Smoker turned off in the danger zone

[clarky]

Please help! I have a masterbuilt electric bullet smoker. Trying my first brisket (jester getting lots of tips from here) got up and set brisket out at room temp while smoker was warming up. So about an hour. Then on the smoker at 225. 7:00am. Realized at about 9:30 my son had unplugged my smoker! Could have been at most an hour. I put a digital thermometer in and temp was 104. Now at 10:15 i am only at 115 degrees. So im assuming this is too long in the danger zone at this point. I have a 13 lb brisket that i cut in half to fit. (I realize this is a big no no.......im new;)) Just over 4 hours and some time to go before i hit 140. Also just read should not of used the probe? Im having a bad morning. Thanks for advice and/or condolences.

 

[daveomak]

Put it in the oven to finish it...   It will be fine...   are you cooking it to 205 ish ??

 

[clarky]

Yes. Its still I the smoker. I was about to unplug it. Im now at5 hrs from fridge and at 133 degrees. And i had a thermometer in it.

 

[daveomak]

It is fine...    get the temp up...

The table below shows...  Beef that has been at 133 deg. F for 56 minutes is safe to eat... 

Government Pasteurization Tables

The pasteurization times for beef, lamb and pork are listed in Table C.1. Table C.2 lists the pasteurization times for chicken and turkey.

　

Temperature	Time	Temperature	Time
°F (°C)	(Minutes)	°F (°C)	(Seconds)
130 (54.4)	112 min	146 (63.3)	169 sec
131 (55.0)	89 min	147 (63.9)	134 sec
132 (55.6)	71 min	148 (64.4)	107 sec
133 (56.1)	56 min	149 (65.0)	85 sec
134 (56.7)	45 min	150 (65.6)	67 sec
135 (57.2)	36 min	151 (66.1)	54 sec
136 (57.8)	28 min	152 (66.7)	43 sec
137 (58.4)	23 min	153 (67.2)	34 sec
138 (58.9)	18 min	154 (67.8)	27 sec
139 (59.5)	15 min	155 (68.3)	22 sec
140 (60.0)	12 min	156 (68.9)	17 sec
141 (60.6)	9 min	157 (69.4)	14 sec
142 (61.1)	8 min	158 (70.0)	0 sec
143 (61.7)	6 min
144 (62.2)	5 min
145 (62.8)	4 min

Table C.1: Pasteurization times for beef, corned beef, lamb, pork and cured pork (FDA, 2009, 3-401.11.B.2).

 

[clarky]

Ok. Recommendations? For oven? 250? 275?

 

[daveomak]

Yes..   250 - 275 is fine...   even 300 ish...  how long until you serve it is the criteria I would use...    then tent with foil for 1/2 hour or longer, to let the internal juices redistribute...  Tenting should keep the bark OK... 

 

[clarky]

Ok, so have them in the oven at 300 uncovered. At 205 will remove and tent for 30 min. Greatly appreciate the help!

 

[daveomak]

 

[johnmeyer]

I wouldn't worry about it. An extra hour getting up to temp isn't going to cause any problem, especially in a smoker. The meat was probably still increasing in temperature when you caught the problem, so it was going in the right direction.

If it had been off overnight, or something like that, then it would have been a different story, and you'd have to worry.

As others have already said, use a higher smoker temperature until you get above 140 IT and you'll be fine.