I know this was mentioned in a recent thread. Hoping to get a quick reference.

Brisket for tomorrow will come off the pit sometime between 9:00 and midnight tonight.

Would this be safe to wrap in towels and stuff in a cooler for serving around 1:00 tomorrow afternoon?

What about holding in an oven?

Thanks in advance

Looks like a smaller brisket, gonna be tough to hold it that long. If you try it, preheat the cooler by placing some bricks in aluminum foil that were heated for an hour or so before brisket. If you've got a wireless thermometer use that and keep the cooler closed. 140 is the danger zone. If it goes below 150, throw it in the oven.

What about a reheat option? Refrigerate overnight reheat tomorrow?

I have held briskets from 10:30AM until 7:00PM and they were still too hot to handle without gloves.

I left them in the butcher paper from the pit.

Towels down in the cooler, wrapping both directions.

Briskets in, wrapped with towels, filled the remaining space with other towels.

Don't open it until you're ready to cut and serve.

I used Styrofoam coolers that I had laying around in the garage.

Wrap, towel, cooler, etc. I would leave a wired temp probe in there and just make sure it stays above 140.

you can hold in the oven on the lowest setting (usually ~170) for a long time. Just turn off a few hours before serving so it comes down to 140 or below.

i know some of the good bbq places hold at 140 for upwards of 12 hours before service, but most normal ovens won't go quite that low. i've done it at 170 for 10 hours and it was just fine.

Hold fast to brisket
For if briskets dry
Life is a broken-winged bird
That cannot fly.

Hold fast to brisket
For when briskets go
Life is a barren field
Frozen with snow.

Have you been smoking the devil's lettuce?

Independence H-D said:

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Have you been smoking the devil's lettuce?

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Only 100% prime brisket being smoked here my friend

Holding a single brisket 12+ hours in a cooler might be stretching it a bit too far, even if you preheat it. I'd just stick it in an oven if it can go down 150ish, even if it doesn't normally, you should be able to calibrate your oven and change it by a few degrees downward. Even something in the 150-170 range for resting will be fine.

RK said:

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you can hold in the oven on the lowest setting (usually ~170) for a long time. Just turn off a few hours before serving so it comes down to 140 or below.

i know some of the good bbq places hold at 140 for upwards of 12 hours before service, but most normal ovens won't go quite that low. i've done it at 170 for 10 hours and it was just fine.

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Done this a lot of times. My oven goes down to 165. Most will go down to 170 so the brisket never gets in danger zone. Keep it wrapped in butcher paper (with a drip tray underneath) or foil (if using Texas Crutch) and you'll be fine for tomorrow.

Yesterday, as I was in the early stages of smoking a brisket (which we'll eat later today), I watched a You Tube video from Jeremy Yoder (Mad Scientist BBQ). I was surprised to learn he recommends holding a brisket for 12 hours before cutting it. I've watched several of his videos and have come to recognize he's very knowledgeable on all things brisket.

ToddyHill said:

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Yesterday, as I was in the early stages of smoking a brisket (which we'll eat later today), I watched a You Tube video from Jeremy Yoder (Mad Scientist BBQ). I was surprised to learn he recommends holding a brisket for 12 hours before cutting it. I've watched several of his videos and have come to recognize he's very knowledgeable on all things brisket.

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It's what all of the really popular bbq joints are doing around the state these days. They don't cook those briskets overnight so they can pull them at 9am and serve to you when they open at 11, they cook during the day, finish up in the evening, and hold in warmer ovens overnight until service the next day. Franklin, Truth, Burnt Bean, Evie Maes, and tons more all do this.

They talked about it at camp brisket that I attended last year somewhat and I remember Dr Savell, when asked about the long rest saying something to the effect of "It definitely helps a lot, although we are uncertain of the exact mechanism that's taking place in the brisket. The only reason we haven't studied much in depth yet is we haven't gotten a grant to do so yet, so if any of y'all know a person looking to spend money on a grant for briskets….." The common reasoning you'll hear is that the muscle fibers are constantly contracting as it's being heated/cooked, and the long rest allows them to loosen back out some, which helps with tenderness and moisture retention. They said that's likely part of it, but they wanted to study it more.

All that to say, yes, while a short 2-4 brisket rest is almost necessary, you do benefit from a long hold of 8+ hours. You can hold up to 18-24 hours before the quality starts to degrade.

Revisiting this as I might need a long hold on a brisket in the upcoming weeks. I've held for an afternoon, but never held until the next evening in a warmer before.

Are y'all going all the way to 203deg ish / feels right or pulling them sooner. I've seen videos saying to pull at 195deg if you are going to hold more than 4 hours.

If you're holding 8-16 hours, pull between 190* and 195*. The longer the hold, the cooler you can pull.

I usually hold at 150* around 10-12 hours so I pull between 190* and 195* with stellar results.

If holding between 4 and 8 hours I'd go ~195*-203*, again depending on length of hold.

AgLA06 said:

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Revisiting this as I might need a long hold on a brisket in the upcoming weeks. I've held for an afternoon, but never held until the next evening in a warmer before.

Are y'all going all the way to 203deg ish / feels right or pulling them sooner. I've seen videos saying to pull at 195deg if you are going to hold more than 4 hours.

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It's more what you immediately do afterwards. If you cook all the way to proper tenderness, when you pull off the pit you need to let it sit an hour or so before sticking in the warmer, that way it doesn't continue cooking and overcook the brisket.

If you pull early around 190-195, you want to stick it in the warmer pretty quickly so it will continue cooking just a little bit and hit the proper doneness.

To be honest it's probably not a huge deal either way, but if you want to get technical about it, that's the reasoning for early vs normal pull temp.

Edit to add: I personally just cook to proper doneness, I want the reassurance of knowing it's been cooked right. I then let it sit on the kitchen counter at least an hour, then throw it in my oven at 150. Have held briskets 12-15 hours easily that way and never had a problem.