You can certainly do that. About the first 2-4 hours is all the smoke the meat will absorb. You can finish in the oven if you’d prefer.
I know that a full packer can be hard to get, and it’s a lot of meat, but I think it’s really the only way to make a perfect brisket. The extra fat and connective tissue in the point makes maintaining a juicy brisket much easier. I fold the brisket over in the smoker with the fat cap on top, and I don’t trim it off until serving. Sometimes it shrinks down to almost nothing, and I don’t even have to trim it.
I actually used their rub before I ate there. Their barbecue is pretty awesome, even if getting a squirt of mustard on your BBQ sandwich is a little weird. 
Bailey’s in downtown Fort Worth is a hell of a barbecue, too.
If you are still in DFW, and haven’t tried Pecan Lodge, go there as soon as you can. The wait is usually 45 minutes, their prices are high, and they’re a place that will run out of meat by late in the day. It’s worth every bit of fuss, and merits all of its hoopla. We went there for my sister-in-law’s birthday, and it was as good as my best home made brisket. I can probably list 10-15 barbecue joints in the area that I like, but that’s the only one I can say that about.
Mmmmm, tasty black meteorites.
I don’t believe in doing small ones. BBQ freezes well, so if I do more than needed (like the 20-lb turkeys for just my wife and I) we’ll package them up into 1-2 lb portions that we can thaw every couple of weeks for a dinner and a couple sandwiches.
Anyway, I agree that putting it in the oven should be just fine, flavor-wise.
One of my favorite things about Saint Patrick’s Day is the inexpensive corned beef that floods the market. Some for simmerin’, some for smokin’. They freeze pretty well so stock up. I’ll be out of town for St Pat’s this year for a ski trip but will be celebrating on the slopes.
When smoking corned beef, it is critical to soak the meat to draw a lot of the salt out. The brisket does nothing but shrink up and that salt has nowhere to go so the already salty meat gets extra concentrated. You’ll have to plan two to four days ahead. Rinse the meat well and put in a bucket with at least a couple gallons of cold water. Change twice or three times a day till cook time. Then air dry for a couple hours and rub with yellow mustard (the dollar store stuff is great for this) and copious coarse black pepper and ground coriander seed. Low & slow with your favorite smoke wood. If I’m firing up the WSM and going to all the trouble, I make a point and a flat as they are usually sold separately. I’m salivating like mad just thinking about this.
Fry some up, beef bacon. Gurgle
I live alone and have never done a full packer brisket. They are just huge cuts of meat. However, I can usually find them cryo’d at the local Walmart. I think they are also usually available at GFS if you have those around.
+1 on the taking BBQ notes. I keep a notebook and log temps, times, meat weights, weather, rubs, wood and probably some other stuff.
I recently bought a Thermowand for $28 shipped and it is impressive. It resolves a stable temp reading in a couple seconds. I haven’t played with a Thermapen but can’t imagine that it could be significantly better than this Thermawand. The 'pen is 3.5 times the cost of the 'wand.
Smoked Bacon, as in cook it on the smoker, yes it does in fact taste even better.
Smoked fried egg, a small cast iron skillet works great for this. They even have tiny single egg ones you can get. takes 20-30 min maybe more, looks fake when done but the taste is really really good.
Smoked portobello mushrooms, I take some oil (canola/avocado or whatever you have) and mix in spices, roll the mushrooms in the spice/oil mix making sure to get some in the fins then smoke stem up for a couple hours.
Smoked burgers (sirloin from costco work great)
Chicken, I smoke a ton of chicken and chop it up for sandwiches/soups/with rice/whatever.
Smores, Smoker smores are one of my ideas, take a large marshmallow, cut a cross in the top with a butter knife (more like stab a cross in the top) smoosh in some peanut butter, then stuff a dove dark chocolate square into the mallow, set on a gram cracker square and set that on a foil square thats larger by a bit, (they some times tip over) after about 30-45 min take them off and let cool for 10ish min before eating. they are messy and tasty.
Fish, Duh.
I have a small Treager smoker/grill, I love the thing.
That looks good. Amazon has it for $24.99 with free Prime shipping. I was about to order it but I wanted to ask if the probe is long enough to get to the center of a thick piece of meat?
You’re probably right. When it comes to smoked food, I’m on the consuming side rather than the producing side.
It depends on how thick we’re talking but I’d say that it is. The probe is 2.75 inches so is able to probe the center of a 5"+ thick piece.
Really, I only have a very minor gripe and it is the red color I ordered is more like a coral. When I first got it (it arrived at work), I amused myself for an embarrassingly long time switching between a hot cup of coffee and ice water bath.
I’d mentioned logging in my previous message and forgot to list perhaps the most important data point: the results!
What good is a log if you don’t record what worked and didn’t work based on your preferences and goals? Too much smoke, adjust salt up/down, bark ratings, etc.
I don’t take as many as I used to but photos can be helpful when starting out so that you can learn how to arrange the food in the smoker to account for hot and cold spots and even things out. I now roll my ribs or foil under the tips or place on pans to keep the ends from getting too hot and then overcooking. The outside of the WSM is significantly hotter than the center. Tip: put this heat to use by tossing a couple sausages on the perimeter. They’ll cook up quick with a kiss of smoke.
Lo and behold! My local market has brisket on sale. I bought a piece labeled “Angus Beef Brisket Flat Whole.” It is just under 6 lbs. Help me not eff it up. I plan to smoke it tomorrow (or possibly Sunday if the weather doesn’t cooperate.)
Give me your best brisket tips (pun intended.)