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Brisket holding techniques

njl
njl Posts: 1,123
I'm curious if anyone is doing it like this, or if there are other things I should try.
My cooler (the one big enough for a brisket) is nothing special: Coleman Polylite 40
The past couple of times I've wanted to FTC for more than an hour or two, I've triple wrapped the brisket (it was already double-wrapped in the egg, and one more layer both adds insulation and keeps the towel from getting nasty without wasting a bunch more foil).  I then wrap in a towel and put into the cooler which already had a 1 cup measure of boiling water in the cooler to "pre-warm" the cooler.  I place another towel on top of the foil and towel wrapped brisket, and leave the cup of hot water in the cooler.

Comments

  • Slippy
    Slippy Posts: 214
    Sounds like a good technique. I usually load up the cooler with towels to fill up 3/4 of the volume, put my wrapped brisket and warm sauce on top of that, then fill the rest of the volume with towels. If my brisket fits in my little Yeti 20, I use that, and it will hold all day (like yesterday)... Sometime they are too big for that so I use my Igloo, and it holds 4-5 hours easy. Never pushed it past that, but they are still piping hot even in the Igloo, so I'm sure I could go longer and still be safe... I don't even do a pre-warm with the hot water, but I'm sure it wouldn't hurt. I am thinking an RTIC 45 would be a great size for larger brisket and may treat myself for Christmas. 
    Rockwall, TX  •  LBGE, Big Hat Ranger offset smoker, Really old 22" Weber Kettle, Pile of Pecan and Post Oak... 
  • nolaegghead
    nolaegghead Posts: 42,102
    The biggest contributor to heat loss from hot meat is steam/evaporation/hot air.   Coolers that have an air tight gasket are orders of magnitude better at keeping temp.
    ______________________________________________
    I love lamp..
  • lousubcap
    lousubcap Posts: 32,162
    @njl - if it works for you then thanks for sharing.  How long have you had to use your above procedure??
    Louisville; Rolling smoke in the neighbourhood. # 38 for the win.  Life is too short for light/lite beer!  Seems I'm livin in a transitional period.
  • Webass
    Webass Posts: 259
    I also use a cheapo cooler.  I don't preheat with any water but I do put all the towels in the clothes dryer and get them good and hot, then pack the cooler full of the towels under, around, and on top.  I also seal the cooler all around the lid with duct tape.  I've kept a brisket very warm for 6 hours.

    Lenoir City, TN -  Bama fan in Tenn Vol's backyard. 

    LBGE, Weber Spirit 

  • Shiff
    Shiff Posts: 1,835
    @njl , I do something similar to your technique.  My cooler is long enough to hold a brisket and a teapot.  I boil water in the teapot, then put the brisket in covered with towels and then the teapot.  This keeps it very hot.  If it is going to be a long wait, I take out the teapot and reboil it as needed.
    Large BGE
    Barry, Lancaster, PA
  • njl
    njl Posts: 1,123
    I hadn't considered duct taping.  I'm glad I'm not the only one who thought to use and leave boiling water in it.  Without that, I think I got down to the high 140s after 2 hours.  With, I went a little over 2 hours on my most recent one, and was still in the 160s.  I doubt the heat capacity of towels is very much, unless they're wet.
  • nolaegghead
    nolaegghead Posts: 42,102
    I always think twice about putting duct tape on anything because it leaves a sticky residue.  Consider gaffer tape or painter's tape.

    This yellow stuff is linen gaffer tape.  It is awesome but costs around $17 per roll. 


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    I love lamp..