Sorry for the delay. We ended up cooking both at my brother in laws. He has a rectec pellet grill. I trimmed and seasoned one an delivered it to their house and they trimmed and seasoned the other. They put them both on around midnight on the rectec low setting which is similar to super smoke setting and is around 180 degrees according to their manual. At 6:30 am they were between 150 and 160 and got wrapped in paper. Here is the weird part. At around they checked them with a thermopen as the rectec probes had stalled out around 180-190 degrees. one of them showed 215 degrees in the point and the other was 202. So the rectec probes were way off. They were pulled and put into a cooler. My SIL was worried all day that the one she seasoned (got to 215) was going to be ruined. When we sliced them around 6:00 pm the one she said she over cooked was better overall. The seasoning combo she used was better but as far as the quality of the meat itself it was juicer and more tender, had a perfect pull. The one she thought would be the good one (reached around 202) when pulled, was not quite as tender and was not as juicy. It was still good, just not near as good as the first one. Both had a very good smoke ring. And of course I didn't take any pictures, we had a lot of stuff going on and off of multiple grills while they were being sliced.
There are lots of folks who complain about the accuracy of the Traeger RTD thermocouple and the internal probe. However, those complaints are not isolated to Traeger grills. Other grill manufacturers have similar problems as many of them are using similar parts.
ALWAYS verify the temperature with 3rd party probes that you know are accurate, no matter which brand of grill you own.
Once the small briskets were wrapped in paper, what temperature was used on the Rectec? Was that temperature every verified independently?
It is highly unlikely that the actual temperature of your cook exceeded 210 F since that is the approximate boiling point of water in Indiana, depending upon your exact elevation. As long as there was liquid left in the wrapping, it is unlikely you exceeded that temperature. Because the point is thinner than the flat, it will generally reach a higher temperature more quickly. That is why burnt ends are often made from the point. Some people consider that to be the best feature of a brisket. If the internal probe indicated 215 F, that was likely due to an inaccurate probe. That is why it is best to measure temperature at several locations using a good instant read thermometer.
The Thermoworks ThermaPen One are often touted as the instant read thermometers used by professional chefs. They even come with a certificate of calibration. The MK4 has been discontinued.
If you are not willing to pay the price of a Thermapen, there are less expensive alternatives that should serve you well as an amateur pitmaster. I have the ThermoWorks TP620 which is half the price of the ThermaPen, but reads in less than 3 seconds and appears to be accurate. You can adjust calibration if desired, but mine was within 1 degree F as received.
