Smoking Pork Butt and Smoker went out overnight :-(

[jtyler48]

Hey guys, 

Had a 8.5lb pork butt on the smoker last night. It went on about 6:30 last night. I realized coals were too hot (Temp was 375) after I put my wood chips in and took the pork off the smoker for a little bit while the fire cooled. Temp stabilized about 235 and I put it back on. About 11:45 before bed I looked, temp was still stable, I threw some more charcoal and wood chips on and temp was at 146. Phone died in the middle of the night so I missed my alarm. Woke up this morning at 5:00 and temp was down to 123. I realized the coals had gone out so I wrapped it in foil, put it in the oven and left for work. My girlfriend says its at 185 now...

Is this meat going to be okay? Or did I ruin it overnight by oversleeping? 

Thanks in advance... I'm super bummed right now. 

 

[themule69]

You should be OK. When you hit the 146° you should have killed everything bad.

Happy smoken.

David

 

[jtyler48]

Even if it took that long to get there? 

 

[addertooth]

What kind of smoker do you have? Is it a candidate for a stoker?

 

[jtyler48]

Cheapo.

Brinkman smoke n grill

 

[jtyler48]

So because the temp was at 146, I shouldn't be worried about the temp dipping below 140 anywhere from 12am til 5am?

 

[twisted minds]

You're assuming your temp. dropped below 140 shortly after you checked it and added.charcoal, when actually you most likely rose in temp. for the next couple of hours and then plateaued for a spell, and then started dropping to the point when you checked in the morning. You most likely have no worries about the doneness or safety of eating the meat, biggest issue is you may have dried out some with fluctuating temp. and then bringing back up to temp. in oven.