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Just drug home an 18 pound packer cut brisket for tomorrow night's dinner. I Trimmed 3.5 pounds of fat off of it. Rubbed it in cookshack brisket rub, mixed with some brown sugar on a honey mustard base. Let set at room temp for an hour, just because I didn't have any room in the fridge (after my 30 pounds of bacon cure-smoke-slice-seal episode last week, my wife is glad to have the fridge back). Put the brisket in my FEC at 180 for four hours and set the hold temp for 256. I check it in the morning to see how it is going. I went with the fat cap up, on the second shelf from the top on my seven-shelf system. Wrestling with the fat cap up or down decision, the FEC puts out a lot of dry heat and I'm thinking it might be better down. Any preferences on the fat cap and position of such a massive hunk of cow in the FEC? Also, I have to leave for work at 6 in the morning and will not return till four. I think I’ll use the probe, set it for 190 (thinking it’ll rise at least 5 more degrees) and let the hold fall to about 150. When I return home, I’ll foil, cooler till about 7pm when we’ll slice and eat.
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Fat cap down on the FE and every other smoker I use.

The concept that the fat will render down through the meat and keep it moist hasn't ever really been proven. Grease will eventually not be able to go down into the meat as it cooks and the protein seizes up.

The key to a moist brisket is intramuscular fat (marbling)

In reality, no right, no wrong way?

For me on the FE, I go fat down because the heat is coming from directly below. ALWAYS put it down if you're using the lower shelfs. From the middle up, it's a personal preference.

No right, no wrong way.

Sounds like a monster. If it had a big deckle you ARE going to make burnt ends yes?
Like Smokin' says,on FEC s fat down and the deckle/point towards the hot left side.Many of us will start with second shelf down.

We like large packers,since there is often more good cuts and more burnt ends to be made.

We shoot for sixteen pounders for comps,as that tends to meet our cook schedule.Several folks around us go for larger.
Ok, thanks for the advice. I did go cap up. This thing was done, internal 190, buy the time I checked it at 7am--Fastest ever. The probe went thru with no resistance at most places. My assumption is that it had good marbling. I set it on 240 for a couple of hours, just to bark it up a little (the bark was still gooey), then had it drop to 150 and hold. This was the plan anyway. An absolute culinary goat-rope followed.

I had gone for work, my wife had gone into town to take kids to school and some workers who were installing a fence unplugged the smoker and tried to turn it back on. When my wife finally got hold of me at 10 am, the smoker was internal about 270. I had her pull and cooler the brisket. At 6pm, I warmed it back up a little, but it was clearly overdone. It was not dried out, but similar to a nice pulled pork. Everyone loved it, the seasoning was amazing. We're going to make some serious sandwiches with this. Great bark! It would not win any contests, but Good is Good!

Next time? Fat Cap down. If it gets done early, I’ll cooler it until a couple of hours before the meal and reheat at a high temp to firm up the bark.

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