Smoker turned off overnight

[jamonax]

Hey all! New to the forum and had a question about what next steps I should follow.

Smoking a brisket and overnight it seems I ran out of pellets. Made it from about 10pm-4am at 225. Checked the brisket and wrapped. Temp was at 160. Can back to check at 730a and the temp had fallen to about 80. Refueled the fire, but am concerned about quality and safety of the meat. Any advice?

 

[Steve H]

The IT was 160? If so. You're good to go. And. I can't stress enough in buying a remote thermometer that gives high/low alarms.

 

[kilo charlie]

Ditto what Steve said ^^^

 

[jamonax]

IT was 160 yes, but it dropped to about 80 for my guess is an hour 2 at the most. 30 degrees outside I assume dropped pretty quickly. I put it back on to reach the desired temp. Assuming it might just be a bit dryer than what it could have been?

 

[schlotz]

Sorry to hear you had to deal with this. Definitely agree with Steve, if it had reached an IT of 160º before then you are good to go. Now, running out of pellets hmm... this is avoidable. A wifi/bluetooh monitoring probe for the grate can warn with an alarm on your phone next to the bed when the temp drops to below what it is set for. Always good to think about what could happen and prepare for it vs winging it and waking up to an issue.

 

[jamonax]

I had a thermometer, but misplaced it during a recent move. Definitely going to invest in a new one asap

 

[gmc2003]

Here's a good read on food safety and the guidelines.

40 to 140 in 4...A Guideline and what to consider...

You will often see this called, " The Rule " here at SMF. This RULE, a Guideline actually, is the most frequently misquoted and misused info on SMF. More perfectly good meat has gone in the garbage at the hands of this," RULE " then from folks cleaning their Refrigerator or Freezer!!! Rules...

www.smokingmeatforums.com

Chris

 

[Bigtank]

It's happened to me before to. As a rule now on long cooks, when I check the meat, I check the hopper. Your going to take it to IT 200 - 205 you will be fine safety wise. Because of temp fluctuations it might be a little tough. Good Luck

 

[thirdeye]

In theory, (and with a few exceptions) the majority of the baddies are on the external surface of whole muscle meat and they slow down multiplication as the meat surface gets in the higher 120°s And once over 140° they start to die off. Wrapping when you did provided a bit more safety. An easy fix when a fire dies later in the cook, is to put your brisket in the oven. It will recover faster, and being wrapped you won't get any more flavor from the smoker.

 

[tbern]

Welcome to the forum from Minnesota! Looks like a new thermometer for you for an early Christmas present!

 

[jhawks]

I put a 17 lb brisket on my Traeger last night at midnight. Around 1:00 a.m. the power went out and it turned off and I did not notice until 8:00 a.m.. so it was on heat at 200° for about 1 hour and then no heat for about 7 hours. This is a brisket I injected, I'm assuming it is not safe to continue cooking and eat?

 

[gmc2003]

I put a 17 lb brisket on my Traeger last night at midnight. Around 1:00 a.m. the power went out and it turned off and I did not notice until 8:00 a.m.. so it was on heat at 200° for about 1 hour and then no heat for about 7 hours. This is a brisket I injected, I'm assuming it is not safe to continue cooking and eat?

7 unheated hours on an injected brisket. It's tough to do, but I would toss it.

Chris

 

[pineywoods]

Looks like you might be in Iowa what were the outside temps last night?

 

[thirdeye]

The main goal is to get the surface (where most of the baddies multiply) above 140°, and then you have some leeway for the internal to get above 140°. But in this case (200° for an hour) spells trouble for me too.

 

[JckDanls 07]

Yea... Sorry to say... especially since you injected...

 

[schlotz]

Yup, feel for ya but don't mess with food when it comes to safety. Time for pizza! Now, this could have easily been avoided by having a wireless thermometer with alarm and a grate probe set to trigger it if the temp drops below 140º. Plenty out there to choose from. Cost of the brisket would have almost paid for one.

 

[02ebz06]

Yup, feel for ya but don't mess with food when it comes to safety. Time for pizza! Now, this could have easily been avoided by having a wireless thermometer with alarm and a grate probe set to trigger it if the temp drops below 140º. Plenty out there to choose from. Cost of the brisket would have almost paid for one.

Agree...
Remote thermometer, or battery backup, or both.
I use both.

 

[jhawks]

Looks like you might be in Iowa what were the outside temps last night?

Around 60 degrees. I ended up tossing it and getting a new one to try hot and fast

 

[jhawks]

Yup, feel for ya but don't mess with food when it comes to safety. Time for pizza! Now, this could have easily been avoided by having a wireless thermometer with alarm and a grate probe set to trigger it if the temp drops below 140º. Plenty out there to choose from. Cost of the brisket would have almost paid for one.

I have a Traeger Ironwood that has the app to do this. However, I switched internet and I can't figure out how to connect it to my 5 GHz router

 

[Steve H]

It would have been better if you started your own thread for this. Had me wondering what was going on.