Power Outage w/ Electric Smoker

gtdave

Newbie

Original poster

Jul 20, 2017

2

10

• Jul 20, 2017

• #1

Sorry for my first post to be a bit of a panic. I'm cooking a pair of pork butts in my electric smoker. They've been in for 8.5 hours with an (last check) internal temp of 168. So middle of the stall. Power is predicted to come back on in an hour. Total time with no heat / delay will likely be 1.5-2 hours. I'm not going to open the smoker - assumption it'll stay hot.

Any recommendation for when the power comes back on? I usually Texas crutch them with foil at this time, and push them past the stall to 202. I'm wondering what I should do differently, or if I should do anything.

 

GaryHibbert

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• Jul 20, 2017

• #2

The hour and half shouldn't be a big problem. If it were me, I'd just carry on as usual--I usually foil my butts when the stall hits. It will probably extend the total cook time but late pulled pork is still a lot better than no pulled pork.

Gary

 

SmokinAl

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• Jul 21, 2017

• #3

Al

 

johnmeyer

Master of the Pit

Nov 19, 2015

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Central Coast, CA

• Jul 21, 2017

• #4

If I had no other source of heat, I'd put it in a cooler to keep it above 140.

I had this exact thing happen a year ago: power went off in the middle of smoking a big pork butt. Fortunately, I have a generator, and was able to fire that up for a few hours and and continue the smoke using that until the power came back on.

If it happened again, I think I would instead get my old Weber charcoal grill out of the attic (I switched to gas twenty years ago) and use it. I keep a bag of briquettes and a can of lighter fluid on hand in case of a big earthquake.

 

Rings Я Us

Smoking Guru

Jul 3, 2017

6,326

909

Southeast Michigan

• Jul 21, 2017

• #5

Hmm.. sterno? Or is that nasty?

 

Rings Я Us

Smoking Guru

Jul 3, 2017

6,326

909

Southeast Michigan

• Jul 21, 2017

• #6

We used sterno in the army alot . Used lid to partially cover and adjust temp lol

 

Last edited: Jul 21, 2017

johnmeyer

Master of the Pit

Nov 19, 2015

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Central Coast, CA

• Jul 22, 2017

• #7

Ah, I love the smell of Sterno in the morning.

My mom used it when she would serve lunch for her friends, back in the 1950s. She'd open these little cans of Sterno, put a match to them, and a blue flame would shoot out. She'd then put them under the chafing dishes and it would keep things hot for several hours. Where we got chafing dishes, I have no idea, 'cause I never saw them except when she'd have a party. I don't know is anyone owns chafing dishes anymore.

The one problem is that they gave off a slight odor, not exactly a petroleum smell, but not quite the smell of an alcohol flame either (a smell I knew because the Gilbert chemistry sets used an alcohol burner to heat test tubes, for those who didn't have their own Bunsen burner).

I wonder if you can still get Sterno?