Another pork butt ?

[hunterman]

I started my first butt in my new Smokin-it model 2 about 6 pm tonight. I must say that as for as build and finish , I REALLY like this smoker. I'll let you know about the performance as soon as I get some smokin done in it. Anyway,  I set my smoker on 245 and I'm checking it with my new Maverick 732 probes. I'm not sure the butt was completely defrosted in the center because when I inserted  the meat probe in the pork  butt  the temp reading for it was LLL and it just has started reading 32 and its now 7:20 pm. I guess  my question is , At about what time or how soon do I need to see the meat read 140? The smoker is consistently reading between 230 and 250. It warmed up  to about 235 in 30 min. or so and as per the instructions I didn't preheat anything.  I'm just wondering what about the 40 to 140 safety zone. Do I not worry about it till the meat  hits 40 or how does all this work? Its now 7:30 and the peat prob. is reading 37 now. Any advice is appreciated, Thanks 

 

[hunterman]

It's now 10:15 and the meat probe is at 118.  The meat probe hit 40 about 7:45, WIll this be OK as long as it hits 140 by say 11:30 pm or so? I sure would lke some advice on this, Don't wanna make my family or myself sick

 

[s2k9k]

Though the center of the butt was frozen what was the temp of the surface when you inserted the probe? I know you don't know but that is the question. If the surface was above 40* then the center doesn't matter. I never insert a probe until it has cooked for at least 3 hours, that way I know the surface is above 140*. It's not the center that matters it's the surface temp that does when you insert a probe because you can push surface bacteria into the center of the meat. Butts take a long time to cook so there is no hurry getting a temp probe into them.

You might want to bump your temps a little more and I think if you get the center to 140* pretty soon you should alright. Then you can back off your temps for the slow cook. Keep the door closed because opening it just lets out heat and slows your cook time. Keep us posted with how it's going, we are here for you!

 

[hunterman]

Thanks for the reply, The surface temp was probably around 34 or 35. I defrosted it in my fridge and I keep the fridge  set at 34.  I took it straight from the fridge to the smoker. The meat probe hit 140 around 11:00 pm  last night. Its now 9:50 am  and  the meat probe is at 198. I would like for it to get to 205 then rest  before pulling. I'm figuring somewhere around 12:00 pm or something. Does this sound like it will be OK? I just wanted to add that my smoker will only go to 250. I wish it would go higher but it wont. Thank in advance for the replies.