Fact one, I've got a Brisket in the fridge that needs to be smoked before it starts to go bad. (Partly my fault, partly Fed-ex) I assumed the delivery date of my smoker would be on time so I bought the brisket. I don't want to freeze it.

Fact two, I have both the smoker and brisket here now. I started the smoker to burn the new smell out of it this evening.

Fact three, I don't remember ever smoking a brisket.

Fact four, I've got to work all week which means I'll leave home about 4:00am, and return home around 3:00-4:00pm. I also need to be in bed by 10:45pm if I am to wake up for work the next morning.

Fact five, the smoker is an electric programmable pellet smoker.

Question one, does anyone here have a recipe that would smoke unattended for the time I'm at work (approximately 12 hours) or one that I could start and complete in the afternoon before bedtime (maybe 7 hours)? I guess I could do it as I slept but I would really be pushed to get the bbq sauce baked on in the morning. My only recipe requirements are that it tastes great, and that it works with a dry rub because I already have the rub on the meat in the fridge. Well, that and my time restraints. I guess what I need the most is a temperature to time ratio to get it done in the allotted time.

I'd like to start it tomorrow (6/29) sometime if possible. Any advice appreciated. A google search didn't seem to be much help.

I don’t have a pellet smoker, but the last one I smoked was on an electric smoker. I smoked it around 225 degrees for 19 hrs, at about 6-8 hrs in I wrapped it in foil and soaked it in coffee for the remaining time. I usually rub them heavily with buttrub and mustard, the coffee was something I found on youtube and I’d do it again

Enjoy a day off or half a day and cook it. I would not want to leave it on and go to work. No advice here on how many hours or what temp.

I had no idea that I could go that hot an it still take that long. It's fairly thick. I may be able to put it on at bedtime, wrap it in the morning and let it finish while I'm at work. I may even be able to get my daughter that lives close by to check on it around lunch. When I do a deer hindquarter I usually wrap it after about an hour or maybe a little longer to hold the moisture in.

The coffee sounds interesting. I may have to try it. I already make coffee ice cream and put coffee in chili. I call it cowboy chili.

I would like to do that, but I really don't need to because of being off for several weeks due to knee surgery.

If it’s a pit boss watch or temp swings.

My opinion is you need to tend to it for the initial cook. When I have done briskets on the recteq, I had to spritz it with apple juice every hour until I wrapped it. After wrapping it, you leave it alone until it gets to temp.

I cannot offer any advice on brisket. I keep trying and I keep failing

Yea it all depends on size of cut and how well the smoker maintains and outdoor temp but you want meat to reach at least 205 for the proteins to break down and it to pull apart… I’ve smoked them longer but I used a green egg and it was colder and managing temps was tough

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

Well, maybe I need to start it first thing when I get home from work then. How long do you smoke before wrapping and at what temp?

Salt and pepper and cumin if you have it.

Well, I've had similar experiences just outside of Kansas City. If you're ever out there Joe's KC
BBQ in Olathe is some count and Jack's Stack in Overland Park is too.

I have all of the above but didn't add Cumin to it. It never crossed my mind to be honest, but I could see that being good. My dry rub that is already on it and consists of :
Chili powder
Paprika
Cayenne
Garlic powder
Salt
Black pepper
Onion powder
and about a tablespoon of brown sugar
This fills and is all mixed up in a Parmesean Cheese shaker bottle. I use it on most everything I smoke so I figured it would be good for brisket too. I normally add BBQ sauce late in the game and let it cook on so to speak before removing it and letting it rest. Works great on Deer and poultry.

I’ve done a bunch of briskets but not 100% electric. Here’s what I suggest and you should end up with some fine eating.
1. Season the meat well and to your liking. I usually use Bad Byron’s Butt Rub and fresh split cayanne peppers (Slap Yo Momma is a good substitute)
2. Set your smoker to around 160-180 with medium smoke (more or less depending on how “smoky” you like it. I prefer hickory.
3. Place the brisket fat-side up in your smoker and let it go for ~12 hours.
4. After 12 hours wrap the brisket in heavy-duty aluminum foil and try to get it as air-tight as possible. Hint: wrap & seal multiple times to get the best seal.
5. Set smoker temp to ~220 and let it go for ~5-6 hours with no smoke. This stage finishes the meat and makes it nice and tender. If your smoker has a water pan - use it at this stage. For years I have smoked mine on a wood fired smoker (dry) and then finished for 5-6 hour in an electric smoker/no smoke/and with a water pan.

I think you’ll be pretty happy with the finished brisket! If you try this - pm me and let me know how it turned out!

…you can use BBQ sauce at the finishing stage

One tip to help a bit with the cook time is to make sure you do a really good trim on it, especially if it’s a packer(whole). You can shed a good bit of unnecessary weight off of it and you’ll never miss it in your final product.

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.

Thanks for all of the responses so far. Im taking each into consideration and getting educated.

If your smoker is running 225 your going to be hard pressed to get a decent size brisket done in 12 hours. It will probably hit the stall about 160 - 165 and that's normally when I wrap mine.

You can run your smoker around 250 and cut a couple hours off your cook if that helps but I'd be worried about running it hot without supervision.

Good luck !