Oh no, my brisket is done way too early.. 6 hours to dinner time...what do I do??


 
P

Pierre D

New member
Doing my third brisket today. My first two took me about 11-12 hours. They were (tasty) good, but slightly on the dry side and not as tender as should be. For those, I smoked at 220-230F with water in the smoker. Not sure what I did wrong the prior 2 cooks, but today I decided to use a different method: the one described on the forum where no water is used in the smoker, and to foil once the brisket reaches about 150 degrees. I also injected the meat the night before with some beef broth/spices.

So I got up early this morning to get my 8.25 pound brisket done for dinner when guests will arrive. Brisket was on the smoker by 5:45 Am.

For some reason, I could not get the temperature right today. The smoker temp guage showed 250F;my thermometer showed temperatures varying between 260-280F

The result is my meat reached 155F by 9:30 AM. I foiled it (with a small amount of beef broth) and next think you know, at 11AM the meat temperature is 198F It is tender perfect however.

So I now have the brisket in a cooker, all wrapped up, waiting....my guests do not come in for another 6 hours.


Any recommendations on what else I should do to have the meat ready in 6 hours? It is safe in the cooler or do I eventually need to put it in the refrigerator? Do I re-heat it? If so, what is best way so that it does not dry out?

Regarding quick cook time, do you think the reason temperature was so hot was because I did not have water in the smoker? Everything else was the same. Same wood, all vents closed except top. If anything outside temperature cooler today.
 
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Preheat your cooler by putting hot water in it. Dump that out. Wrap the brisket with foil and towels and put in cooler. You'll be fine.

Edit. Even if you didn't heat the cooler you are fine.
If this is the first time you've foiled that would account for the shorter cook time. Some briskets just cook fast.
 
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As Dustin says. I did that with ribs once. After 4 hr they were steaming when i unfoiled. Almost too hot to hold. It'll be fine.
 
Thanks. Hopefully it'll still be nice and warm :) It's hard to resist not eating some now, but I don't want to open it up and mess things up.

So in the future, I should expect faster cooking time if I foil than if I don't. If it's supposed to be 1- 1 1/2 hour/pound unfoiled, what is the time supposed to be when foiling?

Do fresh briskets tend to cook faster than less fresh ones? This one was definitely fresh.
 
foil speeds up cooking times and not sure what you mean by fresh or less fresh.....i am not cooking or eating anything that is not fresh myself.
 
There are a lot of factors. Fat content, fluid, connective tissue, etc that all contribute to how long it takes to cook a brisket. They all are a little different.
 
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