Good morning... not so good evening.

[jager]

Just put my first butt in the smoker for some pulled pork tonight!  I'm excited.  :)

 

[SmokinAl]

Good start! Looking forward to the $ shot.

 

[les3176]

Lookin great so far.... keep us updated!!! can't wait for more!

 

[jager]

Just smoking and spraying now.  :)  I'll post a pic of my sammich before I eat it.  Really owe a big thanks to you guys for the rub and steps!!  :D

 

[jager]

I need some help.

For the past three hourse it has been stuck at 145 or so.  I fear that my smoker is too cold.  It is extremely cold outside and while it is producing smoke and making a bark on my meat, the internal temp isn't very high (I have a themometer in there now reading it).  The element doesn't have a temp control.

Should I just pull it out and put it wrapped in the oven to finish cooking it?  It's been 10 hours for a 6 lb butt.

Thanks!!

 

[raptor700]

What temp is your smoker running at?

You could pull and put in the oven if you need to

 

[jager]

It's barely pushing 200.  Would a picture of it help?  Thanks for the reply!

 

[raptor700]

another concern is the 40-140 rule.

 If it's been smoking for 10hrs, did the internal temp get to 140º in the 4hr range? 

 

[jager]

What's the 40-140 rule?

 

[raptor700]

It's barely pushing 200.  Would a picture of it help?  Thanks for the reply!

200º is to low, if you can't get the temp up you might have to go the oven route

Pics are always great

 

[smokermark]

Yeah, you might just have to plug it into your oven. If you had a welder's blanket you could insulate your smoker with that being it is so cold.

 

[jager]

Okay, I'm going to wrap it and put it in the oven at 250.  But what is the 40-140 rule?  Please don't tell me to scrap my dinner. 

 

[raptor700]

What's the 40-140 rule?

  The 40-140 rule is getting the internal temp of any meat that has been injected or probed.. to 140º in a 4hr period.

The exception to the rule is if  you havn't did any of those things, including inserting a meat temp probe into the meat you only have to get the outer ½in of the meat to 140º then you can insert your probe and smoke a longer period.

you can check the wiki section and get a more clearer explanation of this.
 

hope this helps
 

 

[Bearcarver]

another concern is the 40-140 rule.

 If it's been smoking for 10hrs, did the internal temp get to 140º in the 4hr range? 

I don't know all the particulars, but I have to agree with Raptor.

If you were at 145˚ from the 7th hour to the 10th hour, when did you get to 140˚, or even 135˚?

The Danger zone rule says you have to get from 40˚ to 140˚ (maybe changed to 135˚ now) in no longer than 4 hours, if you break the seal of the whole meat muscle.

We can see you had the probe in at the start, which means the seal was broken.

Bear

 

[jager]

Well folks.... it's trash.  I took it out of the smoker and used a different themometer and the dang thing isn't 140 yet.  My digi themometer (with the probe and wire) didn't work and so I just used a meat themometer and left it in the smoker.... not smart I guess.  It was reading the internal temp of the smoker not just the meat.

Well that is very very very dissapointing.  I'm all depressed and stuff now.  :(  Ugh.  The smoker just can't handle the cold I guess.  It was 250 before I put the meat in, but maybe with the meat, water, and cold it couldn't hack it.  And I wasn't able to crank the temp to compensate. 

Bloody hell.

 

[mballi3011]

If you were at 145° you will be fine with that temp because thats an internal temp and you have to make sure the the outer 1" or so is above 140° anyway. Now I would also take the butt out and put it into the oven to finish it up there.

 

[jager]

But what about the 40-140?  I don't think it hit 140 in four hours.

 

[raptor700]

Well folks.... it's trash.  I took it out of the smoker and used a different themometer and the dang thing isn't 140 yet.  My digi themometer (with the probe and wire) didn't work and so I just used a meat themometer and left it in the smoker.... not smart I guess.  It was reading the internal temp of the smoker not just the meat.

Well that is very very very dissapointing.  I'm all depressed and stuff now.  :(  Ugh.  The smoker just can't handle the cold I guess.  It was 250 before I put the meat in, but maybe with the meat, water, and cold it couldn't hack it.  And I wasn't able to crank the temp to compensate. 

Bloody hell.

Don't throw it out yet

Do you have it in the oven?
 

 

[scarbelly]

Better safe than sorry on that rule. That is one I NEVER play with .

 

[raptor700]

Is it possible that the internal temp got above 140º and then dropped when the smoker temp cooled down?