Smoking a brisket to freeze. Tips?

KiterTodd · April 2015

Have a brisket going on now.   Low and slow.
I have a vacation next week and won't have time/facilities to smoke there so I'm planning on bringing this with me.

So my plan is to cook it to the normal 200, pull it, foil it, and let it cool a bit.
Then wrap well and throw it in the freezer.

In 7-10 days, on the day I plan on cooking it I'll take it out of the freezer to thaw in the fridge.
Then i'll heat in the oven at 225 until it's hot. Still in the same foil.
Slice and serve.

Anyone have any tips on this?   Should I pull it earlier than 200 since I'm going to reheat? Should I slice it before I freeze it? (then reassemble and tightly wrap)

Thanks for any tips!   I'll post cook pics in another thread. I'm making 2.

KiterTodd · April 2015

ANYONE?!?

This brisket is set to come off in an hour or two.

Wasn't sure if I should pull it early since I'll be freezing and reheating later. I'm sure it'll still look like a meteorite!

Or cook it till it's done.

Luckily, I got some tips from the other brisket thread and I won't wrap it too soon, so it doesn't go past jiggly.

I am freezing it though...so is there any value in FTC for me or should I just FF (Foil Freezer)?

anton · April 2015

Sorry, I am as curious. BUMP

Legume · April 2015

Plan sounds solid, but I have nothing to offer, never done this.

KiterTodd · April 2015

Well, I'll certainly post the results either way!

I don't have a vacuum sealer, but I know several folks here slice and freeze and seem to be happy with the results.

lousubcap · April 2015

Never have done it with a whole brisket but absent anything else, I would cook to the finish-line. then let it cool a bit before freezing. I wouldn't slice til you have reheated it and are ready to serve. For me your plan of keeping it in the foil to thaw and reheat would work. But, easy for me to say. Good luck and let us know the pro's and con's once finished with the eggsperiment.

Legume · April 2015

Agree, don't slice ahead of time.

SGH · April 2015

KiterTodd said:

Should I pull it earlier than 200 since I'm going to reheat? Should I slice it before I freeze it?

Sorry to get in on this late. Normally I would have been one of the first to respond. However I haven't been on the forum lately as much as I would like to be. Just have a lot going on right now. But to answer the 2 questions above. No and no. Cook it until it's done. Let it rest until it cools down on the counter. Leave it whole for best results. Your best bet is to vacuum seal it if you have the means. If cooked proper and then vacuumed sealed, most folks could not tell that you froze and reheated it. The vacuum sealing is the way to go. However if you can not vacuum seal it, all is not lost. Once it is cooled, just wrap it well and freeze. If you are only freezing it for a few days it will be fine. When you get ready to serve it, simply warm it to 140-145 internal and serve. It's already cooked so you just want to warm it to serving temp. If you are not vacuume sealing, I like to give a good wrap with a plastic cling wrap before the final wrap. The plastic cling wrap does a great job of removing all air and preserving integrity. Again sorry that this is late and I hope that it helps.

nolaegghead · April 2015

Scottie is dead on here.

SGH · April 2015

nolaegghead said:

Scottie is dead on here.

Almost. Sure don't have the time I use to have. I still try though.

SGH · April 2015

nolaegghead said:

Scottie is dead on here.

I may rise as HGS

nolaegghead · April 2015

That's literary genius. Bravo, well-played sir. I should have added the hyphen.

KiterTodd · April 2015

Thanks, SGH!! The heat to temp is key. I would have errored hotter.

If if I have time, what temp oven? 250? 300?

KiterTodd · April 2015

Okay, some folks wanted to know how this turned out and I served it last night so I figured I'd let you know.   It was great!!

I followed SGH guidelines and I heated it to 155.   I actually took it out of the freezer in the morning and let it thaw, and then we were running to the beach so I put it in the oven at the lowest temp it would go (170) and came back to the house 90 minutes later or so. It was a bit of a risk but the meat was only at 100 degrees at that point. So as I prepared everything else I cranked the heat up to 270 and took the meat out when it hit temp.

When I took it out the tinfoil had that same jelly feel as when it comes off the egg. Good stuff.

This may all be a lie because I don't have pictures (it got devoured) but it was very good.

So, to the non eggheads it was killer. Great flavor, very tender, and super easy for me to cut.   I enjoyed it on a soft roll with some home made cole slaw and some sweet/hot BBQ sauce.   The a purist, it was a little dry.   I think that happened after I originally cooked it though. I probably wrapped it too soon when I took it off the egg.

So, yeah, I'd recommend this!

mrw123 · May 2015

I've wondered about something like this for a long time, but was never brave enough to try. After reading your results, I immediately made plans.

My brisket should be done smoking in a few more hours. Then I'll rest, let it cool, then I'll vacuum seal it before freezing it.

I can't wait to see how the finished product tastes. Thanks for doing your experiment!

