Empty hopper overnight

Overnight brisket is a hopper problem dressed up as a meat problem. An 18 lb hopper looks huge on a Saturday afternoon. It looks small at 3 a.m. when the grill has been holding 225 F in the wind for ten hours.

Large barrels make it worse. More steel and more leaks mean more pellets for the same set point. That is why a Pro 780 and a Pro 575 can share an 18 lb hopper and not share the same overnight odds.

Use the warning, then ignore pride

The calculator flags three bad cases: pellets at or above hopper size, pellets at 85% of hopper size, and a cook of 8+ hours with under 4 lb left on paper. Those are conservative on a calm night and optimistic in a storm.

Try a 14 lb brisket on a Pro 575 hopper in winter. Then switch the grill to a 40 lb hopper model and see the warning drop.

Practical refill habits

Fill the hopper before you go to sleep, not when it looks "pretty full."

Leave a second bag where you will actually walk at midnight. Not on a high shelf.

If you refuse to get out of bed, you need more hopper or a shorter cook, not a nicer app. Compare listed hopper sizes in the grill database.