Ok boys, I have never smoked a brisket myself. I have been apart of smoking a few.

Here lately, I have been smoking ribs and chicken a lot and have that down. I can control my temps really good on my smoker.

So, how long and at what temp? What temp do I want to get it to? Leave unwrapped the entire time? Im lost. Seasonings? I have my rib seasoning down good.

Im going to the store later today to hit up the cheaper prices on briskets.

Cup kosher salt
1/2 cup course black pepper
1/8 cup garlic powder

Most of the way through cooking ill rub on a little brown sugar.

I like to cook 250-350 depending on size of brisket and how much time I have. Out of foil fat cap up for first 3-4 hours then wrap fat side down till its done.

Never measured internal temp. I judge done by firmness.

many better on here than me but heres what i do.

trim fat cap to about 1/4 inch
rub
put in the smoker fat cap up at 250
smoke for the first 4-5 hours
wrap good in foil
I let it get to about 170 then remove the wrap
I'll let it get to 190-195
remove it re wrap and set in a ice cooler for at least 2-3 hours usually double that until its time to eat.

My favorite recipe involves brown sugar, salt, pepper, garlic and pureed chipotle.

Make a rub of dark brown sugar and SPG. I use Canadian Steak Seasoning for SPG and add a little kosher salt. Rub the entire brisket down with the rub.

Puree the chipotle in a blender and scrape it out into a bowl. Get a basting brush at the ready.

Smoke the brisket fat side up at or below 200*.
- Mesquite 2-4 hours, no more with mesquite
- Hickory or Pecan 4-6 hours or longer

Bring the brisket in the house and paint it with the pureed chipotle, then pack all the rub into the puree that it will hold, both sides.

Wrap the brisket in several layers of wide, heavy duty foil and place in oven at 250* overnight. In the morning remove and let it rest and cool/finish. When it has cooled enough to be handled, slit the foil and drain the juice into a bowl. Let it cool some more, it's too wet to handle now. Keep draining off the juice every few minutes until you have it all. Save the juice, it's gold. When it solidifies enough to be handled, ease it out of the foil onto a large cutting board, clean up your mess, take a pic to post here. Sharpen your big knife, slice it, take another pic of the smoke ring for us and tear that puppy up.

I also clean up my brisket before seasoning. I remove all the silver skin and if the fat is real thick, I'll trim some off. As for the juice, you can use it as is for basting the slices, or mix it up with your BBQ sauce for something pretty special.

Oh, this recipe also involves beer, lotsa beer.

Any of those will work; but your last sentence concerns me. The cheapest piece of meat is usually select grade. It is tougher than a piece of meat graded choice. Sometimes at this time you can find choice priced at select. You pay for what you get. Look for a piece of meat with marble running like lines through. Oh, by the way, Cosco has Prime briskest-but they cost.

there are many different "right" ways as you can see above. Everyone has a slightly different twist and can still come out with some great Q ... I have a variety of different methods, just depends on the mood I'm in and how much time I have available. The simplest is trim to ~1/4 inch fat, rub with salt & black pepper (heavy), let rest over night in fridge, remove from fridge to come up to close to room temp. go start your fire... with my pit, I have a vertical smoker on the end that I get up to 175-185, toss on mainly live oak & pecan alternating, put brisket on fat up (have tried fat down and don't really see that much difference) and let the smoke roll. I like a very heavy smoke flavor and with the low temperature, I leave it in the smoker for 6 up to 14 hours, tightly double wrap in heavy aluminum foil and move to hotter area of pit (or can transfer to oven for ease and more controlled temp). Until you get the touch technique down, use a internal meat thermometer, and get the thickest part of the meat (be sure not to be in the fat layer between point & flat) internal temp to 195-200 and hold for 1 hour for every 10 lb. take out of pit (or oven) wrap in a towel, toss in a cooler for a few hours ... golden!

