This is my go-to process for brisket — the standard, no-frills overnight smoke I come back to more than any other method. Although the calendar said fall, the temps still felt like summer. Brisket prices had finally come back to earth, though, and I picked one up for just under $26 from my local GFS, paying $2.49/lb. I trimmed some of the hard fat off, which removed about 1.5 lbs from the starting weight.

Setting Up the Minion Method

As usual, I planned to smoke this overnight. I use the minion method for long cooks like this: fill the charcoal chamber about half full of unlit charcoal with hickory chunks buried inside, top it off with more unlit charcoal, then pour about half a chimney of fully lit coals over the top. I add a few small chunks of wood right on top of the lit coals too, so the brisket gets immediate smoke rather than waiting for the buried wood to catch.

One thing worth doing carefully: fill the water pan only after the smoker is fully assembled and sitting over the lit charcoal, pouring the water in at that point rather than before.

I went with fat up on this cook — there’s a lot of debate on fat up vs. fat down, and this is just what I went with this time.

The Overnight Stretch

Once the temp stabilized between 225-250°F, I went to bed. I don’t do anything special once a brisket’s on the smoker — no basting, no spritzing, no wrapping until it’s actually finished.

Lesson learned the hard way: on one of these overnight cooks, I forgot to fill the water pan with hot water before starting — just used it straight from the tap. By 10pm, the smoker was rolling smoke but still sitting under 225°F. I had to adjust the vents, opening two of the three fully, before it climbed back up. If you’re doing this overnight and want a smoother ride to temperature, start your water pan hot.

I generally check on it early the next morning, then go about my usual routine — I’ll walk the dogs or play a round of golf while it finishes up. On this particular cook, I checked in the morning and it was reading 190°F, still short of my preferred 203°F finish. I walked the dogs and played 9 holes, and by the time I got back, it was done. Total cook time came to 13 hours.

Resting and Holding

The cook time and temp matter, but resting the brisket properly afterward matters just as much. I double-wrap it in foil and place it in a cooler with towels above and below.

How long you can hold it really comes down to when you want to eat. On this cook, I rested it 2.5 hours before slicing. On another overnight brisket, I wasn’t ready to serve right at finish time, so I held it in the cooler far longer — checked at 12:30pm and it was still over 160°F, then pulled it at 2pm at 155°F, still moist and ready to slice. I’ve held a brisket like this up to 6 hours using this method without any issue.

Slicing and Serving

With a whole packer, there are two sections — the flat and the point. I prefer the point; it has more fat content. I separate the two and slice the point first.

Sometimes I’ll serve it straight, other times sliced up on slider buns — either way, it never lasts long.

I’ve cooked brisket several different ways over the years — sous vide, hot and fast, hanging the point off a raw packer for burnt ends — but this overnight method is still the one I think of when someone says “brisket.” Get the WSM settled in before bed, let it run overnight, and give yourself plenty of time for the hold. It doesn’t need to be complicated.

For the full breakdown of every method I’ve tried — hot and fast, sous vide, the smoker-size question, and burnt ends — see the Complete Brisket Guide.

Complete Brisket Guide