What better way to start a New Year than to smoke a 15lb Brisket? Texas Style! Q-view link included!

Hey all!

Lots of juicy brisket threads here. Love looking at all the Q-view so keep it up! 

Anyways, I finally got the time and courage to do my 1st brisket smoke. I've been reading and researching and watching videos of Aaron Franklin's brisket series and said let's do this!

Here's my Q-view and a post mortem. Would love to get some input from others here on what I might have done wrong and what to improve for the next time.

Album linky - https://www.flickr.com/photos/allenv/sets/72157650013136876/

Couple of notes I took:

• My smoker took a long time to get to temp. It was fired up by 0415 but brisket didn't go on until 0545. And smoker still wasn't at 225 when I put it on. So next time I need to light more coals in my chimney and put hot water in my water pan to help speed things up.
• I didn't trim as much fat off as I probably should have on the point. This was good and bad. Good in that the brisket from that part was oh so juicy and tender! Bad part was that it didn't have a ton of smoke flavor (I used Apple as I had no Oak to smoke with). Maybe it was because Apple is mild? I dunno. But even after 11 hours there was some fairly thick fat on top. Also, I smoked it fat side up (aka Aaron Franklin style).
• On the flat the bottom 1/4 or so inch was hard and crunchy. Also known as burnt. :( But it actually tasted pretty good. :D The flat part wasn't as tender as top but had some nice smoke ring (as can be seen in the pics). You can see the burnt edge. Not sure what might have caused that? Maybe I didn't wrap it sooner? The burnt part was the bottom part of the brisket.
• Salt and pepper rub is a very simple yet added fantastic taste to the whole brisket. I'll be doing this again.
• I think I'll get a shorter brisket next time. I had to bend this one to fit my WSM (19.5").
• Forgot to do the toothpick test but did a temp probe test late in the day and everything was reading around 200 or so. 
• Get a good knife for trimming! I picked up a commercial boning knife from a local kitchen equipment place for 10 bucks. Super sharp and made life really nice when I was trimming it down prior to the smoke.
• I let the brisket sit and get close to room temperature before putting on the smoker. Again, inspired by how Aaron Franklin does it.

Guess my biggest takeaway is that I need to figure out how to not burn/crisp the bottom. Any thoughts/ideas on this?

We had 6 adults and 5 kids and that plate was gone by the end of the night. Had enough to slice off some for family to take home as well. Everyone thought it tasted great (me included) but I know I can do better. :D

Talk about a huge relief and sense of accomplishment in getting a brisket on and off and tasting great! 

Can't wait until next time for sure!

Edit...

Pics below to make it easier for those on the forum:

Getting everything ready the night before...


All quiet at 4 AM! Ended up only using Apple chunks and not the wood logs (they were too long)...


15lb brisket! Scale couldn't handle it. :D


Got it at Walmart. Only place that had full briskets around here.


Aaron Franklin's rub - kosher salt + black pepper.


6 hours in on the WSM. Getting ready to wrap it. Notice how it's curved? Had to bend it for it to fit. :D


11 1/2 hours later it's in the oven (cold) resting before dinner


Like Christmas for the tummy! Or is that New Years?


Middle part was uber juicy. You can see some of the hard/burnt parts like I mentioned above. Overall very satisfied and family cleaned up!