How long to thaw this brisket?

[DaveD]

Hi folks, I'm gearing up to try my first full brisket sometime next week during my Staycation, it's a shade under 13lb/6kg. It's in the chestie at -4F/-20C. How long do you reckon it will take to thaw in the fridge? Thanks!

[rlozinak]

That will take a good 3-4 days

[captainlee]

Agree

[bbqLuv]

Ditto

[Mosca]

Sounds right, maybe 5. Take it out now.

[Dadof3Illinois]

let it thaw just enough to trim then put it on the smoker. I cook briskets and pork butts from frozen often with no problems whatsoever. It doesn't take much longer either....maybe 45 mins?

[smokin fool]

I really like this method, I've used this on pork butts, never tried it on a brisket.

[Ahumadora]

Yep, I smoke from frozen a lot of times. Works great

[Steve R.]

I do this all the time with pork butts, especially when I buy a 2-pack and only need one. Just season them both and one goes in the cooker and the other in the freezer.

I posted photo evidence somewhere on here of a side-by-side comparison of one frozen and one fresh, with the thermometer reading like 154° on each. There may have been a .04° difference at that point. I ended up pulling them at the same time and really could tell no difference in the finished product.

[jfmorris]

The only downside to smoking from frozen is the lack of time for a dry brine, and I am a firm believer of dry brining my beef if I have time. As the others said, it usually takes 3-4 days to thaw in the fridge, and will often still read below freezing when you insert the temp probe. Be sure to probe the thickest part of the FLAT, avoiding the deckle (fat layer between point and flat). Do not worry about the temp of the point - just monitor the flat. I usually probe from the side where I can see the edge, and push the probe in horizontally from the side until it reaches the center of the flat.

Back on cooking from frozen - I have smoked many Boston butts directly from the freezer. I just ran water over them so that I could get the rub to stick, then on they went. After an hour or two I was able to insert my thermometer probe. Starting from frozen does add 1-2 hours to the cook time.

[bbqLuv]

jfmorris "probe the thickest part of the FLAT", "Do not worry about the temp of the point", I do this, but I know not why.

I have been known to inject a brisket with beef broth. I guess that could be done in the smoker after thawed.

[jfmorris]

bbqLuv the point has SO much fat content, it can handle the heat. It also heats at a different rate and will reach 200ish before the flat. If you pull the brisket based on temp of the point, the flat is almost never done.

[Dadof3Illinois]

I've found over the years that a dry brine on large cuts of meat doesn't really do much for me. I agree for ribs, chicken, roasts, steaks.....but on large cuts, they spend more time in the good smoke and you get a nice crusty bark.
The true downside of doing from frozen is maintaining a consistent heat. That hunk of ice can have you burn through some charcoal if your using something like a 22" kettle.

[Mosca]

I’ve thawed huge briskets in 8 hours by filling the sink with water and immersing the brisket.

[bbqLuv]

And if cooked to 200+ degrees no need to worry about bacteria, I assume, and the meat does not spoil.

[jfmorris]

I used to do this with my thanksgiving turkey too, I even floated several in a bathtub full of water to thaw them, because the wife was using the kitchen sink.

The issue is, if that meat has botulism spores inside the cryovac, hours with the surface at room temp while waiting on the thing to thaw all the way through gives time for toxins that won't cook out to develop.

[MsTwiggy]

This works with cold water. And because the brisket is a huge block of ice you don't need to worry about bacteria. The water will stay nice and cold.

[DaveD]

Thanks folks, I got the brisket into the fridge earlier this afternoon. This is my first brisket, so not going to try any tricks like cooking from frozen. Gonna thaw it, trim it, dry brine for a couple days, and smoke it at 225F/104C for the duration. It'll already have to be an overnight cook, which my Pit Boss pellet smoker will be able to handle easily. Not going to introduce any other variables...!

Edit: The rate-limiting step is going to be the weather. This time of year, the dew point is up near 70F/21C much of the time and afternoon & evening thunderstorms are common. Gonna have to use judicious timing...

[Jfrosty27]

Good choice. First one…..follow the basics. It’s going to be great!!

[Mosca]

You don’t have to dry brine it that long, 12-24 hours is plenty.

[Bogy]

You can either thaw it low and slow, or hot and fast. Play by the rules on your first brisket, and then when you feel more confident, try variations. How long to thaw, how cold when it goes in the smoker (I like to start with the outside thawed enough that a little dry brine takes place, but when I put the probe in it reads about 28-30, which will let you put the probe in), wrap or no wrap, temp of the cooker, I'll make adjustments to all of those if it's not meeting my time expectations. I get better results from big pieces of meat that start out frozen or almost frozen than using smoke tubes or other contraptions. Personally, I think a lot of people who complain that their meat doesn't pick up enough smoke are listening to the advice of people who start out with, "bring the meat to room temperature." I stop reading as soon as I read that. Why would I waste 40 degrees worth of prime smoke absorbing ability of the meat?

[DaveD]

Could not agree more! I read all of those things in Meathead's book and on the free side, and man did it resonate with me. In my world, we use "getters" and "cold fingers" inside our analytical instruments, typically liquid N cooled, to prompt any stray molecules in a vacuum chamber to plate out. Our back fridge, from where anything bound for the smoker stages, sits at about 38F/3C, and that's what temp my meat goes on at.