I've cook a lot of brisket in my time and what I've learned with brisket is, there is more than on way to skin a cat and get a great brisket. Ive tried the 225 or less and gone as high as 300 and gotten good and awful results LOL!! I personally like to stay in the 250 range, 10 years ago I was 275 or bust but again I have evolved LOL!

IMO the things that have been most important for me are:

1) Knowing your cooker. before you can master brisket or any thing else for that matter you have to know your cooker in and out.

2) Knowing when to wrap and using butcher paper instead of foil. Don't have a set temp as to when you are going to wrap. Depending on the size and quality,(Prime, Choice etc..), of the brisket the time will vary. The general rule is to wrap at the stall, the stall could be any where between 140-160, in some cases as high as 170. To me this is where all the real work is done, you have to be on top of it and realize when you have hit the stall. If you decided no matter what you are going to wrap at a certain temp you run the risk of having an over or under cooked product. Wrapping helps you push through the stall, wrapping to early or to late increases the chances of a bad end result. I usually pull around 200, depending on feel, I try to shoot for at least 2hr, in the cooler. 3hrs if I'm not pressed for time, burping every 30 minutes so the steam doesn't over cook it.

Butcher paper vs foil. I think butcher paper still allows the brisket to breath and maintain the bark, and texture that I'm after. Foil to me is like putting it in a pressure cooker. It's called the Texas Crutch for a reason, you can most certainly achieve a tender brisket, but you can also easily over cook it this way. Butcher paper aside from being better, is way more easily available now than it was a few years back. If you cant get it locally, you can get it on amazon.

Just my thoughts on what works for me, but as I said in the beginning there is more than one way to skin a cat.

This post was edited on 5/18/20 at 11:33 am