Brisket used to scare me — the cost of the product and the amount of time needed to cook one felt like a real risk/reward proposition. And yes, my name really is Steve Miller, so the title was inevitable. I’ve since conquered that fear, helped along by the price coming down and by getting a few cooks of practice under my belt. I’d already done a few with the hot and fast method, but this one was a proper midnight smoke.
The brisket came from my local GFS, a choice cut. I trimmed the majority of the fat off, as recommended, and kept the seasoning simple — just salt and coarse pepper.
Setting Up the Smoke
For a long smoke like this, you want to make sure the product doesn’t dry out, so I filled the water pan before starting. To get things going, I put about 30 pieces of charcoal in the chimney starter and waited until they were fully lit. I filled the bottom chamber almost completely with unlit charcoal, then poured the lit coals on top.
The brisket needed some maneuvering to fit on the cooking surface, but as I’d learned from past cooks, it shrinks down once it starts cooking. I threw in several large chunks of pecan and hickory, and monitored the temp over the next couple hours to make sure it stayed stable — running just under 250°F.
The Overnight Stretch
I went to bed intending to sleep straight through, but as a network engineer, I was on an on-call rotation at the time. At 2:25am, I got paged for a network issue — bad for sleep, but it gave me a good excuse to sneak a look at the brisket.
I checked again when I got up, and it was still holding close to 250°F. I went and played a round of golf, and by the time I got back, the smoker had dropped to just over 200°F and the brisket’s internal temp was sitting at 170°F, 13 hours in. I fired up another 30 hot coals, added more unlit coals to the smoker, poured the lit ones in, and reassembled everything. I also topped off the water pan while I was in there. With the added fuel, the smoker climbed back up to just under 300°F.
It only took another two hours at that higher temp to push past my 205°F target. I pulled the brisket, double-wrapped it in foil, and placed it in a cooler with towels to rest. I let it sit three hours before slicing, and the internal temp was still holding at 170°F.
Result
Great brisket — fantastic flavor, very juicy. All in all, a genuinely easy cook, and nothing to fear at all.
Want to see the method I’ve stuck with ever since? Check out my Overnight Smoked Brisket post — same basic approach, refined over a few more years of doing this.
If you want to see everything I’ve learned about brisket since this first attempt, check out the Complete Brisket Guide.
Complete Brisket Guide