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Defrost brisket in cooler
If you’re wondering how you can defrost a brisket inside of a cooler, you have come to the right place!
There are a variety of ways to defrost a brisket, but an effective and very helpful method to do so is by placing it directly into an ice cooler. You more than likely will want to fill the cooler with lukewarm water to help expedite the defrosting for your brisket.
Not to mention, many coolers are big enough to fit most Packer style Briskets, so you will not have to worry about the size fitting too much. Furthermore, you don’t want to put your Brisket inside of your sink because a lot of sinks don’t have the necessary depth or length to them in order to appropriately fit an average sized Brisket.
You also don’t want to occupy your sink for extended periods of time simply because you may need to use your sink for other applications or purposes.
This is what makes defrosting briskets inside a cooler is so effective, because it can be a dedicated space where you can talk a brisket away for, and allows for the frozen nature of the barbecue to defrost.
Why you should defrost a brisket in a cooler
Defrosting Brisket in coolers can be a great way to have a dedicated space for your brisket to begin defrosting, and making it able to be placed on the smoker.
Ice coolers are also very portable, so if you are traveling and need to plan ahead in a way, then you can just fill your cooler up with some lukewarm water and place your brisket directly inside.
You can then transport it to wherever you want, whether you are traveling long distances, or just somewhere inside of your household.
The convenient thing about coolers is they also don’t have the propensity to leak and can hold substantial amounts of water or liquid in them while also holding large cuts of meat like brisket.
By placing brisket inside of lukewarm water you are expediting the defrosting process.
What does it take to defrost a brisket in a cooler
All it really takes in order for a brisket to completely defrost inside of a cooler, is to fill it about halfway with lukewarm water and then place the entire brisket inside of the cooler. You want to make sure that the brisket is completely submerged for about an hour or two.
Where the cooler should be while it’s defrosting the brisket
It really depends on your overall used case, but if you are staying around your house then just simply place the cooler somewhere in your kitchen so you can easily take it out and begin preparing it once the brisket is dethawed.
If you happen to be traveling, then there really is only one option, and that is to just place the brisket and cooler inside of your trunk. Ensure you don’t drive eradtically so the top of the cooler doesn’t flop open and spill your water, and you’re good to go.
You only really need to be dethawing the brisket for about a couple of hours until it is completely done defrosting. This can certainly vary depending on the type of Brisket you have and its’ overall weight, but if the water is warm enough then you should not expect long defrosting times.
Who should be defrosting briskets in coolers?
Whoever needs to be handling Brisket over the entirety of the smoking process will more than likely be the one determining how they want Brisket to be Dethawed. It’s not that complicated, and anyone can just put a Brisket inside of a cooler to help defrost it, but more often than not the pitmaster doing the smoking wall commandeer this process.
It also does not really take more than one person to fill a cooler with warm water and promptly place the brisket inside of it.
When should you consider defrosting briskets in coolers?
You should most likely consider defrosting briskets inside of a cooler when you need a dedicated space to quickly transition your frozen brisket to a piece of barbecue that is ready to be thrown on the smoker.
There are other methods to effectively defrost in dethaw your barbecue, but having a cooler that is big enough to submerge an entire Packer brisket with warm water is an excellent way to do so.
How to defrost brisket fast
An excellent way to quickly defrost your brisket is to grab your cooler and fill it about more than half way with warm water and submerge your entire brisket inside of it.
The warm water will quickly bring the temperature of the Brisket up to an adequate range that will then allow you to begin placing it directly onto the smoker.
In terms of time, you should expect around 2 to 3 hours or so for the Brisket to fully dethaw and reach this phase in the cook.
Thawing brisket in water
Placing brisket inside of warm water is one of the best ways to efficiently and quickly dethaw any piece of large meat. The warm water simply just brings the internal temperature of the frozen brisket up to a normal temperature in such a way that makes it quite easy and will not ruin the integrity of the meat overall.
Thawing brisket overnight
If you happen to be concerned about the large size of your brisket and want to know overall whether or not it will be dethawed in time for you to smoke it, then you can consider just resting it overnight.
In this case, you’ll more than likely just grab your cooler, fill it with some hot water and place your brisket in it overnight. By the time morning comes and you are ready to begin smoking it, you should definitely expect a piece of meat that is ready to be thrown on to the cooker.
The brisket should be completely dethawed and if you notice some hard parts of frozen brisket, then keep letting it sit inside cooler until you can ensure that it has finished.
Going directly from freezer to smoker
Some people may actually wonder whether or not you can throw your Brisket onto the smoker even though it is completely frozen solid. This is not recommended it all because it was significantly increase the time it wish you were smoking a brisket at. It won’t really be that efficient, and your brisket would be better served just the thawing inside of an ice cooler with warm water. The brisket should only be smoked once it has completely deep thought.
Final Thoughts
You should consider always placing the brisket inside of a cooler with warm water. Make sure the piece of meat is completely submerged and has no frozen characteristics when you decide to pull out of the cooler.
The overall process should take about several hours, and it can be beneficial to just let it be thought overnight.
Robert is a certified Pitmaster, with over a decade of experience in smoking the best meats you’ll ever feast upon. He also has a Bachelor of Business Administration from the University of Texas at San Antonio. When he’s not researching technical topics, he’s most likely barbecuing in his backyard.