re: Smoking my first brisket tonight - updated with pics on page 2

Briskets are irregular shapes of meat. Most smokers do not deliver uniform heat flux. A big key is getting the heat and meat in sync. It's important to orient the meat and fat side to adjust for this.

When most of us talk in terms of times and temps we do so in "ballpark" numbers, not dogmatic formulas.

Briskets are done when you can insert a probe and it has the texture of jello.

FTR, some of the best brisket I've eaten was LA BBQ in Austin. John Lewis, who worked for/taught Franklin was its first pitmaster before moving on. LA BBQ's smokers were at 275 degF (similar to what Franklin recommends).