Set up a two-zone fire and leave the lid alone.

Yes. It’s simpler than you think.

Two main things: how you arrange the coals and how you control air.

For anything over an hour, you want coals on one side only — that’s your heat source. Meat goes on the other side (indirect heat). Then you’re not fighting flare-ups and you can run a steady temp.

For really long cooks (brisket, pork shoulder), use the snake method. Line unlit charcoal briquettes in a half-circle or two-deep row, toss a few lit coals at one end. They’ll burn slowly down the line, like a fuse. That gives you 6–8 hours without touching it. The Minion method (lit coals on top of a pile of unlit) works too, but snake is more predictable.

Temp control is all air. Bottom vent is your main throttle — open to raise temp, close to lower. Top vent should stay mostly open (like 75%) to let smoke escape. Don’t touch the lid unless you have to. Every time you open it, you let in a rush of oxygen and spike the temp, then lose heat. Just trust the vents and wait 15 minutes after any adjustment.

The best thing you can do is resist the urge to fiddle.