Plz help - fire went out on my briskey!!

[so1911]

I had a beautiful brisket on my egg, went to bed with a temp alarm set and grill chugging along at 205f.  Meat was around 130f at that time.

Woke upto a warm egg and brisket.

No idea if it got up to 160f and came back down or what happened. I do know that the alarm didn't go off or didn't wake me!

Whatcha think?

The egg was still warm and coals barely lit when I woke up, it didn't go completely out just almost out.

 

[delibsribs]

Not worth the risk. Toss it out. Peace of mind.

 

[so1911]

Is it still a risk, since the grill didn't go below 130f? 

If the grill were cold or fire completely out I'd toss it no question, but if beef bacteria grows below 130f then isn't it technically still safe?

 

[so1911]

After a bunch of reading, I think it is safe.  Most likely the grill slowly cooled off, so it would have had to be above 140f meat temp through the night.  It's unlikely it was below 140f for 4 hours or else the egg would've been cold.

Still, the pregnant wifey won't get any.  Just me and the dog.  He'll be a happy pup.

 

[delibsribs]

I am by no means a food safety expert. I've had food poisoning before and it sucks. I hate wasting money and good food but for my two cents I would not eat it. There are a couple guys on this forum that are like food safety Gestapo...I'm surprised that they haven't chimed in yet...where are u chef jimmy??UK Wade??? This guy needs you guys!!! All joking aside, I've read a lot here too and as long as you feel the meat wasn't under 140 for too long, I guess you are okay. Good luck and happy smoken!

 

[so1911]

I'm definitely a stickler for food safety, but this is right on the fence of commercial food safety guidelines (I think?) which gives some leeway.  Would love to get more input, no harm in leaving it in the smoker while waiting for replies.  Meat is up to 170f and climbing.

 

[bigwheel]

Well the chances of getting food poisoning from the inside of a solid chunk of meat is not real high unless somebody started poking stuff in it. I would not hesitate to finish cooking and eat it. Dont see how it could have more germs than is started with and wood smoke is a real good preservative. i lost one in the big pit one day and found it about a month later. It still looked good enough to eat. Just a little dry.

 

[chestnutbloom]

Hi, I'm very new to smoking but I have cooked a truckload of beef roasts on the open pit. I've always pulled them at 135F and let sit 15 mins before carving. All were astounding and never a sick human was had. Just my 2 cents!

 

[bigwheel]

Sounds ok for prime rib..but briskets play by a different set of rules. They can be a bit tedious to chew in the cool pink middle stage. Got to fight with em till they give up and die. lol.

 

[demosthenes9]

Eat the brisket yourself and cook something else for your wife  just to be safe.

 

[so1911]

Thanks so much for the advice and replies.

The dog and I ate a bunch of it, and it turned out excellent.  The rest was sadly tossed.   I definitely learned my lesson with blindly trusting these remote thermometers/alarms... I've done a bunch of overnight cooks without an issue.. At least we didn't have company coming over.

I'm going to try again this weekend... But cook through the day instead.  Sheesh.