My first brisket

Good luck! I have never foiled a brisket. Following the suggestions in Brisket 101, I have cooked mine to about 190 or 195 and checked them. Prod it with a thermometer or fork. The probe should pass easily into the meat in all of the spots you check. My friend tells me the brisket is ready when the fat simply scrapes off the meat but I can never wait quite that long. The only time I have foiled the brisket is to hold it until it was time to carve and serve. Others swear by foiling with some broth or apple juice. Find what you like best and go for it.

The only thing I am going to foil it for, is for when it is done, the recipe says to pour on the finishing sauce/rub and keep there at a lower temp for about an hour.

I foil mine at 165 and remove from the smoker at around 180 for a sliceable flat, chopable point.

Once it's done, I leave it in the foil and in the smoker, and just turn the smoker off (no need to get the cooler dirty unless I'm traveling with it.

Try it both ways--see which you prefer.

I'm no expert on brisket,or much else,but I'd skip the letting the brisket come to room temp.

Most Cookshack folks,go straight from the refrigerator.

I haven't tried the recipe,so it might be fine.

The thought of letting it come to room temp,is for log burners,that may be putting a bunch of packers in at once and that could create some problems with temp control.

Some of the cooks that are doing hot/fast briskets in four hrs,also like them warmed up.

Nothing wrong with the foiling and holding at 150�,that is another old offset technique for the coolest place in their cooker.

If you don't wish to do that,you can double foil it,wrap in a heavy towel,and leave in a small dry cooler for 1 to 6 hrs.

That will acomplish the same thing,and might help with your meal timing.

Dennis thoughts on just turning off the cooker should work fine for an hour,or so.

Just a couple of thoughts.

I did my first brisket over the weekend. It was just over 10 lbs. I was very surprised with the results as it came out tender and juicy and probably was some of the best meat I have ever ate in my life. There was about 5 of us eating it, and it was gone in about 1 1/2 hours that evening. Best compliment I recieved, was when someone asked how often I cooked brisket, and he was surprised when he found out it was my first.

The Cookshack was designed by Donna's family as a brisket cooker,and it does a great job.