Sous-vide holding a brisket? Does Anyone do it, thoughts?

[smokinq13]

So I was wondering if anyone uses their sous-vide to hold a brisket til serving? I've seen a couple videos about it but wanted to get opinions from individuals that had done/ does it.

The plan: I'm gonna smoke my brisket normally til 190 internal, then off the smoker to cool down a little before a wrap it with butcher's paper and tallow, then vaccum sealed and then into a sous-vide set at 150 til ready to serve.

I know the "top" bbq joints use a simple method, not sous-vide but a cabinet to hold the briskets til serving.

Thoughts, recommendations concerns?

 

[02ebz06]

Seems like an extra step to me.
After you wrap, just wrap again with a beach towel, and put in a cooler.
Will stay warm for a long time.

 

[SmokinEdge]

How long are you wanting to hold?

 

[BrianGSDTexoma]

First I think 190 is to low to finish. Mine usually around 203. Should go until probe goes in like butter. Like said will stay hot in a cooler for a long time. I use my MES40 set to 140.

 

[noboundaries]

I haven't watched any videos. 190°F final temp on a brisket is basically underdone the VAST majority of the time. Underdone is a dry, chewy brisket due to unmelted collagen connective tissue.

Water transfers heat or absorbs heat 25x faster than air. 5 hours, for example, in a 150°F oven is VERY different than 5 hours in sous vide. So, by using sous vide at 150°F you are finishing the cook of an underdone brisket. The excess heat of a 170-190°F brisket will rapidly cool to 150°F in the water bath. Since you can't probe the meat thru the bag, how are you going to tell if it is tender? How will you tell if it is overcooked, mushy, and crumbly but still moist?

Will it work? Absolutely, but it complicates a simple process of smoking to probe tender, wrapping and resting in a warm oven for several hours.

Give the sous vide a try. We all might learn something.

 

[smokinq13]

I haven't watched any videos. 190°F final temp on a brisket is basically underdone the VAST majority of the time. Underdone is a dry, chewy brisket due to unmelted collagen connective tissue.

Water transfers heat or absorbs heat 25x faster than air. 5 hours, for example, in a 150°F oven is VERY different than 5 hours in sous vide. So, by using sous vide at 150°F you are finishing the cook of an underdone brisket. The excess heat of a 170-190°F brisket will rapidly cool to 150°F in the water bath. Since you can't probe the meat thru the bag, how are you going to tell if it is tender? How will you tell if it is overcooked, mushy, and crumbly but still moist?

Will it work? Absolutely, but it complicates a simple process of smoking to probe tender, wrapping and resting in a warm oven for several hours.

Give the sous vide a try. We all might learn something.

So the method I'm thinking of is a combination of two videos, 1 where the guy pulls the brisket at 160 and finishes sous-vide but for many hours and another video where he talks about how big bbq places use those holding cabinets for holding brisket at 150 til serving

Links:

 

[chopsaw]

talks about how big bbq places use those holding cabinets for holding brisket at 150 til serving

Right , but they are serving the masses and need product when people walk in the door .
I'm not a towel / cooler fan . I use the oven .

 

[JIMSMOKES]

I've done it twice when I needed to hold more than 24 hours. 36-48 hours both times my bark was soft but flavor was there and tenderness.
Had to order 15" pleated bags that would fit my 12" vac sealer.

 

[indaswamp]

I've done it with 100# of brisket pastrami I made for a volunteer benefit sale. Should work for holding a brisket, but IMO not necessary.

 

[G8trwood]

I did it. only smoking to 160, then 24 hours at 150. Wasn’t enough time. Next brisket I took to 185 and it came out much better. I have started using it to cook the brisket a day in advance. Got old and would fall asleep at gatherings, ;), getting ready the day of.
with the sous vide. It is all done and on idle for 24 hours. For whatever reason, I can’t relax and trust thermometers in the smoker. Even if I know it's okay.

 

[smokinq13]

I did it. only smoking to 160, then 24 hours at 150. Wasn’t enough time. Next brisket I took to 185 and it came out much better. I have started using it to cook the brisket a day in advance. Got old and would fall asleep at gatherings, ;), getting ready the day of.
with the sous vide. It is all done and on idle for 24 hours. For whatever reason, I can’t relax and trust thermometers in the smoker. Even if I know it's okay.

I'm young-ish and already do that! But I think it'll benefit to that any fat or collagen that hasn't broke down will but slowly cuase its not a intense heat... do you think there's a ratio of pull temp to how long it needs to be in the sous-vide? Like you said 160 was too low for 24 hours in the sous-vide but 185 was better. Like if i would pull it off the smoker at 190 195, you think sous-vide time would be cut down? That's my question, how long would it need to be in the sous-vide at a even higher pull temp then a lower one, what's the "ratio "

 

[smokinq13]

I've done it twice when I needed to hold more than 24 hours. 36-48 hours both times my bark was soft but flavor was there and tenderness.
Had to order 15" pleated bags that would fit my 12" vac sealer.

