# Brisket safety



## gmack321 (Sep 4, 2016)

Started 16 lb brisket @ 8:30, added new coals @ 1am. Fell asleep till 4am. Smoker was @ 0 and meat temp was @ 137.  Considering it cooked for 5 hr @ 225-275, is it safe to continue and eat when it reached the desired temp.

Not sure if it ever went above 140 since 137 was the 1st read.

Please help


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## crankybuzzard (Sep 4, 2016)

You should be fine. Keep on smoking.  The 140 in four is mostly for comminuted meats, the whole muscle brisket got plenty hot enough on the exterior to kill any critters.  Plus, the 137 you were at is pretty close to the holding temp of 140.  

Let us know how it goes.


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## SmokinAl (Sep 4, 2016)

I agree, your fine.

Al


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## daveomak (Sep 4, 2016)

There are several ways to kill food borne bacteria....   Below is a pasteurization table...  It show whole muscle meats and the internal temperature necessary, and the time required at that IT, to make meats safe to consume...  If you had a chart recorder hooked up to the temp probe, it would be easy...  Not having that, if you had checked the meat temp say at 2 AM, and the temp was 130, and at 4 AM, the temp was 137, you would know for a fact that 2 hours had passed with the meat temp above 130, and probably for the next hour or so the meat temp was still above 130 while the smoker cooled down...  Soooo, for 3 hours the meat was above 130...    The USDA chart shows 112 minutes or 1 hour and 52 minutes, the meat was above that criteria and safe to eat....   Now, it may to way too rare and probably too tough to eat but it was still safe...   

Considering the smoker temp was above ~250 during the smoke, botulism is not a question...


Temperature

Time

Temperature

Time

°F (°C)

(Minutes)

°F (°C)

(Seconds)

130 (54.4)

112 min

146 (63.3)

169 sec

131 (55.0)

89 min

147 (63.9)

134 sec

132 (55.6)

71 min

148 (64.4)

107 sec

133 (56.1)

56 min

149 (65.0)

85 sec

134 (56.7)

45 min

150 (65.6)

67 sec

135 (57.2)

36 min

151 (66.1)

54 sec

136 (57.8)

28 min

152 (66.7)

43 sec

137 (58.4)

23 min

153 (67.2)

34 sec

138 (58.9)

18 min

154 (67.8)

27 sec

139 (59.5)

15 min

155 (68.3)

22 sec

140 (60.0)

12 min

156 (68.9)

17 sec

141 (60.6)

9 min

157 (69.4)

14 sec

142 (61.1)

8 min

158 (70.0)

0 sec

143 (61.7)

6 min
　　
144 (62.2)

5 min
　　
145 (62.8)

4 min
　　
Table C.1: Pasteurization times for beef, corned beef, lamb, pork and cured pork (FDA, 2009, 3-401.11.B.2).


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## gmack321 (Sep 4, 2016)

Sweet Jesus! Thank you guys for the info.  The party is back on!


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## tabitha (Oct 6, 2016)

Thanks for the info :)


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