Why a long hold for brisket works, and in fact is recommended

[Sweaty Paul]

Interesting video!

[bbqLuv]

2-6 hours brisket hold works for me with no complaints.
When I cook a brisket on my Traeger, I plan the cook and cook the plan. The plan includes rest times of 2-6 hours.

[DuckinBBQ]

Looking for some clarity. Trying to decipher the "hold" and this thread, if the brisket is taken off at 190, 195'ish, probe tender. Pulling the brisket and let it set until temp drops roughly 30 degrees and then into the faux cambro? I have always pulled it, wrapped (whether during or after the cook) and then directly in to the faux cambro. Or is this determined by the probe tender temperature? If 203'ish then it would have to rest, letting the temp come down to mitigate the carryover and the internal temp continuing to rise?

[realdocBBQ]

Looking for some clarity. Trying to decipher the "hold" and this thread, if the brisket is taken off at 190, 195'ish, probe tender. Pulling the brisket and let it set until temp drops roughly 30 degrees and then into the faux cambro? I have always pulled it, wrapped (whether during or after the cook) and then directly in to the faux cambro. Or is this determined by the probe tender temperature? If 203'ish then it would have to rest, letting the temp come down to mitigate the carryover and the internal temp continuing to rise?

There IS some disparity.... a 'long hold' in a faux cambro isn't exactly the same as a 'hot hold'. Not to my thinking, anyways.

If you're going to hold for say, 2 to 6 hours, then a preheated ice chest with lots of warmed towels for wrapping or something is probably sufficient. But in general, this is about as long as you can do it - at least with my run of the mill Coleman cooler. If you have those fancy-dancy YETI or whatever maybe it'll go longer, or something, I dunno, I can't afford those esspenssive ones.


But an actual HOT hold is an actively heated hold at 145-150. I can do this a couple of ways - my Yoder pellet will go down to 150, but this means a variable temp probably from 140-165 or something, swinging up and down. My cabinet propane smokers, I can barely get them down to 150ish at as low as I can set the burner. During the winter, this isn't hard, during summer, I might also have to crack or prop the door a half inch to keep it down this low.

My Breville toaster/convection oven in the kitchen is my best option, as I can set it on 140 or whatever on the 'Warm' option and leave it be for however long. I've done as long as 20 or 24 hours, but this was probably a bit too long. Honestly, 8-15 hours has been fabulous for me. I pull around 193-195 or so, wrap up in foil and go directly into the toaster oven. If I pull at over 200, I WILL let it sit open (usually doing foil boat) until it comes down to 170 or so before wrapping.

This has been my go-to for a while now, but I seldom cook brisket anymore anyways - I don't think I've done one since... last summer. Maybe last April ('25) when I did a wagyu as a giveaway. No, I think I did one a couple months after that for a friend, but yeah, probably pushing a year for me now.

[DuckinBBQ]

realdocBBQ Thank you for this. There is only two of us and I usually do one brisket a year during the summer. DW then cuts it to smaller chunks and vacuum packs so we have some throughout the year. Bought a Meat N' Bone Black Angus 18lb Grass Fed & Finished doing this weekend in honor of our nations 250th Birthday.