Boston Butt... ok...? Maybe?

[vxooxv]

I'm reaching the 12hr mark on the 2 butts put in last night.... temps hovering right at 198 and climbing.  HOWEVER.

I found myself surfing the forums and stumbled across "danger zone" which now has me concerned.  ughghgh

I injected both butts Fri night and rubbed them down really good.  wrapped them tight and let them sit in the fridge until last night.  So around 24 hrs.  Last night around midnight I preheated to 225 in my MES 30 and stabbed both with my brand spanking new Thermo Pro TP20.  I set my alarm for 3:30am to throw in a fresh batch of chips and i'm fairly confident temps were above 140 but.... I admit it's a lil fuzzy.  At 7:30am I was around 170 and now I'm uber close to hitting 205.

Bottom line is I really don't know if I climbed to 140 in 4hrs.  I'm pretty sure...

Does injecting add significant risk?

 

[noboundaries]

I realize this post is more than a day old, but it should still get an answer.  Bottom line, as long as the smoker was working the whole time, you're fine.  

The first four hours the internal temp of cold meat will climb rapidly into the 140s, 150s, or 160s.  Folks are always freaking out about timing because "my 10 lb pork butt went from 38F to 150F in just over two hours!  It's cooking way too fast."  Nope, it is doing just what a chunk of cold meat is supposed to do in a smoker, oven, etc, absorb heat.  It will climb like that until it stalls, anywhere from the 140's to 160s.  Then you're in for the long haul if you are babysitting your temps.  Stalls can easily last for 6-8 hours, and the final climb from the stall to 205F internal temp can take almost as long. 

Now, on to the second part of your question.  Does injecting meat add significant risk?  Not in a working smoker because of the above.  Yes, it pushes surface bacteria into the interior of the meat, but a working smoker set at 225F or higher will take it safely through the danger zone. 

The problem, especially with electric smokers, is the smoker shutting down or timing out before the 4 hour mark.  Let's say you're away from the smoker or sleeping soundly, come back hours later, find the smoker shut down and the meat temp at 100F.  You have no idea when it happened or what the IT was of the meat.  At that point, throw the meat away and order a pizza.   

 

[vxooxv]

Excellent reply and thank you though a day late.  We took a chance and ate it anyway :) . I must say - it was DElish!

Though I must admit - i sure hate having to put chips in every hour.  Any recommendation on an auto feeder of sorts?

I waited until the the butt on the bottom registered 205 (for about 30 min) and the butt on top at 200.  Everything exceeded my novice expectations....  next up a brisket.  The how to surf has began!

 

[GaryHibbert]

He best "autofeeder" you can get is an AMNPS--a pellet tray sold by Todd at Amazen. You'll see his ads here on the forum. You can then add a Mailbox Mod or just put the AMNPS right in your MES.

Gary