Oops!

[GizmoD]

Doing an overnight pork butt on the Bull. Plan was to put it on before bed on low for maybe 40 minutes. Then tuck her in for the night at 225 degrees.

Well, I forgot and fell asleep before turning it up to 225. So when I woke up at 7am this morning, I gave it a good spritz and set it to the right temp. Internal temp on butts was about 140. So basically it sat for 7 hours at 180 degrees.

Am I going to have any issues? Other than extended time.

 

[whta]

My concern would be how long did it stay between 40 - 140, aka the "Danger Zone". My understanding is 4 hours max between those two temps. I believe it's a little different on the Egg, but not much. What has been the general consensus with Pellet Grills?

 

[SmokeOCD]

I'd eat it. The outside is covered in a protective layer of salt and spices. The inside is protected by the outside, and the whole thing is being smoked the whole time.

Some of you know already - I'm still waiting on my grill, so sorry to ask a simple question: Can't you look on the app and see a history chart of probe temps or is that just for grill temp?

 

[Greg Jones]

@whta is correct-the critical part is how long did it stay between 40° and 140°, with the rule of thumb no more than 4 hours (4-40-140). I’d say that was probably the entire 7 hours. I’ve had butts cooking at 225° that took 4-½ hours to get above 140°. Now certainty that rule has a safety buffer, but who knows what it is? I might eat it, but I wouldn’t feed it to my friends and family. Well, perhaps some of my family!

 

[Greg Jones]

Can't you look on the app and see a history chart of probe temps or is that just for grill temp?

It tracks both. Assuming that the app is actually working.

 

[Wslayer]

If it was injected ???
"If" only 1 sterile probe hole not a big deal, as the outside surface would be beyond 140°.

 

[Mannydog]

I cooked one on my RT-590 a couple weeks ago, similar circumstances. Probably left it on "LO" too long, but basically the deep internal temp didn't rise above 140 for at least 7 hours. We had no problem with any food-borne illness. Didn't inject, and had two probes in different ends. The only thing that happened was because the thing was a beast (~11 lbs!!), it took forever to cook and a good bit of the meat was pretty dry, which is kinda hard to do with a pork butt. That's fixable, though, and it all turned out pretty good.

 

[GizmoD]

No injection but it was one of the boneless ones from Costco. So I had to truss it up. Came in two pieces inside the vacpack. The butt and the shoulder.
I am not real worried about it being bad from not reaching 140 in time. But more so with it being very dry.

It's still cooking right now. Has been about 12 hours so far total time. Just wrapped them up and put into a 275 degree oven to finish them off.

 

[opus]

No injection but it was one of the boneless ones from Costco. So I had to truss it up. Came in two pieces inside the vacpack. The butt and the shoulder.
I am not real worried about it being bad from not reaching 140 in time. But more so with it being very dry.

It's still cooking right now. Has been about 12 hours so far total time. Just wrapped them up and put into a 275 degree oven to finish them off.

I would say you are fine. I cook mine on low for 8 plus hours every time. This includes the ones from Costco. I've never had an issue with them being too dry. My total cook time is usually between 16 and 20 hours. I never go by temp though, I just cook until probe tender.

 

[MOSmoke]

I would say you are fine. I cook mine on low for 8 plus hours every time. This includes the ones from Costco. I've never had an issue with them being too dry. My total cook time is usually between 16 and 20 hours. I never go by temp though, I just cook until probe tender.

I did a 9.5# butt a couple of weekends ago. I put it on at 200 overnight then bumped it up to 225 after about 9 hours. Total cook time ended up being 19 hours. I did not wrap or spritz at all, but I did put a small foil bowl with beer in the smoker to keep some moisture inside the smoker. It turned out great. I think you’ll be ok.

 

[whta]

So, to semi hijack this post. In the Egg, I usually have a foil pan with water, apple juice, etc. Can that be done easily on an RT? Is there an issue with dryness after 12+ hours on a pellet?

 

[Greg Jones]

I am not real worried about it being bad from not reaching 140 in time. But more so with it being very dry.

Are you serious? Food safety be dammed, just so it isn’t dry?

 

[SmokeOCD]

Are you serious? Food safety be dammed, just so it isn’t dry?

Well - how bad would it suck if your last meal was dry BBQ?

It's fine, meat goes bad from the outside in - salt & spices reduce any activity on the outside. Smoke is a preservative, also inhibiting bacterial growth.

 

[Greg Jones]

Well - how bad would it suck if your last meal was dry BBQ?

It's fine, meat goes bad from the outside in - salt & spices reduce any activity on the outside. Smoke is a preservative, also inhibiting bacterial growth.

Me thinks you have no clue how meat bacteria works.

 

[Greg Jones]

It's fine, meat goes bad from the outside in - salt & spices reduce any activity on the outside. Smoke is a preservative, also inhibiting bacterial growth.

In other words, show me 10 creditable resources where spices and smoke alone negate time and temperature of the cook for safely smoking (not curing) meat for safety and I’ll give you 10 times as many resources that say that is BS. Don’t fake it and think that makes it so.

 

[SmokeOCD]

Salt and smoke IS curing. We're talking hours not long term shelf life.
Feel free to throw away all the meat you want.
You are also free to post thousands of links proving me wrong - I promise not to respond.

 

[Greg Jones]

Salt and smoke IS curing. We're talking hours not long term shelf life.
Feel free to throw away all the meat you want.
You are also free to post thousands of links proving me wrong - I promise not to respond.

Curing requires copious amount of salt. In other words, much, much more salt than one is going to get by sprinkling on their favorite BBQ rub. They are not nearly the same thing.

 

[GizmoD]

Everything turned out excellent. Only bad thing about this is my pellet bin is a bit lighter.

I do have a TON of food to save though. I planned on freezing half of it. I have not yet pulled the shoulder yet. Is it better to pull it, bag it, and freeze it? Or freeze the whole shoulder intact?

 

[Pacman]

Good news about the pork. I'm a proponent of shredding (pork) or slicing (beef) to make ready to use packets for freezing. Assuming you're vacuum sealing and freezing right away, the quality will remain pretty good.

 

[GizmoD]

I am vacuum sealing. Decided to try it both ways. I made packets of the shredded stuff but double foil wrapped and ziplocked the whole shoulder. I figure when I bring it out of cryo-sleep, I will just put it in oven (after defrosting in fridge) at 180 degrees until it's up to temp. Will see how that works. Sometime in the future anyhow.