Pork butt concern (GMG lost temp. over night).

[PeopleProtector]

Saw a recent thread just next to mine, but I thought I'd ask specifics for my situation. New smoker myself and I have a new GMG Daniel Boone Prime. The smoker does a great job regulating and holding temperature. I have minimal smoke loss once it's up and running.

I started my smoke of an approximate 9lb. pork butt last night at approximately 10pm @ 225. For some reason I woke up at approximately 4am, went outside and the grill was still at 225, and the internal on the pork butt was about 183.

Sometime between 4:30am and about 7am the hopper emptied (I fell victim to the vortex). From the window the hopper looked adequately filled, but the auger created a nice little hole in the center of the pellets. On minimal sleep and not thinking about it I didn't check when I went outside. Rookie mistake.

My kid woke me up saying the smoker was beeping. Ran outside and when I checked the smoker temp. it was only around 70 degrees, but the pork butt still read near 160. The smoker lost connection to WiFi, and I never got an alert (another rookie mistake).

So I don't know how high the internals got, or how long it had been cooling. It had a nice bark, and I could barely get it off the grill it was falling apart and the bone appeared super loose. In an attempt to save it I wrapped it in foil and tossed it in the oven to give it a little heat before I wrapped it in foil to continue resting in a cooler.

Long story short it only smoked for sure approx. 6.5 hours (for sure), and the internal hit near 190 (but I can't confirm the exact temp). Makes me think I made it passed the stall.

Am I running any food safety risks? Will it maybe not be as tender as anticipated? Definite lesson learned. Just need to figure out if I need to make other food preparations.

 

[Bearcarver]

You're safe, because it got to 183° at 4 AM, and it was still at 160° at 7 AM.

So I would say the only problem is it might not pull very easily, but you should be able to chop it or even slice it into nice Pork Butt Steaks.

However if it was falling apart, it might have gotten to 200° or higher, but not enough to hurt it. Pork Butts are very forgiving.

Bear

 

[PeopleProtector]

You're safe, because it got to 183° at 4 AM, and it was still at 160° at 7 AM.

So I would say the only problem is it might not pull very easily, but you should be able to chop it or even slice it into nice Pork Butt Steaks.

Bear

Thanks for the reply and reassurance. It looks and smells amazing, I didn't want it to go to waste.
I have time to run to the local butcher shop and smoke a couple racks of ribs to be "safe."

Definitely a lot of lessons learned.

 

[jcam222]

I tend to agree but have a question. I’m trying to learn more about food safety for my future retirement plans involve catering :). I’d assume that meat cooks from the outside in. Based on that should the surface temp and an inch or more in temp be a consideration? In all likelihood those are well below 160F.

 

[Bearcarver]

I tend to agree but have a question. I’m trying to learn more about food safety for my future retirement plans involve catering :). I’d assume that meat cooks from the outside in. Based on that should the surface temp and an inch or more in temp be a consideration? In all likelihood those are well below 160F.

That sounds like a Good Question for "Super-JJ". @chef jimmyj
Although I still see no problem on this particular Smoke.

Bear

 

[PeopleProtector]

I tend to agree but have a question. I’m trying to learn more about food safety for my future retirement plans involve catering :). I’d assume that meat cooks from the outside in. Based on that should the surface temp and an inch or more in temp be a consideration? In all likelihood those are well below 160F.

Definitely my concern as well. My GMG DB has dual probes that plug into the grill itself. They were inserted into the thickest part of the butt during the cook. So the temperatures I provided were from that (on my specific scenario).

Good question those because even then I second guessed those and I was even scared enough that when I brought it inside I used an older wired probed thermometer that I’ve had forever to verify the general temp.

My biggest fear is someone getting sick because of my negligence. So this forum and all this information has been invaluable.

 

[PeopleProtector]

After it was all said and done, a majority of the butt was super tender. Bone slid right out, but there was definitely some tough parts and tissues that didn’t break down due to the shorter time. Many lessons learned on my first pork butt (and overnight smoke). The boy is trained up on checking the hopper.

Threw some ribs on as a safety precaution utilizing the 3-2-1 method. Soon as I can figure out how to add some pictures I will. As a rookie on the forum, I really appreciate all the help and advice I've received so far.