Holding a Brisket for 8+ Hours

[bobheaps1]

I'm hoping for feedback on how best to serve a 9 pound (small whole packer) brisket at a vacation cottage this weekend. I am planning on smoking at 225 deg. F Friday night and we leave for the 90 minute trip around 10 am Saturday morning.

Last year, I smoked an 8 pound pork butt through the night Friday, wrapped it early Saturday morning, and cooked to 203 and then double wrapped tightly in foil with broth and kept in a preheated cooler on the trip up and all day until 6 pm Saturday. At that point, the meat temp was about 160 and it was among the best pork butts I've done. I realize 8 hours in a faux cambro is not ideal.

With the planned brisket, I can either do the exact same process or put the brisket in the cooler at something less than 203 through the morning and early afternoon and then cook wrapped in an oven until temp is reached Saturday afternoon. Any thoughts on which would be better?

[DennyWoo]

Here is what i did on my last brisket. I held for 6 hours in a warm oven and it was fantastic. I posted this in another thread, so i am copy/pasting it in here:

I did brisket in the PBC 2 weeks ago and did it differently than I've ever done it, and it was the best brisket I have done by far. The next best brisket wasn't even in the same area code.

I got a smaller brisket than I usually get, about 13.5 lbs. Wet aged in the DMF for 6 weeks. Did a dry brine with Lawrey's and some kosher salt for about 12 hours. Added coarse ground black pepper right before going into the PBC. Trimmed, it was about 9.5 lbs. I did not hang it this time, but went right on the grate. It just fit on the grate with a little compressing, no touching on the sides of the drum. I rendered out the trimmings to make beef tallow for later on. I put the brisket on the grate fat cap UP. At about 6 hours, I would occasional check the brisket to tip it and drain off accumulating fat on the flat portion to allow the bark to develop (more on that later). I took it to 170 internal in the flat, then did the foil boat finish with the fat cap still UP, occasionally tipping to get keep the fat from pooling on the flat. Once it was probing tender throughout (203 flat internal) at about 11 hours, I put it on the kitchen counter in a pan with a loose tent of foil until the internal temp dropped to 180. Then I wrapped in pink butcher paper for the oven hold. This is where the tallow comes in. I coated the butcher paper with tallow to get it nice and pliable, then put the brisket on the paper and poured a little more tallow on the brisket. Wrapped it up nice and tight and into the oven set to warm. The internal settled in at about 165 degrees and stayed there for 6 hours until it was time to serve. When I took it out, I poured a little more tallow on before cutting. This method turned out a super jiggly and tender finished product, and the tallow was a perfect add-in for moistness, although it was super moist anyway.

The only thing wrong with this cook was that I was in a hurry before work to get it trimmed and into the DMF for the dry brine so I didn't get get the fat cap trimmed as closely as I would have liked. So I had a few portions of the flat that didn't render completely and led to the fat pooling problem. Otherwise, it was spot on.

My pics aren't all that great, but the brisket was!
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[RonB]

The only thing I would add is to monitor the temp of the meat in the cooler and move it to the oven set on it's lowest temp if the temp in the cooler approaches 150°. You want to make sure it stays above 140° to be safe, (although a short time below 140° won't hurt.)

[RonB]

I forgot to say welcome to the posting side of The Pit.

[Santamarina]

I’ve held brisket and pork butt for 12 hours with no problems. I use the oven on warm, which is about 170°F, and cycle it on and off so it doesn’t get too hot. Would be totally fine to spend the last couple hours of that hold in a cooler on the road.

This is my usual procedure now. Discovering I could have great barbecue for lunch AND still sleep the night before was a game changer.

[jfmorris]

I think your planned process - what you did last year with the butt - is spot on. I've held brisket for 6 hours before, and it was still up above 160F. I left a Thermoworks probe in the cooler, so that I could hook up my Dot or Smoke and keep an eye on the meat. If it approached 140F, I was going to toss it (still in foil) into a warm oven.

[bobheaps1]

Thank you all for the suggestions!