The Brisket Experiment

[Divemaster]

Still a beginner when it comes to smoking meat, today is the first time I've tried smoking anything that wasn't pork ribs or salmon. At the butcher shop I picked up a 5 1/2 lb. beef brisket point. Not wanting to invest in a whole brisket in case the experiment goes awry, I thought this would be a good size to work on technique.

Yesterday afternoon I hit it with a COTS (commercial off the shelf) dry rub and put it to bed in the fridge until this morning. After firing up the smoker and waiting for it to get up to temperature, on went the meat. The brisket has been smoking for just over an hour now. During the night some of the rub had slid off the side, as seen in the picture, but I did not reapply it.

I'm using apple wood chips for smoke, and I'll probably have to refill the pan every 45-60 minutes. The target smoker temperature is 265-275. The outside temp is about 25 degrees. After four hours I'll check the meat's internal temp at least one per hour. The target IT is in the 190-205 range. Once it gets into the zone I'll start doing a probe test to check for doneness.

This could turn into a smoking pile of crap, but it gives me something to do in addition to watching football today.