# Power outage on electric smoker



## indescribable13 (Dec 30, 2021)

I started smoking a Boston Butt at 8pm and at 12am the power went out and the smoker turned off until 6am when I realized it was off. I immediately turned it back on.Is my meat ruined?


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## Alsta (Dec 30, 2021)

There are a number of articles with this same question - Many variables involved.
My recommendation would be to search for a thread and see if the criteria that are asked meet what you have.


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## Lonzinomaker (Dec 30, 2021)

What was the meat temp at 6 when you got it going again?


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## indescribable13 (Dec 30, 2021)

Lonzinomaker said:


> What was the meat temp at 6 when you got it going again?



I did not open the smoker to check as I didn’t want to let any heat out.


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## SmokinAl (Dec 30, 2021)

Was the butt injected?
If it was then you may have a problem, but if you didn’t inject it or bone it out then you should be good to go. The outside of the meat will be sterilized almost immediately, and it may take the inside a bit longer. But if you didn’t inject the butt then, the meat in the middle that would have no contact with air is still sterile. Just keep cooking it & you should be fine. However I would suggest that you get a wireless thermometer, so that you can monitor the pit temp, & the meat temp. With the alarms your pretty safe if you put the receiver next to your bed. Although I have had the alarm go off & go out with a Thermapen & find that my remote was off a bit. But no big deal, I just re-positioned the probe into the part of the butt that probed the lowest. That is my method. I hope this helps!
Al


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## Nefarious (Dec 30, 2021)

indescribable13 said:


> I started smoking a Boston Butt at 8pm and at 12am the power went out and the smoker turned off until 6am when I realized it was off. I immediately turned it back on.Is my meat ruined?


How long was the power outage?  What kind of smoker do you have?


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## indescribable13 (Dec 30, 2021)

SmokinAl said:


> Was the butt injected?
> If it was then you may have a problem, but if you didn’t inject it or bone it out then you should be good to go. The outside of the meat will be sterilized almost immediately, and it may take the inside a bit longer. But if you didn’t inject the butt then, the meat in the middle that would have no contact with air is still sterile. Just keep cooking it & you should be fine. However I would suggest that you get a wireless thermometer, so that you can monitor the pit temp, & the meat temp. With the alarms your pretty safe if you put the receiver next to your bed. Although I have had the alarm go off & go out with a Thermapen & find that my remote was off a bit. But no big deal, I just re-positioned the probe into the part of the butt that probed the lowest. That is my method. I hope this helps!
> Al


I did not inject it. Thank you for the comment and suggestions.


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## indescribable13 (Dec 30, 2021)

Nefarious said:


> How long was the power outage?  What kind of smoker do you have?


The outage was not long, but I was asleep and didn’t know it went out.
Masterbuilt 140s


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## Nefarious (Dec 30, 2021)

indescribable13 said:


> The outage was not long, but I was asleep and didn’t know it went out.
> Masterbuilt 140s


Al's advice is the best.  If you had a remote thermometer it would warn you if temp gets below a specific value.  I was looking into portable battery 's for a different purpose and thought that might help.  Trouble is, these smokers draw 800w and that takes a big battery.  My power goes out for long periods several times a year, my entire house is on a propane backup.


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## smokerjim (Dec 30, 2021)

What temp was your smoker running at, as the others said you'll be fine as long smoker was hot enough to kill off bad stuff on the outside.


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## indescribable13 (Dec 30, 2021)

smokerjim said:


> What temp was your smoker running at, as the others said you'll be fine as long smoker was hot enough to kill off bad stuff on the outside.


It was at 225 degrees for a solid 4hrs prior to the outage.


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## smokerjim (Dec 30, 2021)

indescribable13 said:


> It was at 225 degrees for a solid 4hrs prior to the outage.


As smokinal said, your fine


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## indescribable13 (Dec 31, 2021)

indescribable13 said:


> I started smoking a Boston Butt at 8pm and at 12am the power went out and the smoker turned off until 6am when I realized it was off. I immediately turned it back on.Is my meat ruined?


The butt turned out great. Thank you all for the feedback. Happy New Year!


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