The day/night before:

Dress brisket. Trim fat down to about 1/4". Remove any silverskin.

Mix together salt, pepper, paprika and garlic powder in a bowl.

Rub meat down with spice mixture.

Wrap brisket in saran wrap and refrigerate. Do this at least the night before - 24 hours prior.

The day of:

About an hour before smoking remove brisket from fridge and let rest at room temp.

About half an hour before cooking - get smoker going and up to temp. You want to cook at about 225°.

My smoker has a water pan so i fill that with a 50/50 mix of water & apple juice.

Sprinkle a bit of kosher salt and pepper on brisket.

When smoker reaches temp, throw brisket in, fat side down.

I start with a handful of soaked mesquite chunks and add a chunk every hour of cooking.

Smoke until brisket temp reaches about 150°-160° (approx 3 - 5 hours) Carefully remove brisket, wrap tightly in a few layers of aluminum foil, and return to smoker.

Continue to smoke at 225° until brisket reaches 195° - 205° (approx 4 -8 hours)

Remove brisket from smoker and rest for an hour before cutting.

Cut meat against the grain (pay attention - there's two different muscles on a packer brisket - so the grain will run different directions on each side) Cut just before before serving.

*NOTES*

Cooking times will vary greatly. Monitor smoker temp and meat temp - use a good digital thermometer.

Estimate about an hour smoking for every pound. Expect to add about 10-15 minutes to cook time every time you remove the lid off the smoker.

I use mesquite wood chunks for smoking - use whatever you prefer and follow bag instructions (soaking time etc) I added a handful of chunks when starting and added a chunk every hour until I wrapped the brisket in foil. After the brisket is wrapped, there is no need to add any more wood.

If you're new to smoking you'll find a wealth of information online. Spend a few hours researching & reading - it really makes all the difference!