Cooked my first ever brisket.
17 pounds / 8kg from Costco, trimmed somewhat. I had found a charcoal/truffle rub in NZ that I mixed with fresh ground salt n pepper, applied a day before.
Cooked with pecan smoking chunks, at a (dome temp) temp of 275F (135C) for the first 4 hours then 300F(150C) for another 3.5 hours in the foil boat. Fat side up, with a Kickstarter Meater in the top. Wrapped in wax paper, then towel tight into an Esky for 3.5 hours to rest.
Served perfectly rendered fatty strips in time to see the ABs keep the Eden park record alive vs the pumas.
Learning: Next time won't use the fancy rub. I definitely would just use salt n pepper next time.
I filled the basket with a decent amount of charcoal chunks. It barely used any of that on the cook and cool after, could probably cook two more briskets back to back with what's left.
Gloves to handle the meat is way easier than trying to move a hot 7kg blob of meat.
Anyone considering giving this a go: it was way easier than I thought it would be. But you need enough people to help eat it. We tried with 4 and barely made a dent.
Let me give you the ~~drug choices~~ options:
Bob's mod: adds complexity without going too crazy. If vanilla takes you 20-39 hours, bobs will take 50-60 hours. Absolutely recommend this point to start.
Bobs + Angels: my personal favorite - adds a lot more complexity, but still building on the above. Ore processing is huge and awesome. Expect finishing between 100 hours and 150.
Seablock: takes the above but makes it space restrictive - which is hard considering based are gigantic. Very cool mod, 300 hours average.
SE: doesn't use the bob/angel set, but is still a huge undertaking. Very few finish it, 500 hours is about the average I've seen posted.