turkey breast done too soon!

[sjw867]

I am smoking a turkey breast this morning and it looks like its gonna finish a little earlier than expected. Ive had luck wrapping pork and beef in foil and towels and placing them in coolers for hours after a smoke. How long would it be safe to keep a turkey breast in a cooler the same way. I may be 4 hours early on this smoke. Thanks

 

[bmaddox]

What size is it? And what temp did you cook it to? The larger the cut of meat the more thermal mass it will have to be able to stay hot in the cooler. Whenever I am stretching the limits of holding food in a cooler I will leave a probe thermo in it to track the temps. So long as the stay over 140 it is fine but if you are only cooking to 165 then it will get down to 140 pretty quick. 

 

[sjw867]

It is a 6.5lb bone in breast. It has been on the smoker for 2hrs @ 230 and it is already reading a internal temp of 154f. Were not serving it untill 4:00pm and it is only 12:00 now. Thanks

 

[bmaddox]

That seems too fast. Are you sure that the meat thermo is calibrated and your smoker temp is correct? 

 

[sjw867]

It is reading with my wireless maverick. I will check it shortly manually. I dont think I am too close to the bone.thanks

 

[sjw867]

The cooking process definitely did slow a little. I just pulled the breast at 1:30 for a total smoke time of 3.5hrs. The internal temp was at 167f when I pulled it from the smoker. I did leave the probe in the meat to monitor it for the next 2.5hrs in the cooler. Hopefully it will be okay. 

 

[smokin phil]

I would think you'd be OK at 2.5 hours. The thermo will tell the tale though. Let us know how things go. Good luck!

 

[sjw867]

Turkey turned out great. kept temp in the cooler fine. When we were ready to slice it, the temp was still over 150f. Thanks, guys

 

[hardcookin]

Good to hear it turned out! I just done turkey breast the other night.