Brisket with a overnight Sous Vide Rest

[KuKuPuffs]

Hello Friends,

I tried a SVQ method once before. Now I'm going to try a QVS method.

Planning on doing a big cook this Saturday for a lunch gathering. Since I don't feel like getting up in the middle of the night to have a brisket ready by noon I'm going to try a technique I saw on Chud's BBQ Youtube where he used sous vide bath to hold and rest the brisket overnight until serving time.

I have a 10 pound full packer brisket. My game plan is as follows:

Start smoking the day before on Friday around 12 noon. Based on the PBC Stickied post I think a 10 pound brisket will take about 8-9 hours to cook.

1. B&B Lump Charcoal. PBC Temp at 250F using a Fireboard/Pit Viper combo
2. Brisket will be seasoned with a John Lewis style rub (Pepper, Kosher Salt, Garlic, Lawry's Seasoned salt). No binder (mustard, pickle juice etc.)
3. Hang with flat towards the charcoal until I have a nice bark probably around 180F
4. Throw the fat trimming in a small foil pan and place on the Hinged grate for rendering
5. Butcher Paper Wrapped with Rendered Fat and placed on the grate with fat cap side down until 203F
6. Rest on a cutting board until 145F (thanks @Jerod Broussard)
7. Then into the vacuum seal bags, double wrapped for safety
8. Hold in the sous vide bath at 150F ((thanks @Jerod Broussard)) until serving time next day (10pm until next day12 noon ish)



Any additional tips or techniques I should tweak?

edit: Post has been updated with the cook.

[bbqLuv]

Pictures please?

[KuKuPuffs]

Pictures please?

i definitely will!

[Jerod Broussard]

I'd let it drop down to 145 and hold at 150.

[KuKuPuffs]

i'll take your advice and do that!

[jhapka]

Very interested

[jfmorris]

I've held a brisket for many hours in foil in a low oven or faux cambro. I've not tried using the sous vide for the hold. BUT - and this is a big but - this is pretty much what I do with my QVS pastrami. I smoke the pastrami to 170, pull, vacuum seal and refrigerate, then sous vide in the vacuum bag at 195F for 4 hours. Serve. Perfect. The biggest difference is the time you are putting it in the sous vide is a lot longer.

You could always pull it out of the sous vide an hour before your guests arrive, and put it on a pan in a 170F oven to dry out the surface a little for serving. Keep any juice from the bag (and wrap on the smoker) for pouring over the slices from the flat if they need some moisture.

[fzxdoc]

This looks like a good plan. Let us know how the cook turns out, and how it compares to the SVQ brisket cook you did before.

Kathryn

[impishgrin]

Was planning to do this method next week myself. Really excited to see how yours went.

[Polarbear777]

Should be good, but the bark will soften.

Right before serving, do a fat flash. (Unwrap the brisket, put on a rack on a sheet pan outside. Heat up the extra fat or some oil to 375 and slowly pour over the brisket to crisp the bark). Be careful and make sure you don’t overflow the sheet pan - do it outside in case you spill any.

[das85]

Very curious to hear/see how this turns out!

[rlozinak]

Looking forward to pictures

[KuKuPuffs]

It was a 10 hour cook. Started around 2pm and finished at midnight



1. B&B Lump Charcoal. PBC Temp at 250F using a Fireboard/Pit Viper combo
2. Brisket will be seasoned with a John Lewis style rub (Pepper, Kosher Salt, Garlic, Lawry's Seasoned salt). No binder (mustard, pickle juice etc.)




3. Hang with flat towards the charcoal until I have a nice bark.




4. Throw the fat trimming in a small foil pan and place on the Hinged grate for rendering

5. It was probing at 180F in the flat and 173F in the Point by the 7th hour. (I threw some split breast in there for dinner). Butcher Paper Wrapped with Rendered Fat and placed on the grate with fat cap side down. I raised the smoker temp to 280 and waited until 203F to pull it.

6. I rested on a foil pan until 160F couldn't wait until the 145F too sleepy! At this point the fat was nice and sticky, the brisket was probing kind of tender but I thought there be a bit more jiggle to it from the touch. I kind of regret not taking a slice for a taste before the sous vide bath.



7. Double Bagged Vacuum sealed and into the sous vide at 150F just before midnight


8. Pulled it out of the bag the next day at 12 noon (12 hour rest). It didn't feel very jiggly like it was in the Chud BBQ video. There also wasn't as much liquid. Maybe a 1/4 cup. Waited about 20 minutes to let it rest a bit before slicing.



9. Slicing the Flat. It kind of looked dry.



10. The point came out better and was more moist



11. Money shot didn't really produce oozing juice



Overall thoughts. I don't think I did a very good job with my brisket smoke in the PBC. I went lower with temperature this time at 250, but even it just kind of came out dryer than I expected. My guests said it was the tastiest brisket they had and everything was devoured but I know better, it could be more moist/tender.

I do like the sous vide technique since serving lunch the next day was so easy without rushing or anxiety of "when is the bbq done?"

Any additional advice/tips is appreciated to help my next brisket cook more tender/juicier.

[Jerod Broussard]

The flat is one of the driest hunks of meat on the cow. Night and day difference between the flat and point

[WayneT]

Wow, only 1/4 cup of purge from a 10 lb packer during that overnight, 12 hour rest at 150F? 🤔 I got 2 cups from a 6 lb flat that I SV for 50 hours at 145F a couple weeks ago. And my flat was still moist after it came off the smoker to set the bark. That’s just an observation. Maybe someone much more knowledgeable can explain how that could happen, with the understanding that every brisket is qualitatively different.

[Jerod Broussard]

WayneT he was resting/holding in the bag, not cooking. It was already cooked and pretty much purged out. And briskets are about as inconsistent as inconsistent itself.