Help! Pork Shoulder!

Wow long cook.

Did you inject it? I would be a bit concerned about the 13 hrs and only being at 150. That is a long time in the temp danger zone. If you injected it, you may want to concider cutting your loses and toss it. That is your call.

If you feel comfortable with serving it. Put it in a pan with some mop sauce. Cover with plastic wrap then with foil ( no the plastic won't melt, it will protect the foil from the meat). Put your oven at 225 and go to bed. It should be ready to pull when you get up.

Seems like a VERY long time for a 5 lb shoulder. 

The only thing that will happen if it goes all night is it will fall apart more. You could torn it down to 170 at 2am if it gets up to 190.

That is an awful long time in the danger zone.  Are you sure your thermometers are both right?

I don't think I would risk getting the family sick.  I wouldn't keep it at this point.

As for overnight I usually leave my butts and shoulders in at 200, but I also don't start them until about 4 PM.

I think you will have some folks chime in soon.

Before you do your next smoke I would check the thermometer and make sure it is reading correctly. I only say this because you should of had it done in about 10 hrs with the 225 degree range. I did 3ea 9lb ones at 250-275 in 6-7 hrs. I was done pulling, bagging and cleaning up in 8hrs from start.

What Wolf said...are your therms right???? What temp has your smoker been at and do you know this for sure? Have you probed the butt in multiple places? I never trust just one probe, I will always probe in multiple places so I know what is going on around the whole thing and to be sure I didn't hit a fat pocket.

I really don't think it can be that cold after that long unless your temps are not what you think, 5lbs is not that big!

Accurate therms are a must!!!

One or both of your Thermometers is Wrong. Either too low a Smokere temp or the meat is done and the therm showing IT is wrong... If it wasn't injected I would not toss it but you have some further investigation to do. Your 225*F Oven plan should be ok. Since you can't trust your therm's cook until it pulls easily...JJ

Is it an ecb smoker? I know with mine without any major mod I can hold 250 for about 30 to 45 minutes before my temps drop. It really is not a set it and forget it. A lot of babysitting is required.

It was not injected and you trust the place you got it from. It was just a very long cook. I would probably eat it since you got it to 199. There are other methods that take longer and lower temps. Maybe put a bit more of a vinegar style sauce to raise the acidity level.

For food service we have to maintain some food safety guidelines to make sure our guest are being served safe food according to the FDA and USDA. The temperature danger zone is referring to the 40-140 range. Food is to be stored either below 40 or above 140. There is a guideline that most follow when doing their cooks. They want to go from 40-140 in less than 4 hrs. It is a great guideline to follow, I do with my smokes. However you can bend the guideline based on personal preference after evaluating how the product was handled and prepped. That is why the question was asked if you injected the meat. With injecting the meat you can add bacteria to the inside of the meat. Now there are other guidelines that are used in the food service industry (HACCP) and they do not have a spacific time the food was to be done or cooked at, that is the process I was basing my guidance on.

My advice is to check your thermometers, look at some of the mods they have on the forum. They will have some great suggestions for your smoker, I was having temp issues and made a couple changes and they were gone. I had a similar smoker and had to adjust the ash pan so the coles would not sit in the ash, made a huge difference in the temps. If you find you are having temp issues either the smoker or meat, get it in the oven if you can, at least till you get the issue solved.

Happy smoking