Brisket ready TOO early .... Help


 
William E.

William E.

New member
This is my first brisket, a 13 pounder from Costco Canada. It was pretty well trimmed straight from the package. Sprinkled the meat liberally with SPG on the trimmed side (nothing on the fat cap). Used a 18" WSM with Kingsford briquettes. There was sand, covered in foil, in it's water pan. Monitored the cook with a ChefAlarm temperature probe in the meat.

The brisket went on the top grill fat side down when the WSM was at 300F. It later climbed and stayed at 315F. Foiled at 170F at the 4 hours mark. The temperature then slowly dropped to 250F as the briquettes burned to practically to ash. Cooked another 1 hour and 40 minutes to reach 204F on the ChefAlarm. I then probed the brisket elsewhere with a Thermopen. It’s readings were 204-210°F. I lifted the brisket in the foil and into the large cooler. Covered the brisket in towels to rest.

It is not 12:30PM. Supper is at 5:30PM. I used other online cooks with parameters similar to mine as models to determine the starting time. How long can I safely rest the meat in the cooler and not wreck it? At that time do I carve it and store in the fridge?

Thanks!
 
If you have a good cooler and a good seal, it'll hold at a safe temperature for a LONG time.

Food safety guidelines are below 140F for hot food. I'd check it in 2 hours, and if you're concerned keep an eye on it. Even my cheap $20 cooler keeps food too hot to handle without gloves for over 2 hours at a hold.
 
What Steve said!
I had the same thing happen with my last brisket! Done about 5 hours before I’d expected! Dbl foil wrap, wrap in towels and let it relax in a cooler until time, you will be fine! If you get worried, set it in the oven at 200* it will be fine.
 
X3 on Steve.

I've held brisket in a cooler for 4+ hours and it was still too hot to handle with bare hands. I'd be careful opening it to check temps, you'll lose a lot of heat when you do that.
 
Good call on both not checking too often, and having a backup plan.

Congratulations on the dilemma of having the food ready in record time.
 
I will easily make it to supper time. After 4 hours wrapped in towels in the cooler it is still at 185F. Thanks to everyone who responded. You have been a lifeline with your input!
 
Outstanding William! Dinner will be a smash hit! Welcome to the “Are you KIDDING me!!!” club.
Happened to me in June! Everything turned out just fine.
As a side note, prime Brisket was$3.59 at Costco this morning so, I grabbed one. I find my stomach is happier when there is one available at the drop of a day or two!
 
I planned an easter brisket but needed to hold it for 6 plus hours in a cooler. I put a heating pad in the cooler with the meat. Left it on high the whole time. Worked perfect meat was still hot when I pulled it out almost 7 hours later.
 
The heating pad might be a good idea, but those are resistance heating elements. I'd be taking care to make sure it stays clean and dry.
 
One word of caution which is probably way too late. At temps above 180F the meat is continuing to cook and render collagen. The approach I'd recommend is leaving it sit on the counter, wrapped, until the temp has dropped to 180F. THEN put it in the cooler. It'll still stay above the safe holding temp for a long time but it won't continue cooking.

I had a bad experience a couple years ago when I did four Boston butts that got done long before dinner time. I wrapped them straight off the smoker and put them in a good cooler. When I went to pull them five hours later they completely fell apart. And that is not the wonderful level of tender you might expect. It was like mush. Literally all of the collagen had rendered and there was nothing holding the muscle fibers together. It tasted okay, but the texture was not good at all.

As to the heating pad idea, at least some modern heating pads shut off automatically after 20-30 minutes for safety reasons.

What I've done before is put a couple patio blocks in the oven at 200F while the meat is in the smoker. Wrap the blocks in newspaper and put in the bottom of the cooler. That gives you a lot more thermal mass that allows holding a safe temp for a very long time. Put 20 pounds of block at 200F in the cooler and you could probably go 24 hours and still be in the safe zone. Not recommending that, just saying it's possible.
 
JayHeyl said:
What I've done before is put a couple patio blocks in the oven at 200F while the meat is in the smoker. Wrap the blocks in newspaper and put in the bottom of the cooler. That gives you a lot more thermal mass that allows holding a safe temp for a very long time. Put 20 pounds of block at 200F in the cooler and you could probably go 24 hours and still be in the safe zone. Not recommending that, just saying it's possible.
Click to expand...

Winner, winner, brisket dinner!

I may just have to pick up some blocks for just that purpose.
 
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