I did an awesome brisket today. I walked into Bartleys bbq in Grapevine Tx and said “Brisket plate please with baked potato casserole, street corn and cornbread with spicey sauce. It comes out right evert time

Brisket is not the easiest to smoke. Especially on a new smoker with no experience with it.

There’s probably twenty different ways to achieve a good end product. There’s a thousand opinions on how to achieve success with achieving a good end product.

The meat prep with rubs, mustard etc are really meant to break down the meat and fat. Sure, rubs add flavor but the breaking down the fibers of the meat is what you’re really trying to achieve.

The initial part of the cook will create a bark, starts the breaking down of the meat fibers, fat rendering and is the real goal. The meat will come to a stall at 160-170. The next stage completes the breaking down of the meat and fat rendering. If you wrap with butcher paper at the stall temp as an example, the cook time is reduced and will retain more moisture in the meat. If you go unwrapped for the entire smoke, the potential for drying out comes into play and the smoke time is typically a lot longer.

It really comes down to preference of how YOU like brisket. I’ve achieved some of the best brisket with the most simplistic approach.

Day of smoke
1. Cover with mustard
2. Add a simple rub
3. When meat is at room temp, put on smoker at 225
4. When meat probe reaches 160, pull brisket off and wrap really well with butcher paper.
5. Put back on smoker
5. When meat probe reaches 200, pull brisket off, wrap in beach/bath towel, put in cooler for 1hr.
6. Put the brisket in something that will retain the juices when you unwrap and slice.

That’s just the easiest, least stressful way I’ve achieved success. I’ve done numerous where the process involved making an elaborate rub, let it go for 19-20 hours and it didn’t turn out right. The steps above produce the most repeatable and good tasting brisket in half the time for me.

How many pounds was this brisket? That’s really how you determine time to smoke. If it’s just a flat or point will cook much quicker.

I think it's a point but I've thrown the package away and don't remember the weight so I'm going to guess about 5lbs. It's around 3-1/2" thick, maybe 8 or 9 inches wide and about a foot long.

You aren’t going to need to do that 12+ hours probably more like 5-6. I’d go to 190-205 max temp in the smoker if you plan to leave it overnight. I’d probably let it go a bit and wrap it before you go bed and stick it in the oven at like 195. Take it out in the morning and do the cooler rest.