First brisket smoke tonight

[blinddogsmoking]

I was asked to smoke a brisket for a family birthday party tomorrow. I have always wanted to smoke a brisket so I said what the heck why not! I ended up getting a 13 LB brisket from Sams yesterday and I'm going to put it on the smoker tonight around 6ish.

I do have a couple question though before I get started later today. Should I smoke it a foil pan and then foil the pan around 160 or do I not use a pan and just leave it unfoiled until its done? I know its mostly personal preference and if it wasn't for a party I don't think I would worry about it too much. From what I understand if its in a pan you are able to save the Au Jus juice. Also I know that the average time for a brisket is about 1.5 hours per pound of meat, but it seems that it can vary quite a bit from that. If my plan is to start it at 6 tonight and if it cooks faster then im hoping and its done early in the AM tomorrow whats the best way to keep it warm until 5pm? Will the cooler method keep it warm until then or should I just stick it in the oven on warm? I'm hoping that it will get done around noon and that will give me enough time to get the burnt ends done and keep everything warm.

Thanks for any help or advice you guys can give me on this!

 

[bama bbq]

I think you'll be asking a lot from a cooler to keep it warm that long.  Is 6 PM a hard time?  Can you wait till later in the night, or get up early and get it going then go back to bed?

As far as the pan is concerned...if you don't want to cook it in a pan can you put a pan under it to catch the juice?  If you foil it when it hits the stall there will be plenty of juice in the foil when you open it up.

 

[blinddogsmoking]

I can start it later then 6, but I was just planning on making sure I had enough time in case it did end up taking18 hours to cook. I may try to push it off until 8 or so.