First brisket. Delicious, but top half was dry and bottom half was moist. Not sure why.

First, here's how i did it. Mustard as binder with Traeger's Coffee Rub. Put it on at 1:45am @225°. When I woke up at 8:30am internal temp was 170° so I wrapped in butcher paper and increased grill temp to 250°. At 10:45am internal was 209° and I pulled it. So 9 hour smoke. Put it in a small cooler for 2 hours to rest.

I'm not new to eating brisket lol but I'm new to cooking it/seeing it uncooked. I think the cut I had is a flat, not a full packer? Correct me if I'm wrong. It was only labeled as "brisket" because it's from a half cow we purchased that was butchered at a local place, versus an official label from a grocery store. It was either 5 or 7 lbs before cooking, I forget.

Neither side of the brisket had more visible fat than the other before cooking, so I just plopped it on the grill not knowing which side should be up vs down. The end result was the top section was pretty dry and the bottom section, under that middle membrane thingy, was super moist (and had more visible fat). Maybe I should have flipped it halfway through?

Despite the top half being a little dry I have no complaints. Flavor was fantastic. The rub was great – I highly recommend it.

Made lots of brisket mac n' cheese with leftovers!

I have a second brisket from the same cow in the freezer. I'm curious if after reading this anyone has suggestions on what I should do differently next time.

Thanks for reading!