Another “should I toss my brisket” thread

[ayydubs]

Sorry in advance and Merry Christmas.

I am smoking a 12 lb brisket on my Weber Smokey Mountain. I pulled the meat out at 11:45 PM to prepare it and put it on around 1 am (injected), with the smoker temperature around 230 degrees. At 5 am I woke up and discovered the smoker temperature had dropped to 160 degrees. The internal temperature of the meat was only at 123 degrees. I opened some vents and threw on some additional briquettes and was able to bring the temperature of the smoker back to 230-240. It is currently a quarter after 6 am, my smoker is holding steady at 229 degrees and my brisket is up to 137 degrees and rising pretty consistently.
What should I do?

Thanks in advance.

 

[gmc2003]

That's a tough one. Your basically at the 5 hour mark. If it wasn't injected I'd say your fine, but with it being injected I don't know for sure. Bumping this up so one of the food safety folks can chime in.

Chris

 

[daveomak.fs]

It will be fine... Keep cooking it as you planned... All the surface bacteria was killed in the first several minutes of the cook/smoke.... The internal bacteria, from the injection, have begun to be killed with the internal temp at 123F and are continuing to be killed now... As the temp rises, in the meat, additional bacteria are dying....
You didn't say what temp you planned to take the meat to... Being a brisket, I'm thinking the IT should probably be at least 180-185F to tenderize the meat... That temp will kill any remaining bacteria... 205F, the pulling temp, will also be a safe final temp....
At 185f ish, wrapping in foil or butcher paper and holding at that temp for, an extended period of time, will add to the tenderness of the meat...

 

[ayydubs]

It will be fine... Keep cooking it as you planned... All the surface bacteria was killed in the first several minutes of the cook/smoke.... The internal bacteria, from the injection, have begun to be killed with the internal temp at 123F and are continuing to be killed now... As the temp rises, in the meat, additional bacteria are dying....
You didn't say what temp you planned to take the meat to... Being a brisket, I'm thinking the IT should probably be at least 180-185F to tenderize the meat... That temp will kill any remaining bacteria... 205F, the pulling temp, will also be a safe final temp....
At 185f ish, wrapping in foil or butcher paper and holding at that temp for, an extended period of time, will add to the tenderness of the meat...

Thanks for the response. I planned on pulling the meat at 200. A few extra degrees won’t hurt.

I was going to wrap it in butcher paper at 165, but because of my hiccup, I’m going to wait till 185, to wrap it.

IT is up to 166, as of 8:30 am.

 

[tropics]

Dave has you covered Welcome to SMF stick around lots of great people on here.
Merry Christmas
Richie

 

[ayydubs]

Thanks again for the responses. The brisket was a hit and no one got sick! I’m looking forward to hanging around the forums and learning more from the people here.