My first attempt at smoking beef brisket

Choice brisket from GFS. Cheap!

Before trimming (fat side)

Before trimming (non fat side)

Trimmed away a big divot on the non fatty side. It was all fat, so I kept cutting. Not sure if that was good.

3.75 lbs of fat (mostly)

Trimmed fat side. Might have taken off too much. Weight after trimming was about 7.5 lbs.

Salted with a tablespoon of table salt. Placed in the fridge, uncovered on a rack, to dry brine for about 20 hours.

I got up at 6 AM to get it started (too grumpy to take pics at that time.) Spent about an hour and a half getting the temperature stabilized and then went back to bed. When I woke up again, I came to my senses and rolled the grill right up to the door so I could make adjustments without putting on my shoes.

On the Akorn. This was after about 4 hours. The rub was applied just before putting on the grill. Used Meathead Goldwyn's Big Bad Beef rub. 5/7 would rub again.

On the CharGriller Akorn, I ran the bottom vent at "1" and the top as you see here. This held a temp of 225-235 beautifully.

After 12 hours on the smoker, it was still at around 185. So I got impatient and foiled it and put it in the oven at 275.

After an hour and change in the oven, the temp was 195. Was aiming for 203, but at this point, we had to eat so I pulled it and sliced it. Bark was very well formed. Delicious and crunchy. Good smoke ring to boot. The meat was very good, but the flat could have been a little more tender. Next time I'll start it at night so I'll have time to bring it all the way to 203 and let it rest in a faux cambro for a couple hours before slicing.

This is the point side. The meat over here was much more prone to shredding apart. Also, tastier and tenderer.

Made a "Texas Mop Sauce." Didn't use it as a mop (maybe should have), but put a little on my plate. Wasn't overly impressed with the sauce, but the brisket was delicious without it!