Dripping rendered fat? Ruined bark? Smoker fire?

[dj mishima]

So, I ran into a problem that could have been prevented had I planned accordingly.

I am using my trusty MES30. I am currently smoking 2 pork shoulders. The plan was to use two of the four racks for aluminum drip trays and the other two for the shoulders. However, I found that the shoulders I am using are too thick for that. So I ended up having to put one shoulder above the other with a drip pan underneath them both.

Will my bark be ruined on the lower one? Also, how likely is it that I might render too much fat from two 9 lb shoulders to fit in a standard aluminum serving tray?

I have probes in each as well as a probe for ambient temperature. I set the ambient temp alarm for 300 in case of fire. I was planning for an overnight smoke while sleeping. But, now I am pretty concerned.

 

[mike243]

I dont think you will have any problem with the bark, not sure why you wouldn't use the drain system on the smoker, you will need to keep feed it wood for awhile? drain the trays when you have to leave it for the night, might ck once or twice , this is 1 reason I love my pellet smoker lol

 

[dj mishima]

I dont think you will have any problem with the bark, not sure why you wouldn't use the drain system on the smoker, you will need to keep feed it wood for awhile? drain the trays when you have to leave it for the night, might ck once or twice , this is 1 reason I love my pellet smoker lol

There is a drain system on the smoker. But, the tray is pretty small. I also worry about grease dripping down onto the heating element.

I am using an electric smoker with an amnps pellet smoker. MES30 with mailbox mod.

 

[whistlepig]

The heating element has a fabricated box over it. Small drain or not the fabricated box protects the heating element. Might want to alternate racks on the shoulders for even cooking. It's a bit warmer on the rack closest to the element. My MES30 is pretty durable.

 

[dj mishima]

Thanks for the advice guys!

 

[tallbm]

If this is an aluminum pan with like 2-4 inch high walls you won't fill and over flow that pan, not close.
If you run those pork butts naked the whole time too you will have no problem with bark.

You will be fine :)

 

[bill1]

I'd say the top one would baste the bottom one. That's good, right?
On my vertical smokers with doors, I tend to rotate my racks at the halfway point just to equalize temperature, etc anyway. So at least any effect is spread over both cuts.

However in my bullet smoker, if doing chicken and another larger cut, I'll put the chicken on top so I can pull it first. But then I worry about the chicken fat getting on the lower cut. If I don't have room for a drip pan under the chicken, I'll sometimes fold a piece of sheet metal or cut-up a tray to make an inverted V that can fit over the larger cut and deflect the drippings without messing up smoke flow.

 

[GATOR240]

I have done 2 butts once before with one on top of the other in my MES30 and didn't have any problems. As I recall, the drippings from the top butt didn't affect the bark much at all, and the disposable pan held all of the drippings with no problem.

 

[dj mishima]

So, I ran into another problem last night. Somehow the mes30 shut off early within the first 2 hours. So it took more than 4 hours to get up to 140F IT. I'm not sure exactly how many hours since my temp app graph is basically useless and the app shut down and lost data during the cook anyways.

One is close to 200F IT and the other isn't too far behind it. But, I'm considering dumping the cook due to food safety concerns. It's a real bummer. I've never had to do that before.

 

[chopsaw]

Don't throw them out . If they were intact , you should be OK .
Bone in , whole , not injected . The inside should be sterile . I know what I would do , and don't normally comment on this , but to many guys throwing out good meat .

 

[dj mishima]

I did insert the probes while the pork was still raw if that makes a difference...

 

[gmc2003]

Keep the meat, your fine as Chop said. Your internal temps are hovering around 200* so its already at a safe eating temp,


Chris