# Help!!



## jwowen70 (Jul 12, 2020)

Ok, so I was/am smoking 2 Boston butts around 8 pounds. Before starting I injected them and rubbed them down. Put them on my pit boss around 4pm. Got them to above 140 around 10:30 pm. Yeah I know it took 6.5 hours. After that, I went to bed. Woke up at 4:30 am and the fire was out. Meat was at about 130 internal and 110 external.  Now to my question. Is this too risky to keep?


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## Chasdev (Jul 12, 2020)

Were it me, I would cook them to 190/200 internal, let them rest and eat.


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## daveomak.fs (Jul 12, 2020)

Yep...  finish the cook....   use the oven if you have to....


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## smokin peachey (Jul 12, 2020)

chef jimmyj
 what do you think?


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## thirdeye (Jul 12, 2020)

jwowen70 said:


> Ok, so I was/am smoking 2 Boston butts around 8 pounds. Before starting I injected them and rubbed them down. Put them on my pit boss around 4pm. Got them to above 140 around 10:30 pm. Yeah I know it took 6.5 hours. After that, I went to bed. Woke up at 4:30 am and the fire was out. Meat was at about 130 internal and 110 external.  Now to my question. Is this too risky to keep?



I hate to see the "Help, my fire went out" posts and e-mails. First off.... the main concern is the surface temperature because that is where most of the baddies live and multiply on a whole muscle roast or steak (ground products are different).  At 10:30 pm and an internal of 140° meant your surface temp was much, much higher.  Bye, bye baddies.

You didn't mention your pit temp, but let's assume the fire did not die at exactly 10:31 pm.  In fact  with a 130° internal at 4:30 am, and the fact that pellet grills are not super insulators, I would gamble and say the fire died between 2:00 am and 3:00 am, maybe even later.

If this is a reasonable guesstimate of your timeline....,  your roast did fall back into the <141° zone, but was only there for a couple of hours.  Hopefully you moved the meat to a hot oven or was able to sort out your smoker quickly and restore some heat.  Since there is a 1 to 2 hour gray zone where you can not confirm an internal.... I would say you are (like many others before) are in a borderline situation.  I'm thinking you have a 75% to 80% chance that there will be no issues with the meat.  Others may disagree.


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## jcam222 (Jul 12, 2020)

thirdeye said:


> I hate to see the "Help, my fire went out" posts and e-mails. First off.... the main concern is the surface temperature because that is where most of the baddies live and multiply on a whole muscle roast or steak (ground products are different).  At 10:30 pm and an internal of 140° meant your surface temp was much, much higher.  Bye, bye baddies.
> 
> You didn't mention your pit temp, but let's assume the fire did not die at exactly 10:31 pm.  In fact  with a 130° internal at 4:30 am, and the fact that pellet grills are not super insulators, I would gamble and say the fire died between 2:00 am and 3:00 am, maybe even later.
> 
> If this is a reasonable guesstimate of your timeline....,  your roast did fall back into the <141° zone, but was only there for a couple of hours.  Hopefully you moved the meat to a hot oven or was able to sort out your smoker quickly and restore some heat.  Since there is a 1 to 2 hour gray zone where you can not confirm an internal.... I would say you are (like many others before) are in a borderline situation.  I'm thinking you have a 75% to 80% chance that there will be no issues with the meat.  Others may disagree.


The one thing though is he injected. That said doesn’t seem as though it spent much time below 140. This scenario seems to happen a lot. It’s why I love having a wireless thermometer with an alarm on the rare occasion I do an overnight cook.


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## thirdeye (Jul 12, 2020)

jcam222 said:


> The one thing though is he injected. That said doesn’t seem as though it spent much time below 140. This scenario seems to happen a lot. It’s why I love having a wireless thermometer with an alarm on the rare occasion I do an overnight cook.



If there had been no injection, my confidence rating would have been 90%.


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## Dr. Dobbins (Jul 12, 2020)

When in doubt throw it out.


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## chef jimmyj (Jul 12, 2020)

smokin peachey said:


> chef jimmyj
> what do you think?



Thanks for the Heads up.  
Even injected, all the minimum internal temps were reached before the fire quit. Finish the cook and enjoy...JJ


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## smokin peachey (Jul 12, 2020)

chef jimmyj said:


> Thanks for the Heads up.
> Even injected, all the minimum internal temps were reached before the fire quit. Finish the cook and enjoy...JJ


So even though it took 6.5 hours to get over 140 on an injected pork butt it is still ok?


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## chef jimmyj (Jul 12, 2020)

Yes...4 hours is a good Guideline but not a magic number. A couple extra hours, with continuous heat, is not going to hurt, "Injected" meat. I would be concerned if it was a Big Meatloaf but would not worry here...JJ


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## smokin peachey (Jul 12, 2020)

chef jimmyj said:


> Yes...4 hours is a good Guideline but not a magic number. A couple extra hours, with continuous heat, is not going to hurt, "Injected" meat. I would be concerned if it was a Big Meatloaf but would not worry here...JJ


Thanks for clarifying


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## thirdeye (Jul 12, 2020)

chef jimmyj said:


> Yes...4 hours is a good Guideline but not a magic number. A couple extra hours, with continuous heat, is not going to hurt, "Injected" meat.* I would be concerned if it was a Big Meatloaf but would not worry here...JJ*


 






For sure, but meatloaves (or free-formed ones anyways) sort of limit themselves to weight and density because they are so awkward to handle.  So they get cooked faster.  

For ground meat I appreciate the 160° (and the 165° on ground poultry) 'recommended' school of thought from the USDA because they need some general guidelines or built in safety factors.  On the other hand,  these are the same folks that  subscribe to the 7-log-10 reduction, which says grill a chicken breast to 155°, hold for 1 minute before serving, and you are safe.


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