Help / Suggested welcomed brisket point

dgordon2nc

I've had limited success with brisket.  I've tried 3x now.  The first was a flat that I rushed.  The last 2 were full packers that came out ok -- not great -- but certainly not that amazing experience with brisket that I've had from restaurants/etc.  

I was in Costco today and I saw they had taken a few full packers and broke them down into smaller pieces for resale.  One was the flat and one was the point.  I decided to get the point and plan to cook this weekend.

First question -- the sell by date is the 15th and I plan to cook this on the 16th -- will that be issue?  I'm thinking no but I'd love confirmation.

Second question -- what is the advice on this thing?  I am thinking I could either do burnt ends or just cook it like a full brisket -- and pull it off when I'm getting the probe tenderness that I desire.  I'm leaning away from burnt ends -- just because I'd like to keep this as simple as possible.  My preference would be to just slice this.

Looking for advice on technique on temp/time/etc.  As far as rub goes, I'm just going to do a 50/50 mix of salt and pepper -- and maybe a little onion & garlic powder.

This looks to be mostly point -- but I'm sure there is some flat.  I was planning on minimal trimming.

Thanks very much in advance!

loco_engr

on the competition circuit they say the worst kept secret is Butchers BBQ brisket injection 

lousubcap

You scored the best part of the packer (or cow for that matter). Now to answer your above questions:
-No worries with the sell by date-many here (me included) wet age a packer for 3-4 weeks and some go much longer.
-No way I would go with the burnt ends option.  Your call to run to the finish -line and then slice and enjoy is the way to go in my book.  Here's one thing to consider when declaring victory at the end of the cook, The point has a much higher fat content than the flat.  We all measure the finish-line when the flat probes smooth.  In the great majority of cooks that means that the point is a good 5-10*F higher in finish temp thus allowing for more fat rendering.  I would get the feel in the point and then give it another 20-30 minutes (assuming a below 300*F dome temp)  or so to let the fat render out.  This is a gut/eyeball jiggly brisket call for your info.
Trim til it looks like you expect it to look.  Fat side down for me.  
Rub of your choice.
Cook time/temp as a packer adjusted for the weight.
Above is just my input.  FWIW-

Toxarch

Those Costco Primes cook fast. I cook at 225, wrap at 165, check for done at 198. 

Dondgc

Toxarch said:

Those Costco Primes cook fast. I cook at 225, wrap at 165, check for done at 198. 

I think as @lousubcap said above all of the fat In the point is unlikely to fully render at 198. 

dgordon2nc

Thanks @lousubcap and everyone else for the feedback. I trimmed the hard fat off. Seasoned with mostly salt and black pepper with a little garlic and onion powder. Smoked with cherry wood chips. I started at a dome temp of 260 this am at 9 and gradually increased as the day went on until I got up to 290. I used my cyber q. I decided to wrap around 160 when I saw I was in the stall and I was getting worried about time. I pulled around 205 in the thickest part and probing was how I wanted it. Let it rest about 45 mins. By far, this was the best brisket I have ever done.  I know the bend test pic is sliced the wrong way.  Thanks again for all the help. I finally feel like I made an excellent brisket. Which was the one thing I hadn’t done on the egg! 

Mark_B_Good

That looks amazing.  Did you foil wrap or use butcher paper?

dgordon2nc

Thanks!  I used heavy duty foil double wrapped. I have tried butcher paper before and it didn’t turn out like this. I have no clue of the foil made a difference or not. I only used it because I was getting worried about time and the stall. But given these results I think I might foil again next time.