After catering a big party ~10 years ago I got asked to start smoking briskets for a smokehouse south of San Antonio. After doing that every single weekend for a year I couldn't stand BBQ…at all.

Then, I made my own rub. Now, I usually find the Salt Lick rub in HEB. It's delicious and less time consuming -- not to mention cheaper. I still appreciate making my own rub and sauce, though. Just…lazy, I guess.

I do mix Fab B with Apple Juice to inject the night before…as well as applying the rub.

I usually smoke mine at 250-275. It's a little faster and I might lose some flavor than when cooking at 225 but they always turn out fabulous.

I pull the brisket off the pit at 198, wrap in foil, and put in a cooler for an hour before slicing and serving.

Man -- I'm hungry.

Cooked 2 for the 4th.... Lots of salt and pepper, no trimming and 4 hours of straight oak/hickory smoke. Put them each in a roasting pan and covered until internal temp of 195 reached. Chilled overnight, sliced, and reheated... Best I've ever cooked. Never got the pit over 250. To me, it not time but temp that determines if it's done!

Cook enough of them and you don't need a thermometer, poke it with your finger and you will know.

All Chefs will tell you that your finger is inaccurate. Use a thermopen. Everybody's fingers are different.

tx bbq rub is what I use.

I do fat cap down. I usually smoke it at 250 and 1hr plus 30min per pound. Just did a 16lber over the 4th.

When it hits 180 or so, I pull it and wrap in foil, then towel and it goes to a cooler for 2-3 hours or until it is time to cut.

Matt

and every pitmaster will tell a chef that each brisket is differant and hits its "done" time at different temps and by feel is the only way to go

LOL ... as funny as it might sound, I have cooked literally hundreds of briskets dating back close to 50 years without any type of thermometer ... my kids got me a internal meat thermometer a few years back and I have used it for a variety of different things both on my pit and in the oven BUT I still use my finger as my final test. The thermometer lets me know what the temperature is and I have noted that some briskets feel right at 185-190 and others 200-205 ... so the thermometer gets it close or is good information but the true test is the poke.

X2

While im only 29, I have close to 20 years of bbq under my belt and I also have never used a probe thermometer.

Every brisket you cook will be better than the last, until you achieve brisket nirvana, and then, right outta the blue, you'll make a nasty one for no dang good reason. It's what keeps us great brisket cooks humble.

I keep track of internal temp as a gauge to know when to start get serious about checking for done. I have noticed that the prime briskets I have been getting at Costco are not hitting done till closer to 205, it always stresses me out when I see that internal temp rise that high and its still not ready to pull

Yep, and some people still don't believe in A/C. "This here swamp cooler is much better than that durn central air mess."

take your foot of your mouth, open your ears and go learn something

We had a swamp box in El Paso, worked good until the humidity went up.

yep, I worked in Mojave CA for a couple of years, swamp cooler felt darn good in the hangar when the temp was hovering around 120 with 5% humidity.

AMEN to that!!! That was one reason my kids got me the thermometer, I had a new pit that I was trying to figure out how it cooked and was very inconsistent on brisket, did a bunch of reading on-line to see what I was doing differently from my old pit and it came down to temperature. I used the probe for the next 5 or 6 to find what my pit was doing on temperature control in the smoker. Last several have come out very good with my three areas to hit (smoke, tender & moist), I can always hit 2 but getting all three was a challenge with this pit.

yall are making me hungry

Mercy, don't even get into that different parts of the smoker box will read different temps!! One thing at a time for this crowd. (And don't trust that crappy temp. gauge on the cooker) After a little bit--we spring it on them that yes, we have been to the moon.

HM ... sarcasm duly noted ...

I clicked on this link cause I thought you needed help EATING the brisket. My bad. Smoke on.

Who'd thought red chevy is an expert on brisket as well as everything else

So kind of you. Def not an expert. I have cooked in my share of competitions and found it very humbling, won some but lost a lot more. I do know that you don't need a probe thermometer or a prime grade brisket to make excellent bbq, a nosler partition is superior to a corelock, and you don't need a 1-ton diesel to drag your dingy. Past that I don't really know whats up your but.