Well I tried my hand a beef brisket today for the first time... my second smoke since getting a smoker. Only 4 of us eating and didn't feel like spending $45 for the whole thing so we got a 4.3lb flat. Rubbed it in Cowboy Rub and brown sugar and put it over hickory. Started it at noon which wasn't early enough to eat by 7:30. I'm still learning on how to control the heat on my smoker and I need to get a digital thermometer so I can measure at grate level instead of the one included in the lid of the smoker which I don't think is accurate. By 5:30 PM I had it up to about 150 but I was running out of time for company to arrive so I bumped my heat up and got it up to 160 by about 6PM. I had planned on finishing it in the oven (good thing too with unexpected thunderstorms creeping up) so I put it in at 275... again probably too warm but I wanted to be done by 7:30 at the latest. Wrapped it up in foil and put it in. Regardless of the shortcomings in the process it ended up pretty good. Awesome smoke flavor and with the juice it was unnnnbelieveable. I sliced it versus pulling but I'm not sure I could have pulled it if I wanted to. Is it normal for flat to be tougher than the point? It was tougher than I expected but still very moist and wasn't tough enough to be in the least bit un-tasty. 4 of us devoured just about the whole thing in short order and left just enough for lunch tomorrow. I'll try again soon.
