Newbie here. How critical is it to break in the smoker w/4 hours of heating at 275 (w/wood) without meat? The 'herd' is coming over soon and I, unfortunately, don't have 4 hours of 'break in' time.
Not a big deal. It's just basically to make sure everything works and to get a light coating of smoke on all the walls. I actually broke my 020 in with a pork butt in it.
KEY for brisket, is to get a good size whole packer that has some fat running through the strains of meat, in the flat. Don't pay no mind to all the fat on the outside, except you want it to be as white as possible.
What Cal said, 225 for 12 hours, about 2 of oak or hickory are good. I slap a rub on mine about 2 hours before I put it in the smoker, I put it in about 8pm at night and let it smoke overnight. My SM150 has a hold feature so when the 12 hours is up I open the smoker (for the first time mind you) and check everywhere for tenderness and temp with a digital quick read thermometer.Don't try to pick it up, slide out the shelf and invert into a waiting pan. I used to smoke it with the fatty side up so it basted the meat, but it comes out great fatty side down...
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