I'm trying not to pull a Lincoln Riley here, but the timing of this cook is throwing me off. I'm using a pellet smoker, but have a thermometer verifying cooking temperature is right. I'm serving around 6 this evening.

I put a 12 pound brisket on the pit around midnight at 250 from the fridge. By 2 it was heating faster than I'd thought it would, so I dropped the temp to 225 for the rest of the night. Now the meat is up to 170 with no crutch yet, but the plan is to wrap in butcher paper. The problem here is that I'm going to be gone from the house in 45 minutes for 3 hours.

My current thought is to wrap in paper and drop the temp to 185 on the smoker. Then ramp the heat back up to 250 once home from church, but will leaving it at that temp for 3 hours dry it out? Alternatively, I can put it in the oven wrapped on warm (150ish) then do the same once home. Lastly, I can just let it ride at 225 and take it off about 12:30 and hope it's not beef jerky. That seems the least sure route to me.

So much for minimum of 12 hour cook on this one.

Has it hit the stall yet?

The temp chart has been pretty steady, but it's up to 175 now, so based on what I know, it has to have gone through the stall already.

Must be something in the air. I put a 12 pound brisket in the egg last night at the same time as you and it's cooking much faster than expected. No plans today other than to recover from yesterday though.

I'd drop the temp to 200-215, wrap loosely in butcher paper, and just let it ride. You may take it to 205 or so but if it's prime it'll be fine.

I've had the stall hit anywhere between 160-180. Dropping the temp to 200 after you wrap can help slow the cook down and keep it from drying out. The brisket will never hit 205, which is when you want to pull it for resting.

On a side note, I've kept mine wrapped in paper and towels in a cooler for 5 hours with no issues. Came out plenty hot

My briskets always seem to take several hours to get through the 180s and 190s, and I usually wrap in butcher paper.