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.
Slather cut slices with LOTS of Heinz Kansas City BBQ Sauce, serve and enjoy. It doesn't get much better than this ;)
*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!