content: Attempting to eat a brisket cooked to 165 degrees would be similar to trying to eat your fucking shoe. Brisket is a tough fatty piece of meat, you have to cook it to a higher temperature and much slower than a normal cut of meat for the fat to render properly and the meat to turn tender. At 165 its tough as shit and you can barely even cut it let alone have anything that is remotely edible. Usually pull it off at about 200 - 203 then let it sit for an hour or so in an insulated container. Honestly the temperature can vary per brisket as well, the only real way to tell is to probe the meat with a thermometer and go by feel, when it feels like its "running through a warm stick of butter" its done. Same deal with pork butt (pulled pork).