# Traeger Pellet Smoker - Help



## cmdrews (Jul 4, 2014)

We are fairly new to smoking and are questioning whether or not our meat that we smoked over night is safe to eat.  Smoked 2  7lb pork butt.  We started at 10 pm on smoke and this morning the internal temp of the meat is only 120 degrees.  The smokers temp ranged from 130- 150 degrees.  We turned the smoker to 180 degrees and are continuing to cook it but are wondering if having the meat at such a low temp overnight safe has exposed it to bacteria.  Is this meat SAFE to eat???  Thanks


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## geerock (Jul 4, 2014)

You can't use smoke setting for overnight.  You are waaaay over the general accepted rule of 4 hours to get to 140 meat temp.  You need to smoke butts at a minimum of 225 on the Traeger.  You can't get to a finish temp of 200 when your smoker is only at 150.  Don't let it get you down.  Every cook is a learning experience.


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## cmdrews (Jul 4, 2014)

We increased the temp this morning and the meat is now cooking at about 200 degrees and are planning to continue to cook it to 170 degrees internal temp.    My bigger question is do I need to throw the meat away and start over since it sat on the grill for so long at the lower temp.  We are having guest over for dinner and I don't want to make anyone sick. 

Thanks


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## geerock (Jul 4, 2014)

Buddy, I have no idea why you are cooking so low.  And even if you are just slicing the pork your finish target is a bit low also.  As far as safe?  As I stated earlier the general rule is to reach 140 in about 4 hours.  You weren't even close.  I'm not going to make a call on your meat but basically your meat was a potential petri dish for a very long time.  You make the call.


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## remmy700p (Aug 7, 2014)

Wonder what happened to the OP and his guests???? Inquiring minds want to know...


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## talan64 (Aug 7, 2014)

cmdrews said:


> We are fairly new to smoking and are questioning whether or not our meat that we smoked over night is safe to eat.  Smoked 2  7lb pork butt.  We started at 10 pm on smoke and this morning the internal temp of the meat is only 120 degrees.  The smokers temp ranged from 130- 150 degrees.  We turned the smoker to 180 degrees and are continuing to cook it but are wondering if having the meat at such a low temp overnight safe has exposed it to bacteria.  Is this meat SAFE to eat???  Thanks


I also use a traeger, and cook butt's @ 225, and they taste great with descent smoke taste.  There is NO reason to use the smoke setting unless you are cooking something that is cured, or for the first hour, to get a little extra hit of smoke.  I did a few butt's @180 when i first got the smoker, but was always just over the danger point @ 4hrs, so I use 225 now, with no issues.  Also, when I do an "over-night" smoke, I still set the alarm, and drag my ass out to check the temp @ 4hrs, there is NO WAY I want anyone to get sick from my meat.

Hope you all did throw that meat away, as it spent WAY too much time in the danger zone, and eating it would have been asking for trouble.

Remmy, it looks like the OP has not been logged into the site since his last post. Hopefully they are all well.


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