2-cents.