APL Style Brisket - the good and the bad

Yesterday I cooked my first ever brisket following the APL Serious BBQ recipe and had mixed results. It was only a 7# whole brisket from the butcher.

The good - the flavor was outstanding and scoring the meat created more surface area and therefore more flavor. Also the BBQ sauce with the meat jiuces was equally outstanding.

The bad - it was a bit dry, not too dry to eat for dinner but certainly enough that the leftover will go to making hash & eggs this morning

So what did I learn

1 - buring oak is the best smell in world

2 - foiling wasn't enough to keep this moist, I'll try an injection next time

3 - scoring the meat works great to build the flavor of the bark

So what do I still need to learn

1 - still a newbie, need a routine as this is the second cook in a row where I forgot to add the wood before starting the meat so I had to unwind the grid and PS

2 - I'd welcome any suggestions for a brisket injection

3 - what is the coorect area of the brisket to take the temperature; using a thermapen I had readings of 186 in one area and 200 in another. I know the Travis brisket cooks to 205 but the APL recipe cooks to only 195. I opted to continue the cook unitl the lowest reading was 205 which could be another reason it was dry.

4 - this cooked at 275 and I cannot see how I could ever get the egg to a lower temp without extinguishing the coals. The bottom vent was only open the width of a quarter and daisy wheel had only the top holes open a slight bit

Knowledge comes with time and effort I guess.