Faux Cambro: How to Hot Hold Brisket, Pork Butt, etc. at Home

Last Updated:
April 30, 2024

To Create a Faux Cambro, you will need:

  • A Cooler.
  • Old towels or towels you don’t care about.
  • Hot water.

Get Water to Near Boiling

Once it’s time to rest your brisket or pork butt, get some water to near boiling.

Then pour this water into your cooler and close the lid for 10 minutes.

The point of doing this is to pre-heat the cooler and to minimize the wicking of the heat from the meat.

Once you’re ready to rest your meat, dump the water.

Line the Cooler with 1 Towel and then Cover the Brisket with Another Towel

If you want to monitor internal temperature, now would be the time to probe the meat.

The point of the towels are to function as insulation.

Take 1 towel and place it inside the cooler to line the bottom.

Place your wrapped meat on top of this towel.

brisket in coleman cooler as a faux cambro

Take another towel and then cover the wrapped meat.

brisket insulated in a faux cambro with old towels

Close the lid.

Monitor Internal Temperature

Due to food safety, the goal here is to keep the internal temperature of the meat above 140F at all times.

Typically this setup will result in you being able to hot hold your BBQ above 140F for 6+ hours.

brisket sliced after resting in my faux cambro
Brisket Sliced After Resting in Faux Cambro

Meaning the internal temperature will go from ~200F to ~140F in 6 hours.

Some coolers are better than others though. I’ve always used Coleman and ~6 hours is about average.

My Brother uses a Yeti and has said he can do 10+ no problem.

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Dylan Clay
Dylan Clay is a pitmaster based in New Hampshire, with over 17 years of experience in grilling, smoking, and dehydrating meat. Throughout this time, he has worked with nearly every cut of meat. In 2019, he launched the Barbecue FAQ website to share his extensive knowledge about all things meat, aiming to assist others in making better barbecue at home.

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