I am doing an overnight brisket on a pellet grill. By doing it this way, I hope to have a normal night’s sleep and still end up with a nice, juicy brisket.
The plan was to start the cook on my Z-Grills pellet grill on 200°F, around 11 PM, have it ready to rest around noon, and serve at dinner time.
I had to trim the brisket first. However, since I am not an expert in that, and there are tons of videos on how to do that. I am not going to show that.
Seasoning A Brisket
Since this was only the second brisket I ever did, I decided to keep it simple and use what most Texas brisket experts use.
- Course black pepper
- Salt
- Garlic.
I watched videos, and most of them recommended starting with the pepper as the first layer. The reason is that there will be open spots in between the pepper corns.
The second layer was the salt. Since it is finer than the pepper, it will fill in the open spots between the pepper corns.
The third layer is the garlic powder. This is even finer than the salt and perfect to fill up the rest of the open spots.
I also put all the fat that I trimmed off the brisket in an aluminum pan.
How To Smoke A Brisket Overnight
Keytakeaway
- Trim brisket
- Season brisket
- Preheat pellet grill to 200°F
- Place brisket on pellet grill. Fat side down
- Place temperature probe
- Go to bed
- Let internal temperature alarm wake you up.
- Wrap and put back on grill at 225°F
- Cook till 203°F
- Stop cooking process.
- Keep warm till supper time
Binder or No Binder for Brisket Rub
I have seen many opinions about using a binder on briskets, or any other types of meat. I decided not to use one for no particular reason.
Overnight Pellet Grill Brisket – Recipe
I read that the best thing to do is cook the brisket fat side down if you are using a pellet grill. The reason is that the heat source is under the brisket and the fat layer will protect the brisket from burning.
I alo had to answer the quesion of what temperature to smoke a brisket overnight. I did some research and decided to go for 200°F.
After that place the brisket on the grill around 11 PM, and cook all night.
Sound simple, but that is exactly what I did. I set the alarm on my ChefsTemp Quad Xpro at 160°F and went to bed.
Around 5 in the morning, I woke up (that’s what old men do), checked the internal temperature, and it was 154°F. About an hour later, I checked again, and it was still around that.
So, I guessed it hit the so-called stall.
Time to get out of bed, make coffee, and wrap the brisket. Some of the fat I had on the pellet grill turned into some nice tallow.
Wrapping The Brisket
There are several ways you can wrap a brisket, and it is just a personal preference. I decided to use aluminum foil this time, and maybe next time I will try butcher paper.
Before wrapping, I poured some of the rendered tallow over the brisket.
I use heavy-duty aluminum foil for the BBQ. I have good experience with it. I placed 2 sheets that overlapped several inches on the table and tried to wrap the brisket as tightly as possible in the aluminum foil.
Back on the grill. At this time, I also raised the temperature to 225°F.
Pull Brisket Off the Grill
Around noon, the internal temperature was 202°F. Right at the time that I was hoping it would be. That gave me enough time to let it cool, stop the cooking process, and let it rest for a few hours.
Stop The Cooking Process
Around 1 Pm the temperature was around 155°F. So, that showed that the cooking process had stopped.
Keeping Briskets Warm
Now I had to decide on how to keep the brisket warm till dinner time. I have a cheap cooler and was not sure if it would work for more than 4 hours
I decided to use the pellet grill at the lowest setting, and I placed it back on the pellet grill to keep it warm till supper timeI decide.
For my pellet grill, the lowest temperature is 160°F. This worked really well, and although they say that 150°F is better, most of us have to use what we have.
Slicing and Serving
I have to be honest and mention that the first brisket I smoked, I messed up by slicing it wrong. I did not slice it against the grain. This time I paid more attention.
I started slicing at the part of the flat, and that turned out very good.
The brisket was juicy, and when I did the pull test, it fell apart really nice.
Overnight Brisket On A Pellet Grill – My Experience
Overall, I was very happy with the result. It was not the highest quality brisket for the reason that I had to learn first how to cook a brisket before spending money on a better qualty brisket.
I used my Z-Grill, but am sure that it also works on a Traeger, Pitt-Boss or any other kind of brand.
I was a little dry at some part, but not that bad. Nothing I could not improve with adding some more tallow or butter before the wrapping.
Things I would like to improve. I would like to have either a top quality cooler or a warm hold optionm such as an electric smoker.
Eddie van Aken – The Grilling Dutchman
Eddie van Aken is the founder of The Grilling Dutchman, where he shares practical BBQ tips, smoking techniques, recipes, and grill reviews based on real-world experience. After years of cooking on pellet grills, charcoal grills, smokers, and kamado cookers, he focuses on helping backyard cooks get better results with less guesswork. Learn more about Eddie van Aken. Learn more about Eddie van Aken.