MES 30 - first smoke (Butt) w/Q

Sounds good and one heck of a bark. Bad Byron's seems to do that. Maybe start out at 250 degrees to be sure you pass that 140 area better. After I wrap in foil, I actually up it to 295. Doesn't hurt it a bit.

Looks great !

Great job and great Q-view.

 to the SMF.

Originally Posted by flgolfer29  
 

I received a new MES 30" from Amazon early last week and performed the 3 hour burn-in the same day.  This past weekend, I completed the first smoke on a 8.75lb Boston Butt.  The MES is my first electric smoker as previously I had always used a ECB (labor intensive). 

The cook started @ 235 degrees for the first 3.5 hours and then increased to 250 degrees due to the internal temperature of the desired 140 degrees at 4 hours was not going to happen.  I was at 130-135 degrees best I remember when the smoking temp was increased.

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Flash said:

Sounds good and one heck of a bark. Bad Byron's seems to do that. Maybe start out at 250 degrees to be sure you pass that 140 area better. After I wrap in foil, I actually up it to 295. Doesn't hurt it a bit.

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FLGolfer,  congrats on your new MES and your first pork butt smoke!  Nice looking bark on the finished product.

I wouldn't be too concerned about the internal temp not achieving 140º in 4 hours, the concern would be the surface of the meat not achieving 140º in 4 hours.  Since you are cooking at 180º or higher the meat surface will get to 140º temp easily in under an hour.  I have cooked as many as 4 big 9+lb butts at same time in my MES 40, the mass of that much meat absorbs a lot of heat before the internal temp starts rising above 140º and took well over 4 hours to achieve internal temp of 140º.   Simply use 90 minutes a pound to figure how long the smoke will take as a general rule of thumb. 

Good job..

deltadude said:

FLGolfer,  congrats on your new MES and your first pork butt smoke!  Nice looking bark on the finished product.

I wouldn't be too concerned about the internal temp not achieving 140º in 4 hours, the concern would be the surface of the meat not achieving 140º in 4 hours.  Since you are cooking at 180º or higher the meat surface will get to 140º temp easily in under an hour.  I have cooked as many as 4 big 9+lb butts at same time in my MES 40, the mass of that much meat absorbs a lot of heat before the internal temp starts rising above 140º and took well over 4 hours to achieve internal temp of 140º.   Simply use 90 minutes a pound to figure how long the smoke will take as a general rule of thumb. 

Good job..

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 What about the probe? That could be a concern, no?

Nice job on your first smoke Joe! Enjoy your new smoker!

JP61 said:

 What about the probe? That could be a concern, no?

Nice job on your first smoke Joe! Enjoy your new smoker!

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Not really just clean it properly before insertion, and there will be no problem.

deltadude said:

Not really just clean it properly before insertion, and there will be no problem.

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It's very possible that I'm wrong. Isn't a person introducing surface bacteria into the cut of meat by inserting a temp probe prior to the surface temp reaching 140°?

I rub my probe down with rubbing alchohol every time before inserting into a piece of meat. Another thing I hope you have done is to poke a hole in the bottom of the aluminum foil to let it drain out of the hole in the back into the drip pan ( thats if its the same as the MES40 ) Thts what I do to make clean up more easy.

deltadude said:

Not really just clean it properly before insertion, and there will be no problem.

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JP61 said:

It's very possible that I'm wrong. Isn't a person introducing surface bacteria into the cut of meat by inserting a temp probe prior to the surface temp reaching 140°?

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JP61 has it right on this one. Doesn’t matter how clean the probe is if there is anything on the surface of the meat you will introduce it to the center of the meat if you insert a meat probe before the outside temperature of the meat reaches 140. This is why current guide lines call for smoking at 225. Most meats will reach 140 within the first 4 hours if the cook starts at 225. If you are starting at lower temperatures it would be advisable to wait until the outer edge of the meat has reached 140 before inserting your temp probe.

