I just got a tiny offset smoker. Almost impossible to manage temperatures. Stayed up most of the night, made a million mistakes. Cooked too hot, a bit too smoky sometimes. Took it off too early thinking it was going to keep cooking during the hot hold until lunch. Had to reheat it to get it going again. Turned out AMAZING. The only real mistake was trying to sear the fat cap to get it to tighten back up a bit. The fat dripped onto the fire and made it smoky in a bad way. I took it off right away, no major damage except some of the fat stuck to the grill lol! Plus I almost dropped it trying to pull off this maneuver!
Everyone was raving about it and I’ve learned a lot for next time!
Brisket on the whole has kinda flagged as the popularity increased. Cooper’s out in Llano is great for ribs, chicken, and goodness me the pork chops…
But yeah, doing brisket on your own is great. A pellet smoker will make it good, a proper stick burner will make it great. But it’s all about the preparation. Good prep will make a mediocre cut so much better.