another that I use about 1/2 the time is the method I learned from my dad that was passed down several generations on my mom's German heritage (dated back to 1870s) side that uses a tangy mop sauce. Similar prep but using a mop sauce during the smoking and cook cycles. Comes out with a much lighter bark but typically much moister smoke layering (doesn't dry out the outside as much). I used to have measurements but now its pretty much all by taste. Beef stock is the base, Worcestershire sauce, apple cider vinegar, lime & orange juice (original was lemon), butter (or oil or melted beef tallow), finely chopped onion and spices (mainly salt, black pepper, paprika, onion & garlic powder) blended together and put on the pit to collect smokiness of its own, then use this to baste the brisket every 30-45 minutes thru the smoke cycles and then heavy baste before wrapping. Then I take the remainder of the mop sauce, add tomato sauce (or paste to thicken) and brown sugar or honey as a dipping sauce. I usually split into two containers before adding the brown sugar or honey, as I prefer less sweet but my wife likes it more sweet.

I cant tell you how many select grade briskets I have eaten cooked by me and countless others that were simply classic great bbq. All briskets are a poor cut of meat, that's why you cook them 10 hours!

When I buy brisket I never look at the grade, only the meat, and finally the price. I groan and take the one I picked out.

I would love to sell meat to you, oh, my gosh your on to something, we should fire all USDA meat graders and sell horse meat to everyone. There is a system-and it works. Watch pro Bbq shows, they order $100 each special briskets.

This ^^^

I'd put my brisket up against a pro grade $100 special order brisket. How much better can it be? Do you think all the good brisket across Texas is high dollar brisket? Just the opposite I yell you.

Are you really serious or just adding to your posts. There is no way a top restaurant would sell a select steak over a prime cut. On the other hand, if you're Bubba, continue on.

There are lots of steaks, brisket and other meat that Select cut is sold in resturants. Prime cuts call for prime prices and many places, I doubt their Prime Rib is actually graded prime, some yes but doubt all are.

Like the prime cuts but do not spring for them often on my budget. Matter of fact at home I eat mostly venison which I prefer to beef

Ain't that the truth. They have them for $1.65# right now at Randall's.

I keep mine simple with just kosher salt and lots of fresh cracked pepper the night before. Smoke at 250ish til 160-170 then wrap, I use butcher paper. Get to 195-200 then pull and wrap in towel and place in cooler for as long as you can before serving.

I got ours in the smoker now! Got a rub blend I get from Larry Bailey in East Texas. Good stuff. I got a case of brisket from the local little market which is pretty good. I think the one step that is really important is to wrap the brisket in a towel after the cooking and let it "rest" in a insulated cooler for an hour.... Helps keep it moist.

dont wrap in foil you dont want roast......put it fat side down farthest away from your heat source with your temp 180-200 for 10-12 hrs without flipping it....to check if its ready simply put your thumb at the thickest part of the brisket and with a little pressure if your thumbs pushes into your brisket its done. THEN wrap it in foil and leave it there until about 15 minutes before you are ready to slice. good luck!

Well, how did your's turn out?

I had a 10lb'er. Made my own rub. Let it go on smoker for 8.5hrs around 250. I pulled it, wrapped in foil and stuck in my Yeti for 2 hours. It turned out delish. Wish it were a tad bit more tender but all in all, it was great. I smoked it on hickory and mesquite. I felt like I should have left it on the pit another hour.

I probably went through 25 different recipes and kinda combined several to make my own.

Oh yeah and the best part....We had brisket and sausage last night, we are going to haev brisket tacos tonight and a vacuum sealed the rest for another night of sliced brisket.

Good stuff! What did you let the internal temp get to? You'll also learn how to feel when its ready. No pics?

Here is a pic after bout 5-6 hours. The internal temp was 193 when I took it off.

Not bad for your first go, I still screw one up every once in a while. If all else fails, chop it up and throw it together with some sauce, pickles, onions.

Salt and pepper only started at 7am and pulled off at 5pm. Turned out great.