After some more time on the forum, and a trip to Sam's Club, I learned a few things..
1.) Cryovac rocks. (period)
2.) A 4.25lb brisket cost me $13 at the butcher, and a 6.5lb(?) at Sam's Club(Walmart) was $1 more and was stamped IBP Choice.. (Being a former Iowegian, this is a good thing)
3.) Mop vs. Marinade.. Tough call.. So I did both (kinda)
New list--
Here's what happend:
1.) I made a basic beer mop -- tripled.
2.) I used the mop w/ all the chunks of onion to marinade overnight.
2.5) Beer, lots of it...
2.6 Sleep..
3.) Strained out all the chunks of goo.
4.) Let brisket come to room temp
5.) Poured remainder of mop/marinade into the water pan of my electric smoker and topped off with water.
6.) Set smoker for about 200 degrees and left for work.
7.) Sat at work shopping for BBQ equipment all day wondering how charred my brisket would be when I got home.
8.) Stopped at Sam's to get a new brisket 'Just in case', and realized my butcher gave it to me in the shorts.
9.) Came home, opened my smoker and found a blackend chunk of flesh that used to resemble something edible.
10.) Let my charcoal looking meat rest under a tent for 25 minutes, downed several beers(It's Friday, right?), and scraped the big layer of fat off..
<- That was exactly my response.. Ding--Ding--Ding... Winner!
I could tell it was good because my wife liked it. The point was melt in your mouth good without any finishing/table sauce, and the other part(Pardon the technical terms) with a little bit of Famous Dave's Texas Pit was better than what I got at Famous Dave's the last time I was there..
Tomorrow's brisket-- Real rub, real mop, twice as big of a brisket as today's...
