First brisket BBQ... ** UPDATE **

Since an excellent smoked brisket can be made without a fat cap at all, the whole fat cap up or down thing is really more personal preference than anything. There are some advantages to both methods. All that matters is that it tastes good.
 
So I went home to look at my brisket and it looks to have a pretty healthy fat cap. It is labeled as "Trimmed" but not "Trimmed Flat" (I know there were "Trimmed Flat" briskets available but I didn't buy them... I don't know why, they were giving me an evil eye...).

The fat cap looked to be upwards near .3" or .4" in some places and somewhat thinner in others. That seems like enough fat to keep the brisket moist. Or at least I hope....
 
Capn, I wasn't wedded to one way or the other (fat side up or down) until we smoked several briskets last year for an event. In our hasty placement of them on the smoker, ONE brisket got put on there fat side down. It was the inferior one of the whole batch. The non-fatty side was dried out and stringy -- it wasn't a disaster, but I had to trim some of that dried area off before I sliced it.

And the heat does NOT come from the bottom. If you are using an offset smoker, it's actually hotter in the middle and top of the smoke chamber in many cases (depending on how your vent pipe is mounted). And I honestly don't know about the "basting" effect or not (although I do know that larding meat -- laying fat across the top -- is a time-honored basting technique. There has to be SOMETHING to it.

But really, even if I can't explain WHY it's a good idea to go fat side up, I can tell you that in a side by side comparison, where the fat side down brisket was exposed to no materially different cooking conditions than the others, the fat side down brisket was not as good as the others (which were flawless), for reason of the aforementioned dried and stringy lean side. I may not know my science, but I saw, sliced, and tasted my results, and that was pretty definitive evidence for me.

But I will also admit that I am always learning. If you have a technique of making a solid brisket fat side down, I'd be happy to watch and sample the results.
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BriskeTexas - thanks for a well-reasoned response. Further proof that we're not on the West Maul
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. I agree that if it tastes good, it are good. I guess the only change I can see in my setup is that I'm using a vertical smoker (NB Bandera), so the heat definately is coming from the bottom. Given that, even if I were to do 2 briskets side-by-side, I"d be changing the heat flow because they'd have to be stacked. I still might do it, and bias one to the lfet of the rack and one to the right.
 
That is one of the reasons why you see so many vertical smokers with water pans. Water pans can also be valuable for heat retention, but they can also help keep the meat from drying out from flow of rising heat Having a small vertical in my arsenal of smokers, I can see the advantage of having the fat face the heat source. Whatever works is good.
 
Discussion of fat side up/down and water pans-- this thread now has all of the ingredients necessary for a good old-fashioned bar brawl.
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In my experience, fat side up is always better. However, I've always used an offset smoker. The heat is indirect and more of it is at the top, so no need to "protect" the brisket with fat side down.

The fat definitely renders through the meat as well as off the sides. Years of experimenting and tasting have proven this empricially to me.

But, if you get good results going fat-side-up more power to you.

On the water-pan, I can understand that it acts to help maintain the heat, and on a vertical smoker (WSM or Brinkman) it also acts as a shield from the direct heat. But, if you're keeping your temperature below 212F, how would it help keep the meat moist? The water shouldn't be vaporizing at 180-200F. Maybe I'm missing something?
 
UTEE, I don't think you are missing a thing but are spot on with your observations. Below the vaporization point the water pan just retains heat and acts as a shield. When the temp is higher and there is more danger of drying out the meat, the steam comes to the rescue. I know guys that use water pans in their offsets too, but the only time I do that is with fish and that is probably not necessary.

I don't see any advantage of going fat down in an offset.
 
What about in a Big Green Egg??
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There is a ceramic plate setter I use so that there is no direct heat on the grill area but the ceramic sides of the egg heat up just as much as anything else. Basically, heat bombards whatever is on the grill from every which way. Its, more or less, an oven with charcoal.
 
I have a question for the pros here. I truly enjoy a brisket that has spent its entire cooking life in the smoker due to the nice bark and the fact that I really think it just tastes better. BUT, I have a fairly large group of people coming over in a few weekends, I need to have about a 13lb. brisket ready to eat by the time UT kicks off against Central Florida(2:30PM). The other factor here is that I am taking a bunch of people dove hunting Saturday morning. I was thinking about putting the brisket on the smoker Friday night and then trying out the foil wrap and oven routine so that I could go dove hunting and not worry about the brisket.

Here is my problem, is there a way to finish the brisket back on the smoker to get the bark back or do I just have to give up on the crusty outside since I am putting it in the oven? If you finish in the oven, do you still need to do the cooler as well? How long should the brisket sit after coming out of the oven and what temp should the oven be set at? When you finish a brisket in the oven, doesn’t it just end up basically in a foil bowl full of brisket juice?

Any help would be greatly appreciated.
 
I've never tried to put it back on the smoker after the oven period. Not sure how that would work out.

You could always finish it in the oven, not wrapped in foil. Hopefully you have a broiling tray or something to set it on so that it doesn't sit in its own juices. This should work out the same as if it were in the smoker, just without the smoke. If you don't have a broiling tray, you could try putting it directly on the rack with a tray underneath to catch the juices. The brisket might sink into the oven rack though.
 
So my little trimmed brisket turned out pretty darn good! I have pictures but I haven't loaded them onto the computer yet.

The brisket had a really good smoky flavor to it and was quite tender. It was, however, a tad on the dry side (not packer after all). I found that having a pan of water in there really helped keep the temp stable. It zeroed in on 225 and just sat there the entire time.

So onto my next brisket we go! I'm going for a full packer this time. I'd like to have it ready to eat around 3pm on Saturday. My plan is get a 10-11 lb brisket, smoke it from 11pm to noon, wrap it in foil/igloo for the last 3 hours. Rest for 30 min, unwrapped. Cut, eat, drink beer, watch Texas roll TCU.

Thoughts on brisket #2?
 
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