Thats another thing i was thinking of, i beleive I got the right size freezer bags

 

[LoydB]

I would only use it if I had to hold more than a dozen hours or so. I've held wrapped in a cooler with no problems for half a day.

Sous vide *is* absolutely the best way to reheat it though.

 

[civilsmoker]

Right , but they are serving the masses and need product when people walk in the door .
I'm not a towel / cooler fan . I use the oven .

I'm a smoke till done then hold in the oven till serving (its a controlled temp). I'm comfortable holding in the house oven for up to 12-14 hours. If holding for 2-3 hours, I hold at 170 If more then I hold at 145.

As an FYI, food regs in my State limits holding longer than 14 hours, ie many of the BBQ place methods being shown on the tuber these days is actually not allowed in my State. Anything SV lower than 145 and/or held longer in SV has to be vac sealed from a food plant. I have talked with many BBQ places and the two most common cook methods (in my state) are they start cook at 3-4-5 pm then they paper wrap around 11-12 pm then pull at hold (@ 145) at 6 am....bingo ready to serve for lunch and dinner. Leftovers have to be cooled and the warmed up and held at 160 min temp.

 

[st3akl0ver]

So I was wondering if anyone uses their sous-vide to hold a brisket til serving? I've seen a couple videos about it but wanted to get opinions from individuals that had done/ does it.

The plan: I'm gonna smoke my brisket normally til 190 internal, then off the smoker to cool down a little before a wrap it with butcher's paper and tallow, then vaccum sealed and then into a sous-vide set at 150 til ready to serve.

I know the "top" bbq joints use a simple method, not sous-vide but a cabinet to hold the briskets til serving.

Thoughts, recommendations concerns?

Hi, I used this recipe from Steak Locker. The results came out amazing, I'll leave a link just in case you want to try it for next time https://steaklocker.com/blogs/blog/sous-vide-dry-aged-steak

 

[culpepersmoke]

I’ve been watching this thread as I also fall into the category that falls asleep while guests are enjoying the brisket. Saturday I’m going to cook a Choice brisket, my plan is to cook it to 170ish, wrap in butcher paper with some tallow until it’s near or completely done. Cool down a bit but above 150 degrees. Wrap in a Sous vide bag, and in a 145 degree bath until 6ish on Sunday.
I know my bark will be soft but I’m hoping it will hold the slices otherwise we’ll be serving chopped beef with lots of sauce.
Any thoughts on my plan otherwise I’ll let you know how it goes.

 

[culpepersmoke]

So Saturday I cooked a 10 pound choice brisket. It probed tender around 200 degrees in about 8 hours. I let it rest on the counter until the temp went down to about 150 degrees or so ( about 2 hours). Sealed it up with the food saver and into a Sous Vide bath at 141 degrees.
Sunday we had guest over a little over 24 hours later.
It turned out fantastic, I didn’t get many pictures but it passed the finger test (slice draped over a finger) yet pulled apart easily. Best part was I was rested and could really enjoy the friends and family.
I’ll certainly do this again.

 

[cdixon3]

The youtube video you linked, I think you're misunderstanding how he uses the sous vide. All it really is, is a water bath @150 degrees below the brisket. The brisket is on a rack and being suspended above the water bath. It is wrapped in butcher paper and in an aluminum pan. It never touches the water. The sous vide bath is only to maintain 150 degree air temperature.

 

[jmcarriere]

So Saturday I cooked a 10 pound choice brisket. It probed tender around 200 degrees in about 8 hours. I let it rest on the counter until the temp went down to about 150 degrees or so ( about 2 hours). Sealed it up with the food saver and into a Sous Vide bath at 141 degrees.
Sunday we had guest over a little over 24 hours later.
It turned out fantastic, I didn’t get many pictures but it passed the finger test (slice draped over a finger) yet pulled apart easily. Best part was I was rested and could really enjoy the friends and family.
I’ll certainly do this again. View attachment 671461View attachment 671462View attachment 671463

How was your bark. I am doing my first brisket this weekend and am cooking Saturday for a Sunday dinner and I was going to hold in my sous vide when it is done until we eat sunday.

 

[SmokinEdge]

How was your bark. I am doing my first brisket this weekend and am cooking Saturday for a Sunday dinner and I was going to hold in my sous vide when it is done until we eat sunday.

The bark in SV is very soft, as you can imagine. I’m about great tasting food, bark texture is just a thing. The taste of the meat is everything.