Question on brisket cook time

[bpinmi]

So I have cooked a brisket twice.

First time it wasn't great. My smoker was running way hotter than I thought it was and it cooked in 8 hours. Brisket had great flavor but was overcooked and dry.

Second time was much better. Had better control of my smoker temp and cooked for about 15 hours. Great flavor. Burnt ends were delicious. Flat was much better than first time. Just a tad dry but not too bad.

I've heard people say they cook their briskets at really low temps for up to 24 hours.

My question is this...how do these guys and gals at competitions cook a good brisket in just 10-12 hours?

 

[WaterRat]

I'm not a competition guy but I've seen plenty of vids ;) Partly it's the size of the brisket, partly the temp, and they all wrap the brisket and add liquid to braise it. This gets it finished much faster than if it was just naked on the smoker. Once wrapped they can also bump up the temp and since it's wrapped in liquid it won't dry out. Aaron Franklin did a vid where he did 3 briskets: one naked, one in foil, and one in butcher paper then compared the bark and taste. He didn't mention the time however. But also he did a dry wrap, not a braise. Good vid, it's on youtube.