SMOKER TEMP DROPPED TO 140*, NOT SURE HOW LONG, IS PORK STILL SAFE?

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kenneth d

Newbie
Original poster
Feb 1, 2015
5
10
I'm a rookie smoker and I desperately need some help!  I put two large Boston butts on my Rec Tec grill at 180°  last night at 11pm and apparently one of the pellets jammed in the auger at some point overnight, which caused the internal temperature of the grill to drop down to 140°.  I don't know how long the Rec Tec was at 140°, it could have been 20 minutes or it could have been 10 hours.  As soon as I saw the internal temp of my grill at 9am I pushed the primer button and a couple of minutes later the grill kicked back up to 180°, I then increased the temperature of the grill to 200°.  My concern is, if the grill was stuck at around 140°  for up to 10 hours, from what I understand, there is a high risk for bacteria.  If I leave the Boston butts on the grill at 200°  or 225°  for the next 6 hours, will that kill the bacteria?  I have friends coming to the house for the Super Bowl and don't want to risk getting anyone sick!  Thank you in advance!
 
David, I don't know, I used to have a Maverick wireless thermometer but can't find it, so the plan was to let it smoke at 180-200 for 12 hours, then check it and determine how much longer I needed to smoke it to get the IT to 200.  Because of that, I have no idea what the temperature was before I went to bed and I don't know what the IT is now.  I'm afraid if I check it now, I might push in some of the bacteria, if that's even possible.
 
 
David, I don't know, I used to have a Maverick wireless thermometer but can't find it, so the plan was to let it smoke at 180-200 for 12 hours, then check it and determine how much longer I needed to smoke it to get the IT to 200.  Because of that, I have no idea what the temperature was before I went to bed and I don't know what the IT is now.  I'm afraid if I check it now, I might push in some of the bacteria, if that's even possible.
I don't have enough information to answer your question. About the only thing we know is you have a butt in a smoker for 10 hours. 

Side note 180° is pretty low to try to smoke a butt. You need to get the juices steaming to make it tender.

Happy smoken.

David
 
Kenneth,

Below is the same answer I gave you on the other thread, before I knew you weren't using a meat probe:

What was the IT of the Meat???  Did you have a meat probe in either Butt?

180° is way too low to do 2 butts. 

Not knowing what it did for 10 hours, and you only had the heat at best at 180° doesn't look good at all. If the smoker was at 140° for a long time, the meat was definitely below 140° for a long time.

And you could take it to 300° for 6 hours now, and it's too late to help it.

As much as I hate to say this, I see no way that meat could be any good.

Bear
 
What happened with this ? Did you eat it? I lost all temp for an hour or so - then got retired. Am I still good?
 
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