1poorlady says from now on I will only be smoking for dinner. So, wake up early, put it on, and it's ready by dinner time. Plus, you can put the rub on the night before, let it sit for 8 hours while you sleep, and then pop it in the smoker. She felt really bad about having me stay up all night.

Waking up at 5am wouldn't be too bad. And the MEATER probe and phone app made it really easy to monitor. There are other similar probes out there, so I'm not pushing MEATER. That's just the one I have. The app displays ambient temp (in the smoker), internal temp of the meat, and target temp (which I set), and alarms when the internal temp is hit. Wake up at 5, dinner ready by 7pm or so...that can work. I'll take the same approach with brisket, but that will take less time (i.e. you don't have to hit 204F for brisket, or any other meat you don't plan to "pull"). I think the internal temp for brisket is about 165F, which is about where the pause will be...wait for the pause, some key proteins start to break, and it becomes tender.

I just watched TV all night. Had to refresh myself on Jack Ryan before starting the next season. Had the phone next to me, and check it every half our or so just to make sure the readings were OK. I need to learn how to set alarms if the ambient deviates too much from 240F (which is my smoker target). Ready now for the next season of Jack Ryan.