Ladeback69 · May 2015

mrw123 said:

I've wondered about something like this for a long time, but was never brave enough to try. After reading your results, I immediately made plans.

My brisket should be done smoking in a few more hours. Then I'll rest, let it cool, then I'll vacuum seal it before freezing it.

I can't wait to see how the finished product tastes. Thanks for doing your experiment!

@mrw123, the vacuum sealing will help. I have frozen leftover sliced brisket in vacuum sealed bags and just cut the bag and put them in the microwave for a minute and they tasted just like they came off the egg. For a whole brisket I would fallow what @SGH said. The vacuum sealing seems to lock in the flavor and moisture IMO. Looking good so far.

FearlessTheEggNoob · May 2015

The last one I did was fully cooked coming off the smoker then allowed to rest on the counter until it was just cool enough to handle. (still very warm)

Crammed that full packer into a foodsaver bag and vacuum sealed it up.

Dropped it into a cooler filled with icewater to quick chill.

Kept it refrigerated for close to a week.

Removed it from the vacuum bag and wrapped it tight in a single layer of foil with a couple Tbs of water inside.

Reheated it in an oven @300.

Pulled it from a craptastic electric tabletop oven when the thermopen stabbed through the foil read 165-ish. (took almost 3hrs using that cheap portable oven-looses too much heat) Sliced it at that time.

The folks at work devoured it. Lots of compliments on the flavor/texture and how they couldn't tell it was reheated.

The foodsaver and having a thermopen on hand to check internal temps was the key.

mrw123 · May 2015

I usually reheat food I've vacuum sealed in a pot of hot water on the stove top. (or sous vide around 170)

Anyone have any guesses how long it'd take to get the IT up to 140-150 that way? Or if it's be better or worse than the oven?

mrw123 · May 2015

The experiment in process

30yearegger · May 2015

I do this every year and I use the vacumm saver then just drop it in a pot of hot water to heat it up. After you heat it cut open the bag and it's just like you just pulled it from the egg. I cook steaks,hamburgers, hot dogs, turkey breast , butts all the same deal.

mrw123 · May 2015

30yearegger said:

I do this every year and I use the vacumm saver then just drop it in a pot of hot water to heat it up. After you heat it cut open the bag and it's just like you just pulled it from the egg. I cook steaks,hamburgers, hot dogs, turkey breast , butts all the same deal.

Any idea how long it'll take to reheat a 9# brisket that way?

DIAD · May 2015

I gave cooked briskys for Christmas gifts this year. I suggest under cooking to about 190, pulling, completely cooling before vacuum sealing. Then heat the whole packer in boiling water for 30 min or so. This is assuming that it is thawed out. I learned from trying a few different ways. I hope that this helps!

FearlessTheEggNoob · May 2015

I've used the Sous Vide method to reheat but didnt care for the result. The texture becomes too mushy IMO.

KiterTodd · May 2015

mrw123 said:

I've wondered about something like this for a long time, but was never brave enough to try. After reading your results, I immediately made plans.

My brisket should be done smoking in a few more hours. Then I'll rest, let it cool, then I'll vacuum seal it before freezing it.

I can't wait to see how the finished product tastes. Thanks for doing your experiment!

Your pictures look great!

Yeah, I don't have a vacuum sealer but I have to say that freezing for a short duration (just over a week in my case) didn't seem to impart any negative impacts and heating to 150-160 internal made it taste like it was cooked that day.

On this trip next year I'm going to do the same thing but with a full packer. I'll probably pull it off the grill a hair sooner and be careful about letting it cool on the counter before wrapping it.

Let us know how your finished product turns out!

As I said, I double wrapped mine in foil with some apple juice, froze it that way (with extra plastic on the outside), and heated it in the same foil without ever opening. Looked like I'd just taken it out of the FTC when I unwrapped it from the oven!

mrw123 · May 2015

Everyone was happy with the results, but I wasn't completely satisfied. First, I don't think this was a particularly high quality brisket. Second, I don't think I heated it up enough. Setting those qualms aside, the point was indistinguishable from a brisket smoked same day. The flat was a little dry, but I think they can be explained by the two issues I mentioned. I will definitely do this again, but next time I'll make sure it's a higher quality piece of meat and I'll do a better job re heating it.

KiterTodd · May 2015

Thanks for the update @mrw123! (I just noticed your response to this thread)

I should mention that when I wrapped mine for freezing, in addition to the juices that had already started to come out from the meat, I added a good bit of apple juice in there. (as mentioned, I heated in the same foil I froze in w/o opening) When I opened the foil to serve, there was very little liquid left in the foil.

So, somewhere along the freeze/reheat process it had absorbed all the liquid I had put in there. The meat was great, but knowing that it sucks in the moisture I'll definitely make sure to add in extra next time.

Smoking a brisket to freeze. Tips?

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