Brisket Question

[Rainmaker]

My son surprised me last night by giving me a 15 lb packers cut brisket as my birthday present.  He is good friends with a guy who runs a very popular BBQ restaurant in town.  The brisket is still in the cryovac packaging.  The question I have is; how long can I leave it before I either smoke it or freeze it?  As a follow, on does freezing have any negative effects on the moistness of the brisket when it is cooked?  The brisket is 21 inches long so I may have to cut it.  I've done a couple of briskets before, using Pachanga's method, and been very happy with how they turned out so plan to do that again.  They were a little bit smaller and I was able to fit them in whole by bending into the "u" shape Pachanga talks about.

[DTAggie]

Any idea when it was cut and pit in the cryovack?  I freeze butts all the time and thaw and smoke and have no issues with moistness.

[FLBentRider]

The Briskets I've received from Snake River farms are frozen, no issues with dryness.

[KyNola]

The Briskets I've received from Snake River farms are frozen, no issues with dryness.

Ditto FLBR.

If you're not going to smoke your brisket this weekend, I would go ahead and freeze it since you don't know when it was processed and packaged just to be on the safe side.  Would hate to lose a brisket, especially a FREE one! :)

[Caneyscud]

Freeze and thaw - no problem either.  Just takes a while to thaw. 

[beefmann]

freeze, thaw no problem,,  smoke, freeze no problem, so take your  choice, once smokes do vac seal before freezing

[Rainmaker]

Okay, brisket is in the freezer waitng for a good time to smoke it.  Thanks for the advice.