Just my $0.02, better safe than sorry  

Honestly this is getting a bit anal (see note below), you can use as much sanitary techniques as you personally see fit, there has been many discussions regarding how tos on cooking safety.  Yet I didn't see any health inspectors shutting down BBQ cookers at the Reno National Rib cookoff, where hundreds of cases of ribs (in different stages of thaw) sat waiting to go into smoker, nor did I see anyone complaining as almost finished ribs came out of smokers and sat exposed in trays for several hours before they went on bbq grills for a reheat and saucing.  I only saw a few Cookers with holding Hot Boxes to hold the smoked ribs before they were finished on the grill and served.  What does the above example prove, NOTHING, just as those telling you that probes inserted in raw meat is dangerous when the meat goes into the smoker.

It is very doubtful (unless your uncooked meat sat on the counter for 4 hours), that when you insert a probe that enough bacteria will be pushed in via the probe and multiply to a dangerous quantity that will (if not killed off when the internal temp rises above 140º) affect anyone's health.  Usually, my prep is taking a (in fridge thawed) butt, injecting then adding rub, then wrapping and putt back in fridge for 24 hours, the butt comes out of the fridge when the smoker is ready and goes right in.  That is a change from allowing the meat to come to room temp before going in the smoker.  However no one out of the hundreds of people I have cooked for has ever reported getting sick either, before I changed from (room temp procedure) or after changing to (straight from fridge to smoker procedure)

Maybe I shouldn't have commented on the OP's temp statement, it seems that my post is leading the thread astray.  Sorry...  lets get back on topic.

NOTE:  the use of the word anal, was an extremely poor choice, I apologize. (note added 3 1/2 hours after I originally posted.)

deltadude said:

Honestly this is getting a bit anal, you can use as much sanitary techniques as you personally see fit, there has been many discussions regarding how tos on cooking safety.  Yet I didn't see any health inspectors shutting down BBQ cookers at the Reno National Rib cookoff, where hundreds of cases of ribs (in different stages of thaw) sat waiting to go into smoker, nor did I see anyone complaining as almost finished ribs came out of smokers and sat exposed in trays for several hours before they went on bbq grills for a reheat and saucing.  I only saw a few Cookers with holding Hot Boxes to hold the smoked ribs before they were finished on the grill and served.  What does the above example prove, NOTHING, just as those telling you that probes inserted in raw meat is dangerous when the meat goes into the smoker.

It is very doubtful (unless your uncooked meat sat on the counter for 4 hours), that when you insert a probe that enough bacteria will be pushed in via the probe and multiply to a dangerous quantity that will (if not killed off when the internal temp rises above 140º) affect anyone's health.  Usually, my prep is taking a (in fridge thawed) butt, injecting then adding rub, then wrapping and putt back in fridge for 24 hours, the butt comes out of the fridge when the smoker is ready and goes right in.  That is a change from allowing the meat to come to room temp before going in the smoker.  However no one out of the hundreds of people I have cooked for has ever reported getting sick either, before I changed from (room temp procedure) or after changing to (straight from fridge to smoker procedure)

Maybe I shouldn't have commented on the OP's temp statement, it seems that my post is leading the thread astray.  Sorry...  lets get back on topic.

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Anal? Really? OK then, I guess I'm sorry for posting a couple of questions regarding food safety. My apologies to Joe (OP) for leading his thread astray.

Wow...

I hope Flagolfer hangs in there with us...this was a little disturbing.

flgolfer29 said:

Thank you to everyone that has replied to this thread.  I'm still learning and am absorbing everything that has been said up to this point.  It does appear that I had misunderstood the getting to 140 degree temp prior to 4 hours of cook time.  That would be surface temp rather than internal, relief

. 

As far as the possibility of bacteria being added to the butt, there was approximately 10-15 minutes from the time it was removed from the fridge and placed into the smoker.

PGSmoker64, I'm not going anywhere nor have I been offended in any way, haha.  There is too much knowledge on this forum for that to happen.

This weekend I will be smoking some spare ribs (3-2-1) and baked beans.  Both of which I will following others examples previously posted on SMF.

Again, thanks to all.

joe

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Glad to hear it Joe!!!!

Good folks here, and as you can see, very passionate about our chosen hobbies!!!