Boston butt taking a long times it still safe?

percent20 · Jul 30, 2011

I am doing a Boston butt right now I put the meat in around 1:00 but for the last couple of hours it has stalled at 105. I understand about butts stalling but seeing as how it hasn't reached the 140 degree mark yet and it's been cooking for 4 hours will it still be safe. It's finally starting to move up in temperature, finally. Just don't want to get sick from eating it. It's about 5:30 now.

This is my first Boston butt some am a bit nervous about it.

Thankfully the pork tenderloin and ribs are done we can at last eat that.

ejbreeze · Jul 30, 2011

From my understanding from reading this sight if you haven't poked into the meat you should be okay. Someone correct me if I'm wrong.

percent20 · Jul 30, 2011

well I had to poke into it to check the temp since I only have one thermometer.

alblancher · Jul 30, 2011

What is the temperature of your smoke chamber? Remember on whole cuts that have not be penetrated as long as the outside of the meat reaches 140 your are ok. You should be smoking in the 210 or higher range. Butts can stall at any temp but I believe 160 or so is a more common stall range.

Check your chamber thermometer. If your chamber is hot enough you should be ok

Al

pineywoods · Jul 30, 2011

That's weird that it stalled that low. Personally I would take it out and put it into an oven at about 325-350 until I got it to 140 then back into the smoker if your not much over the 4 hours. The USDA says 41-135 in under 4 hours if the meat has been punctured in any way so you can make your own decision.

pineywoods · Jul 30, 2011

percent20 said:
well I had to poke into it to check the temp since I only have one thermometer.

I may have posted too quick when did you put the thermometer into the meat. How long had it been in the smoker and what has been the smoker temp??

alblancher · Jul 30, 2011

We don't need to be too picky. I know people that inject a bunch of room temperature stuff into butts, poke the devil out of it with a fork etc. They could have a problem. Many of the more experienced members will swab the temperature probe with alcohol to sanitize before checking the meat temp.

venture · Jul 30, 2011

Swabbing the probe does little good if the meat is probed too soon.. When poking the meat, the germs on the outside of the meat are transferred to the middle. The main thing is to have the outside of the meat up to temp before probing. If the outside 1/4 to 1/2 inch got above 140 before probing, it doesn't matter if the inside takes longer. This is only for intact muscle meat, however. Without knowing his chamber temps or how long the meat was in before he probed it, it is hard to say. If he waited a reasonable period of time before probing, he should be fine.

Having said that, having a stall at 105 would be way outside the normal range for my smokes. I usually see it at about 160, give or take.

Good luck and good smoking.

SmokinAl · Jul 31, 2011

It doesn't sound right from here either.

The chamber temp must be lower than you think.

I would do what Piney says & put it in the oven to get it out of the danger zone quickly.

However since all this was happening yesterday and I'm just getting here.

I'm wondering how did it turn out?

max-paul · Aug 11, 2011

I hope that this is not seen as a hi-jack of your thread. Call me stupid but I am missing something here. I put my probe into my meat before leaving the kitchen. Now if the meat gets above 190 degrees. What does it matter when you put the probe in? Surely your not going to grow that much bacteria and the temperature is going to kill it off and make it safe, right?

Thanks

pineywoods · Aug 11, 2011

Max-Paul said:
I hope that this is not seen as a hi-jack of your thread. Call me stupid but I am missing something here. I put my probe into my meat before leaving the kitchen. Now if the meat gets above 190 degrees. What does it matter when you put the probe in? Surely your not going to grow that much bacteria and the temperature is going to kill it off and make it safe, right?

Thanks

Bacteria can multiply and the temps we run are smokers is the perfect environment for it to do so. Also there are some things that are not killed by temp or rather the temp it would take to kill it would destroy the meat.

hardslicer · Aug 11, 2011

105 degrees after all that time? what the heck.....is your smoker only brewing at about 130 degrees or what? that is crazy, jack that sucker up and get some heat in there....you need to double check that therm. and make sure it is working.......not a problem I've ever had thank goodness

venture · Aug 11, 2011

While it is not likely, it can happen.

Max-Paul, I would do some research on food borne illness. Even on some botulism toxin poisoning where the botulism germs are killed, but the toxin they leave behind take crazy high temps.

Like I said, not likely, you may never have a problem, but why take the chance?

Good luck and good smoking.

smabob · Aug 12, 2011

If you use your thermometer to check the meat after it reaches 140 (leave it in the smoker for awhile) then you will have killed the bacteria. I believe at this point you have the same rules that apply to an unpierced piece of meat (full muscle)

Bob

rowdyrawhide · Aug 12, 2011

Sounds like a bad thermometer either the one on the smoker or the meat therm, or both possibly. It would help to know what temp the smoker was running. I agree my stalls are usually 160ish or higher

max-paul · Aug 12, 2011

Thanks guys for the answers. I am just a dumb hick that is just been terribly lucky so it seems. That or I have a cast iron gut like a dog. Wife does say I take after a dog.

Will do more reading as suggested on this subject.

pineywoods · Aug 12, 2011

It's not a matter of being a dumb hick it's just a matter of gaining the knowledge and many of us find that here. Some people get away their whole life and never have a problem and there have been some not so lucky. The thing is we already know it's going to be a long smoke so why be in a hurry to stick the probe in?

raptor700 · Aug 12, 2011

Like Jerry said,

we already know it's going to be a long smoke so why be in a hurry to stick the probe in?

If I'm running my cook chamber temps around 225º with anything that's 4lb's or more I wait 1 hr per # before I probe.

Boston butt taking a long times it still safe?

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