First Brisket (on the BGE)
 

13 hours on the egg @ 225. Came out a hair dry, but that's me being critical. Guests loved it. I am thinking about foiling it next time to help with moisture but could use any tips!


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That's a good looking brisket flat you have with nice bark. What temp did you pull the brisket at?

X2 on the foil.

Keeps it a little moister at the end of the cook cycle.

That looks great!

Foil ruins the bark.

Looks great! I've got a BGE as well, and have been meaning to try the Brisket, but have not yet. 225 is a good temp though i would think.

I pulled it at 175 internal - I have heard people go even higher.

I did my first brisket point and flat on my WSM last weekend. I took mine to 190 but in talking with others I have heard of people taking them as far as 205... Clearly with foil.

Did a 9# brisket (a little on the thin side) to 195 internal temp last weekend on an overnight smoke (11-12 hrs). You don't want to go quite as long when shooting for the higher internal temps if you want to keep it moist. Smoking it closer to 240 or 250 helps it finish a little quicker and won't dry it out as much, IMO. I've only done a few briskets, but I have found they don't need the same length of time as a pork butt, for example.

225 dome or grid?
 

I agree with Randar that if you are having moisture problems you may want to use a slightly higher temperature. Lots of people advocate temperatures that are too low which lead to the cook taking excessively long which leads to moisture loss. This was exactly the problem I had with my first brisket cook.

You said you cooked it at 225 degrees, but was that the dome temperature (the built in thermometer) or the grid temperature (from some other thermometer sitting on the grid)? That is definitely too low of a dome temperature.

I would suggest starting with a full, uncut (packer trimmed) brisket if you can get it. It will have the point and the flat together with lots of fat still on it, and it will be upwards of 12 pounds. It is more likely to be moist in the end if you start with one of those rather than with only a flat. A pre-trimmed flat is about the worst to start with in terms of moisture. If you can only get a flat then I would brine it overnight first (I don't brine packers but I would brine a flat) to get moister results. Foil can help retain moisture, but it leads to mushy bark which I don't think is a good tradeoff. The only times I have used foil is after grilling it to completion and trying to hold it warm for a party (wrapped in heavy duty foil with no additional liquids, wrapped in a towel, thrown in an empty cooler).

My own notes from my last brisket cook on my BGE:
240 degrees grid (dome will be ~25 degrees higher usually)
185 degrees target meat temperature
approximately 1-1.25 hours per pound

I do all briskets @ 225 and have had a 19 lb one go 26 hours and still came out nice and juicy with no foil. While a lot of people don't agree I think you have to use sugar on the rub to help seal in moisture (though not as much as a but) and spray it ever hour for at least until tramps hit 150 or so (used apple juice and burbon on my brisket). Let it work it's way through the platue(s) and do it's thing