Brisket Done Too Early


 

I Marks

TVWBB Member
I was to host a BBQ lunch today but it has been rescheduled to dinner. The brisket will be done at noon. How best to hold it to 6 PM? Thanks all.
 
Wrap with foil after you let it rest a few minutes to avoid too much carryover heat. Then, overwrap with a few towels and pop it in a cooler and leave it alone, you will be fine.
Some folks heat a firebrick and put that in the cooler too, not a bad idea but, I’ve never done that.
 
Thank you, Timothy but should I be concerned the brisket will dry out or develop bacteria this way? 6 hours in the cooler sounds like a long time without refrigeration.
 
If your worried leave a probe in it. If it's above 140 it's safe. Another method is to preheat your cooler by putting hot water in it to warm it up, and then dumping that out to put in your brisket. It's not an option right now, but leaving the cooler out in the sun can help. 6 hours is a long hold but not unheard of. I've gotten 5 pretty easily but I don't remember if I was venting my briskets back then.
 
It'll stay above 140 degrees F, outside of the bacterial risk zone. Not only will this carry your brisket to dinner, I'd suspect it'll be one of the best ones you've made due to the very long rest. Don't open the cooler until you're ready to serve, though, you'll lose a LOT of heat every time it's cracked.

Personally, I plan for a minimum of 2 hours in a cooler, and don't even blink twice at 4 hours. 6 hours is not a problem.
 
Thanks for the good ideas. I'm in Florida so I think I'll leave the cooler out in the sun. A little worried though about the meat drying out over 6 hours.
 
I pulled the brisket at 203 degrees. It's wrapped in a couple of towels in a pre-warmed cooler. Temp is 194 after about an hour. Sound OK?
 
Like the others said, I also think you should be fine. I once put a probe in the brisket before closing it in the cooler and never got lower than 160 in four hours. I typically fold a couple of towels in the bottom and then add a couple slightly snugged around the top. With it foil wrapped, it would be hard-pressed to dry out -- more likely to stay moist.
 
6.5 hours from pulling to serving! Tender and moist as everyone assured me it would be. Thanks to all for the help and confidence. Much appreciated.
 
I won' argue that a LONG rest is intuitive...... but experience shows it's one of the best ways to serve good tender brisket.

Glad to hear that it all went well.
 
Truthfully, done early is way better than waiting for one taking too long. Extra rest time is usually going to make it better.

My worst case scenario is my impatient wife...once she smells that brisket coming in through the door, I’m hard pressed to even get 20 minutes rest on it!
 

 

Back
Top